Switching to First Direct

BugsyBrowne

I must admit it does get a bit boring when first direct customers only dribble on about how wonderful the customer service is but they don't mention the useless interest rate that come with their current account.

What a great bank FD is that all their customers seem to be on the blower most of the time.

staffie1

Gets equally boring hearing about poor customer service from the more popular high st banks but people still insist on using them for some strange reason.
People who use FD value the relationship with their bank. If I'm looking for a product FD doesn't offer on favourable terms, I go elsewhere for it. Afterall, a current acct isn't meant to be a savings vehicle - money goes in and comes out too quickly.

baby_frogmella

BugsyBrowne wrote: »

What a great bank FD is that all their customers seem to be on the blower most of the time.

That's because FD are primarily a telephone based bank...not many people know this

Want to apply for a current account? Do it over the phone and if successful, quite often you'll be given a sort code and account no there and then

Want to close your account? No problem, they'll close it over the phone.

How many banks let you do the above over the phone? None!

Oh and i should also add quite often its far quicker to just pick up the phone dial their 0113-2345678 number (answered within 2 sec) go through security quickly and ask them to pay a a recipient...instead of going to pc, siwtching it on, waiting whilst it loads up, then going to FD's website, logging in and paying your recipient.

innovate

staffie1 wrote: »

What price excellence in customer service and reliability..? Judging from the regular complaints in these forums about the 'alternatives', I wouldn't go near them with a barge pole

I have loads of accounts with loads of banks, incl FD. As I just posted in a slighty different context:

my experience with all those banks is that there is 6 in one, and half a dozen in the other. IMO, all of them have good and bad points, and all of them sometimes give you better or worse service. What I look out for is that they are FSA-regulated, have the FSCS guarantee and that I don't get anywhere near £85K with any one financial group sharing the same FSA licence. Oh, and [relatively] decent interest rates. I also much prefer accounts that can be managed online - going into a Branch seems such an unneccessary burden.

Andystriker

I have Current Accounts at:

First Direct
HSBC
Nat West
Lloyds/TSB
Halifax
Co-op
Nationwide

And I have never had a problem with any of them.

Midzone

First Direct are fine unless you have financial problems and they don't want to know. A lot of their products are rarely competitive.

I've also had nothing but great service from Lloyds TSB, the Natwest App is excellent and low and behold I rate Santander pretty highly. I know they get a raw deal on here but since joining them they have been nothing but spot on with my current account, ISA, Savings and Credit Card.

A few years ago I had financial problems First Direct were unsupportive whereas Lloyds couldn't have been more helpful.

I would say most banks are pretty much the same now - some have bad stories some good but you have to speak as you find.

Gromitt

To be honest, I think in the 15 years I've been with First Direct, I've probably rang their customer services line about twice, the rest of the time I prefer to just send a secure message, and they are just as slow at answering these as most other banks (anything upto 48 hours for a reply).

Even though Halifax and TSB are basically the same bank now, I get much better service from TSB than Halifax. Even when asking to open a current account "for my salary" at Halifax, I was told "Do it online, we are too busy". They didn't even ask if I had a PC! TSB seemed far more friendly and actually seemed to want my business. Needless to say, I actually opened both.

innovate

baby_frogmella wrote: »

That's because FD are primarily a telephone based bank...not many people know this

Want to apply for a current account? Do it over the phone and if successful, quite often you'll be given a sort code and account no there and then

Want to close your account? No problem, they'll close it over the phone.

How many banks let you do the above over the phone? None!

Given that you state FD are primarily a telephone based bank, it's hardly surprising that they let you do basic things over the phone.

To put a bit of a reality check into things: you can open and close many accounts with many other banks on the phone if you so wish. I have done both more than once over the years. So saying "None!" will let you do it over the phone is quite incorrect.

Granted, not all banks offer this for all their accounts - - many do have a much larger portfolio of accounts than FD do, and some dedicate their accounts to "online/phone only" or "branch/phone only".

Personally, I prefer to do everything online - phone calls are difficult for me, especially if I am meant to understand the broadest of broad scottish dialects, lol

zerog

baby_frogmella wrote: »

Want to apply for a current account? Do it over the phone and if successful, quite often you'll be given a sort code and account no there and then

Want to close your account? No problem, they'll close it over the phone.

How many banks let you do the above over the phone? None!

Oh and i should also add quite often its far quicker to just pick up the phone dial their 0113-2345678 number (answered within 2 sec) go through security quickly and ask them to pay a a recipient...instead of going to pc, siwtching it on, waiting whilst it loads up, then going to FD's website, logging in and paying your recipient.

Lloyds gave me a new account number over the phone. Santander closed my account over the phone.

My PC takes 10 seconds to switch on, now that I use an SSD as my main hard drive... but it's always on anyway. And to log on is automatic, I can be doing something else at the same time. Whereas speaking to someone on the phone requires thinking.

baby_frogmella

innovate wrote: »

Given that you state FD are primarily a telephone based bank, it's hardly surprising that they let you do basic things over the phone.

To put a bit of a reality check into things: you can open and close many accounts with many other banks on the phone if you so wish. I have done both more than once over the years. So saying "None!" will let you do it over the phone is quite incorrect.

Well i know the likes of HSBC, Nationwide, Barclays, do NOT let you close your accounts over the phone...they all require a trip to branch or a letter. First Direct will even call you back on an overseas number if you ask them to or will happily accept reverse charges on their 0113 number when abroad...most banks will laugh in your face if you asked them to do this.

They are not perfect by any means eg their internet banking is outdated (not changed much since 2001) but they make far less c0ck-ups than other banks and even when they do make mistakes, they're eager to put them right very quickly.