First Direct

studentguy

Hi,

I've heard a lot of good things about First Direct and have been tempted to move to them, especially after phoning them put me straight through to them! The £100 bonus is pretty good as well.

I just have one problem. I earn just over the minimum income requirement of the account, now my worry is if I am sick one month and earn slightly less than that I'm going to be charged for the use of the account that month and/or not be eligible for the £100 bonus.

I could potentially move my credit card from natwest when I move my main account (to avoid ever being charged), but the normal account seems to be a slightly worse APR than I'm paying now (although I do try and pay off my balance every month). Also as the Gold credit card is also free, what is the difference in criteria to get a Gold credit card (lower APR) and not a normal credit card?

I don't know. I'm fed up of my current provider (Natwest), as my girlfriend has had problems with them with fraudent activity on her credit card, and they've been rude to her and also shut their telephone dept for fraud at 5pm! If this ever happened to me, I'd be unable to do anything about it outside my lunch break as I work 9-5:30! Also there's nothing particularly keeping me at natwest, I do have a interest free overdraft of £500 for a year left over from being a student, but I can easily keep my account at natwest open for a while until I'd paid off the overdraft? I also do all my banking online or on the phone, I rarely go into a branch, so I'd rather better telephone and online services than branches.

Anyway, I was just kind of asking for your advice. Is it worth switching? What are the issues surrounding the fee? What is the difference between applying for the Gold credit card and the normal credit card?

Thanks!

Gromitt

Don't bother with the FD credit card unless you want to balance transfer as there's no incentive. Better to use a card which gives you perks, like points or cashback IMO.

To avoid the 'banking fee', open an E-savings account and put £1 in it.

Your 'salary' can come from anywhere, like a savings account held elsewhere. So if you don't get enough one month, you can top it up, and you only need to do it until you get your bonus, then the E-savings account prevents the fee.

MoneySaverLog

First Direct pay some pitiful rates of interest on savings accounts and zero percent on their first account. The only account worth saving with is their regular saver, so if you plan on saving look elsewhere.

exel1966

Ditto the above.

As a student though you may find it difficult to obtain a First Direct account. Their criteria is much stricter than other banks.

Gizmo247

I would not use FD as my main account due to its poor internet banking app. It is still very much a telephone banking institution, something it does extremely well.

Faster Payments has changed the landscape of banking in the UK, allowing you to keep your savings in one bank and your current account in another and still get instant access to your savings. So there is no longer a need to look to one institution to provide a best fit to your needs.

If you are after telephone banking or an offset mortgage then, in my opinion, you could do no better than FD, otherwise I would recommend looking elsewhere for more competitive products.

electrobix99

I have had no problems with their internet banking, both the app and the website. The only thing that bugs me about FD is seeing the available balance without doing a money transfer to another account or outside the bank.

It should really show up all the time since they know that information.

Gizmo247

Maybe I painted too dark a picture of the FD website as it does do the basics but it is just a far cry from the state-of-the-art internet banking found at Santandar which delivers real-time transactions, actions and balances, even pending credit card transactions. The FD front-end tends to lag behind the back-office and actions tend be queued and actioned by human staff (i.e. Standing Order cancellation) for no good reason.

TheEffect

Gizmo247 wrote: »

Maybe I painted too dark a picture of the FD website as it does do the basics but it is just a far cry from the state-of-the-art internet banking found at Santandar which delivers real-time transactions, actions and balances, even pending credit card transactions. The FD front-end tends to lag behind the back-office and actions tend be queued and actioned by human staff (i.e. Standing Order cancellation) for no good reason.

While I agree that their Internet Banking is not on par with other banks (including HSBC), first direct are currently in the process of revamping their Internet Banking to bring it up to the standards of other banks.

I disagree about the first direct app.

Gizmo247

Sorry. When I said app I meant the internet banking application in the website. The FD IOS app is fine.

studentguy

Thanks for the replies all!

Firstly I'm not a student (I created this account when I was I believe!). I'll take your points on board and have a think

Thanks,

waynedance

You can open up a savings account and avoid any fees for under funding.
I got my £100 bonus the 1st time my wages of just over £1500 went in.