First Direct Bank Account charges

shyguy365

Hi all,

I'm looking to switch accounts to First Direct (£100 not to be sniffed at), and was looking at the terms & conditions of the account and the offer.

I can switch all my direct debits, and I can pay in £1,500 in order to qualify.

However, in the small print on the site itself, but not mentioned on MSE (that I could see), is that you have to hold an average monthly balance of £1,500 or they charge you their standard £10 a month fee.

Now this is something I would struggle with (I WISH I had £1,500 to keep in a current account :rotfl: ).

Does anybody have any experience of this rule they have in place, and whether they are pretty stringent with it? I'm not going to switch for £100 only to have £120 a year taken off me in fees.

Thanks forum :A

dalesrider

Simply open up a savings acc and dump £1 in it.

No need to worry about the £10 charge then.

shyguy365

dalesrider wrote: »

Simply open up a savings acc and dump £1 in it.

No need to worry about the £10 charge then.

Hi,

Sorry to be ignorant, but what's this about? Am I right in assuming that if you also open a savings account with them then the £10 monthly fee is waived?

Thanks

seriousDFW

You don't have to hold an average monthly balance of £1,500, you simply have to have £1,500 paid into the account each month. This can come from any source and needn't be in one transaction.

dalesrider

shyguy365 wrote: »

Hi,

Sorry to be ignorant, but what's this about? Am I right in assuming that if you also open a savings account with them then the £10 monthly fee is waived?

Thanks

Yep.

Or credit card/mortgage.

Have a word with the guys on the phone they will be able to advise you of which products qualify.

thumshie

Banking with first direct usually costs £10 a month, but we'll waive the fee if you pay in at least £1,500 to your 1st Account each month, maintain an average monthly 1st Account balance of £1,500, or hold a selected first direct additional product.

It's an or. Either pay in £1,500, maintain a balance of 1,500 or hold a selected product.

taken from the rates and charges section:

Banking fee waivers
You will not have to pay the Banking fee:

for the first six months following account opening
for any month in which you:
pay into your account* (other than by internal transfer from another first direct account) a minimum of £1,500 or you maintain an average monthly balance on your account* in excess of £1,500 (month means calendar month and we will work out the average monthly balance by adding together the end of day balances for each day during the month and dividing the sum by the number of days in the month) or
hold a first direct mortgage, credit card, personal loan, savings account (*excludes Regular Saver Account), First Directory, or first direct car or home insurance policy;
in relation to any second or subsequent 1st Account in the same name. (If you hold a sole and joint account, your joint account will not be considered to be in the same name unless all joint account holders are the same);
if your account is inactive for more than 90 days and the balance of your account is less than £10.
* Where multiple current accounts are held, accounts will be considered individually in respect of balances and credits received and will not be aggregated when assessing whether a fee is payable.

shyguy365

Didn't see the 'or'!!! Silly me. It did seem like an odd thing to stipulate, asking people to hold £1,500 in a current account paying 0% interest.

Thanks for everybody's help here by the way, 3 great answers which have set my head straight now.

Will be applying for this ASAP. Thank you Santander for your £100 last year