First Direct £125 switch incentive

peanuts92

Hey there,

As i'm sure most of you know that First Direct are currently offering a switch incentive of £125 to switch your current account to them, £225 if you don't like them. Well i am very interested in giving this ago and testing out First Direct's top customer service.

To qualify for the switch incentive you need to transfer at least two standing orders and/or direct debits as well as a salary/income of at least £1500 per month.

Well, the direct debits/standing orders aren't a problem to me at all, it's just the £1500 monthly salary. At the moment, i'm earning around £1000 monthly and i was wondering is there anyway that i could make up the rest of the monthly requirement by transfering an extra £500 into my account manually. Would First Direct allow this? Or would they immediately realise and only want the £1500 to come in one lump sum from BACs from your salary?
Also, i did try applying for an account about a year ago, but they rejected my application as my monthly income wasn't high enough then (as i had different more low income job). So if i were to apply again i would have to put at least £1500.

Any help and advice would be really appreciated!
Thanks!

innovate

peanuts92 wrote: »

Would First Direct allow this?

Yes they would

peanuts92 wrote: »

Or would they immediately realise and only want the £1500 to come in one lump sum from BACs from your salary?

No

peanuts92 wrote: »

Also, i did try applying for an account about a year ago, but they rejected my application as my monthly income wasn't high enough then

Are you certain this was the reason?

peanuts92

innovate wrote: »

Yes they would

No

Are you certain this was the reason?

Thank you!

I don't think it told me, for data protection reasons or something, but back then my monthly income was a lot lower around £200 as i was only working part time. So i figured how they clearly state they want an income of at least £1500 monthly, that it had to be my income that was the problem.

But that's great, thanks for your help!
I was just a little worried that they might not accept me paying in the rest of the monthly income through a transfer from another account.
Just one question, when they ask me for my monthly income on the online application that you fill out, should i be honest and put it at around the £1000 that i do actually earn? Or shall i put down £1500? As that's what i will be paying into the account monthly.
Will they check and find out if i put down i earn £1500 through my taxes or wage slips or some other source?
As i don't want to get into trouble for fraud or anything...

But otherwise, I think i might just go ahead with this now and apply for an account!

innovate

You should never be dishonest, and particularly not on an application for any accounts.

The reason they turned you down may or may not have been your income - have you checked your credit files, are they clean?

FD are known to be picky who they take on. Good luck this time.