first direct leaving bonus

nuks

I opened a First Direct account just to get the sign up bonus and have recently realized there was 'an exit' bonus as well. Can anyone confirm whether this is true: if I maintain the account for at least 6 months, pay in at least £1000 each month,used the easy switch for transferring at least two DDs to the account -- I am eligible to get the £100 leaving bonus provided I close the acct after 6 months but before 12 months from opening? How easy/difficult is to get this leaving bonus, for instance I'm not happy with their online banking, would that be sufficient to say? (they've also messed up the DDs switch - luckily I noticed and transfered funds to cover). Anything else I need to consider? Thanks!

ps. Also, a side question, if I close the acct and get the extra £100, would I be able to access HSBC products in the future? ie. mortgage or open a bank acct?

dr_adidas01

They give you £100 of you are unhappy and leave and close your account.

However you have to have a damn good reason to get it, the fact that you simply don't like the internet banking wont be good enough. I think it has to be a serious catalogue of errors on there part before they will pay out.

HSBC have access to First Direct data and vise versa as they are the same group. It's hard to say if they will or wont let you access HSBC products in the future, they will take into account the way you have run accounts you already have had with them, and may decide that they don't want to do business with you based on this information.

Ed-1

If you meet the rules there's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't give you it.

The rules are:

We'll pay £100 per customer or joint relationship if you close your 1st Account within 12 months of opening it, as long as a monthly salary or income of £1000 or more has been paid into that account for at least six months and you haven't previously had an account with first direct.

nuks

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

However you have to have a damn good reason to get it, the fact that you simply don't like the internet banking wont be good enough. I think it has to be a serious catalogue of errors on there part before they will pay out.

That's very subjective... if internet banking is important to me and I don't like how it works after testing it for a while, why wouldn't they accept that as a valid reason? The rules are below - does anyone have experience with closing it?

comes with our satisfaction guarantee - if you're not happy we'll give you £100.***

*** Here's how it works. We'll pay £100 per customer or joint relationship if you close your 1st Account within 12 months of opening it, as long as a monthly salary or income of £1000 or more has been paid into that account for at least six months and you haven't previously had an account with first direct. You'll also need to have used our Easyswitch service which means we'll have obtained details of your standing orders and Direct Debits from your previous bankers and arranged to transfer them for you. We'll pay the £100 into your 1st Account prior to its closure. All accounts with first direct have to be closed and your 1st Account transferred to another bank/building society.

Gizmo247

Have you met those conditions? If not, you will get nothing otherwise I don't think they are in any way awkward about it.

Remember once you take the King's Shilling, you will be blacklisted from First Direct products forever.

nuks

Yup I meet the conditions - but I have to wait for another 4 months to close it.

Really, blacklisted forever, how do you know that? Does that apply to HSBC products as well?

dr_adidas01

nuks wrote: »

That's very subjective... if internet banking is important to me and I don't like how it works after testing it for a while, why wouldn't they accept that as a valid reason? The rules are below - does anyone have experience with closing it?

comes with our satisfaction guarantee - if you're not happy we'll give you £100.***

*** Here's how it works. We'll pay £100 per customer or joint relationship if you close your 1st Account within 12 months of opening it, as long as a monthly salary or income of £1000 or more has been paid into that account for at least six months and you haven't previously had an account with first direct. You'll also need to have used our Easyswitch service which means we'll have obtained details of your standing orders and Direct Debits from your previous bankers and arranged to transfer them for you. We'll pay the £100 into your 1st Account prior to its closure. All accounts with first direct have to be closed and your 1st Account transferred to another bank/building society.

Its not subjective at all its fact there have been quite a few people whom have posted on here about being refused the £100 just because they don't like the online banking.

I don't like Citibank UK's online banking as its appalling and antiquated and you have to call them to do something as simple as cancel paper statements as there's no online option.

However I have the account as there is a euro account and US$ account attached to it, which means I don't get charged conversion fees when paying in euros or US$ when i'm abroad.

innovate

My view is that, as long as FD have the 6% Reg Saver, it's a bit short sighted close the account for the £100. Though of course the Reg Saver is only of interest if you want to save regularly.

Ed-1

innovate wrote: »

My view is that, as long as FD have the 6% Reg Saver, it's a bit short sighted close the account for the £100. Though of course the Reg Saver is only of interest if you want to save regularly.

I disagree. By feeding £300 a month into the 6% regular saver you are getting £117 interest after a year. By closing the 1st account after 6 months you're getting £100. Meanwhile, the money that would've been in the regular saver is earning say 3% interest elsewhere. So you're better off at least initially by taking the leaving bonus of £100 + the interest elsewhere.

Longer term, if the regular saver is still available there's nothing stopping you trying to open up another 1st account + regular saver in the future after closing the account. Whether they'd take into account a previous closure is a different matter. But leave it another 6 months and I don't think there'd be much problem.

TheEffect

I can think of a few reasons to leave first direct, which would hopefully be a viable reason to get the leaving bonus.

One would be if you had poor eyesight, their (self confessed) terrible quality cards mean the numbers rub away very quickly, meaning it may be difficult for you to read the card.

dalesrider

Ed-1 wrote: »

IWhether they'd take into account a previous closure is a different matter. But leave it another 6 months and I don't think there'd be much problem.

They will and do.
Like all banks data is held on the computer systems.
So unless you moved, which would have to be at least 2 years or more.
You will get found out.