first direct leaving bonus

innovate

It never ceases to amaze me how people think publishing their incredibly cunning plans for getting one over the banks/BSs on an open Internet forum will help them succeed with these plans.

fiesta04

Surely the OP was mis-sold this account, so FD should pay £50 compensation, and then take back £100......would I laugh???

F4

dalesrider

innovate wrote: »

It never ceases to amaze me how people think publishing their incredibly cunning plans for getting one over the banks/BSs on an open Internet forum will help them succeed with these plans.

Especially given that ALL banks now have social media teams who monitor all these forums.

Never mind the special links FD have to this site.... So no doub't Mr Lewis's team will be feeding this info on so he can keep getting his kickback for the extra Wonga you get when you signup via here :rotfl:

Hominu

Ed-1 wrote: »

But leave it another 6 months and I don't think there'd be much problem.

You may be able to open an account in 6 - 12 months, but you'll be guaranteed not to get any bonuses for any reason. FD keep customer data for at least 6 years, maybe longer, as I remember them denying people the opening bonus because they had the current account almost 6 years ago. They argued that a lot can change in 6 years, which FD agreed, but said they still would not pay them anything.

100saving

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 have to agree I set up the account for the bonus + the Reg. savings account. Which when you look at it on paper I am going to get £193 in the first year from the two and hopefully they will have a new reg. saving account then that I could start to save in to.

£200 to join and leave VS £193 in year one with the possibility of a good reg. account next year as well. I know what one I should choose!

System

You simply have to not like something enough to leave and meet the other criteria. They paid out to me with no real effort on my part.

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

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.
/QUOTE]

gwapenut

I joined FD for the starting bonus and was considering leaving after about 9 months because, in my opinion, the internet banking is shocking versus many competitors.

As an example, at the beginning of the year if I modified a standing order, I would not be able to see the revised details - amount or date - until AFTER it had been paid. No good if you want to reassure yourself you've done it right .... to me, that was wholly unacceptable and would have been sufficient grounds to leave.

They have now finally improved that side of things, though I still dislike using their internet banking as it is a black, satanic experience!

But what convinced me to stay on was their cash ISA rate in April. While all others were falling, it was - and still is - 3% for > £40k. That was remarkable then, for an easy access product, and more remarkable still that they have not yet dropped it given that everyone else is at least 1% less.

Therefore I prefer to keep "in" with them, as among all the dire savings accounts, they have one or two little gems.

Their mortgages are frequently very competitive too, certainly their tracker about 3 years ago was a great deal when I was looking.

So I prefer not to get on the wrong side of them, and will play the long game. Perhaps one day when their internet banking crawls out of the 1990s I might use the account as my main one.

nuks

innovate wrote: »

It never ceases to amaze me how people think publishing their incredibly cunning plans for getting one over the banks/BSs on an open Internet forum will help them succeed with these plans.

dalesrider wrote: »

Especially given that ALL banks now have social media teams who monitor all these forums.

So you guys think it's immoral to do this to a bank? I'm playing by their rules and they should be grateful for every new customer they acquire, even a temporary one. It helps their bonuses LOL

They hope to anchor people to their products by giving these incentives. I'm sure they forecasted expected % of customers who'd take the leaving offer -- and they still decided it was profitable to them to make the offer. Banks win no matter what

nuks

PS. The Regular saver is currently of no use to me, I am trying to make mortgage overpayments instead of saving. One thing that would keep me as an FD customer is access to mortgage rates - true - but for now I'm stuck in a fixed rate with Halifax so that's just a consideration for the future.

mrmajika

Gizmo247 wrote: »

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

This is not correct. You are pre-cluded from further bonus sign up offers, but there's nothing to stop you opening any FD product in the future. A search of these forums will confirm that there's people who have easily (re)opened a FD current account after successfully claiming the leaving bonus.