Opening FD to Switch and Ditch

Stephen_C.

agrinnall wrote: »

Oh the naivety of youth :rotfl:

Blame the poor financial education in school. I'm here to learn!

starM

My account opened up a FD account last Nov for £100 opening and closing incentive. She was not interested Customer Service which FD provides.

I am with FD myself and been with them for the last 15 years. From my point of view their service is excellent but my mother sent them a letter end of July asking them to close the account and pointed closing incentive. She ask them to transfer credit balance to Nationwide.

Guess what - no reply from FD - She sent another letter to them by recorded delivery 2 weeks ago - Again no reply.

I didn't expect this from First Direct. At least they should have replied to her letter.

MS

anoncol

Stephen_C. wrote: »

Why would they turn me down? Surely it's not like a credit card where they can use your credit score to justify a rejection - it's just a normal current account.

Welcome to current accounts.

dalesrider

starM wrote: »

my mother sent them a letter end of July asking them to close the account and pointed closing incentive. She ask them to transfer credit balance to Nationwide.

Guess what - no reply from FD - She sent another letter to them by recorded delivery 2 weeks ago - Again no reply.

I didn't expect this from First Direct. At least they should have replied to her letter.

MS

Has she rang them or sent a message via internet banking?

Are her address/contact details update (often the reason nothing gets responded to)
Did she include details of the account or anything else that would allow them to match the letter to the account? Again another thing that means no contact.
When a letter is received from Mrs XX asking to close Acc 1234 and no other details.
Its pretty certain that no reply will be received given the odds on a lot of people with the same name.

dalesrider

Stephen_C. wrote: »

Why would they turn me down? Surely it's not like a credit card where they can use your credit score to justify a rejection - it's just a normal current account.

:rotfl:

You clearly have no idea on how high FD's standards are when it comes to new customers.

FD, as do many other banks. Have their own internal scoring when it comes to opening accounts. Credit score is only a small part of this.

No bank has to justify rejection.

If you do not meet their required criteria then... Tough luck.

FD do not offer basic accounts. So they are not into the area of taking on risky customers.

Stephen_C.

dalesrider wrote: »

:rotfl:

You clearly have no idea on how high FD's standards are when it comes to new customers.

FD, as do many other banks. Have their own internal scoring when it comes to opening accounts. Credit score is only a small part of this.

No bank has to justify rejection.

If you do not meet their required criteria then... Tough luck.

FD do not offer basic accounts. So they are not into the area of taking on risky customers.

TIL First Direct is a premium brand in banking!

allikerr002

I am just signing up to this account, is it worth it? Going to get my passport certified today at some point.

Archi_Bald

allikerr002 wrote: »

I am just signing up to this account, is it worth it?

It's worth it for me, and for many others, by the looks of it, for a variety of reasons. I only use FD for their Reg Saver, for instance. Others use it because you can chat with CS. Yet others use it for their ISA, or for the current account. There might be other reasons.

Whether it is worth it for yourself only you can tell.

Herbalus

Stephen_C. wrote: »

Not yet, I will of course do that before opening the account. I just wanted to find out if this was an offer worth bothering with at this stage.

Reading the T+Cs would provide you with the answers for most of the questions you've asked here. By all means continue to ask questions, that's what forums are for, but for your own sake, surely it's better to understand a product from the official documentation than a bunch of strangers, albeit well-informed for the most part, on the internet.

Stephen_C. wrote: »

Why would they turn me down? Surely it's not like a credit card where they can use your credit score to justify a rejection - it's just a normal current account.

I don't know of any students with a FD current account. Until very recently the minimum income was equivalent to over £20k. Banks are allowed to ask for proof of funding, and if you can't prove an income of £1000 month (very difficult for a student), then I would suggest you wouldn't get it.

Stephen_C.

Herbalus wrote: »

Reading the T+Cs would provide you with the answers for most of the questions you've asked here. By all means continue to ask questions, that's what forums are for, but for your own sake, surely it's better to understand a product from the official documentation than a bunch of strangers, albeit well-informed for the most part, on the internet.



I don't know of any students with a FD current account. Until very recently the minimum income was equivalent to over £20k. Banks are allowed to ask for proof of funding, and if you can't prove an income of £1000 month (very difficult for a student), then I would suggest you wouldn't get it.

I have more than £1000/month as I am on placement. It's a bit of a grey area as to my status, as I am both an enrolled student and in full-time work.