First Direct 1st Account

billchecker1

I have recently opened one of these to allow access to the 6% regular saver and the £125 opening bonus.

The conditions for the bonus state "and salary/income of at least £1,000 per month to your 1st Account within three months of your account opening and we will add £125 to your account."

Now my idea was to simply do a standing order in and out every month for the £1000 and to add 2 X DDS however on speaking to them on the phone they insisted that it had to be salary. I don't really want to be messing about changing this.

I am uncertain that the operator is correct, especially after seeing the T+Cs. Does anyone have any experience of this?

CLAPTON

one would assume the T&Cs were correct

HHarry

Halifax state "Just pay in your salary or other credits" for the Reward account and are fine with a transfer, rather than salary.

1st Direct state "salary/income" so recoginse that not everyone (pensioners) are in a position to have a salary paid in, so I think you'll be OK.

YorkshireBoy

And don't forget you can't just add "2 x DDs" yourself...you need to ask them to switch the DDs (or SOs) from an existing account you have elsewhere.

oldfella

never had a problem with this so far

cwal

I have a FD account and my salary is not paid directly in to it - it gets paid in to another account and then I transfer across to meet the minimum funding requirements - to date I've never had any problems with this.

wary

cwal wrote: »

I have a FD account and my salary is not paid directly in to it - it gets paid in to another account and then I transfer across to meet the minimum funding requirements - to date I've never had any problems with this.

Makes sense. How could they possibly know for definite whether the £1000 transfer is your actual salary?!?

An exact amount of £1000 may make them suspicious, but one could always add a few extra pounds & pence to the amount to make it a bit less obvious.

YorkshireBoy

oldfella wrote: »

never had a problem with this so far

cwal wrote:

never had any problems with this

The OP's query relates, specifically, to the £125 incentive.

You're only ever going to have one problem...the day they refuse to pay it. It's never going to be an ongoing "problem".

MrRee_2

They obviously want to attract you with the £125 to be your Current Account ............. they are considered to be the best bank, so no loss if you transfer is there?

It's dead easy to swap - even easier from tomorrow!

Archi_Bald

MrRee wrote: »

It's dead easy to swap - even easier from tomorrow!

It might be dead easy (if we can believe the hype....I don't) but the question is whether you actually want to have your entire banking transferred to a different bank. In most situations, it is probably a lot smarter to keep your existing account and open another one somewhere else. This may not land you with the switching bonus but it might be a much better choice for yourself. And if you really do want to get your hands on a switching bonus, that can be achieved with a little bit of imagination and initiative, anyway.

Archi_Bald

MrRee wrote: »

they are considered to be the best bank, so no loss if you transfer is there?

Of course there is lots of potential loss!

They have had the best Regular Saver for a number of years, and they have had people drooling over their 'customer service', whatever that may be. I have had their Regular Saver for many years, and therefore also a 1st account for many years.

But does that make them "best bank"? Hell no. What is "best bank", anyway? A bank that pays zero percent interest for your current account balance? When you can get up to 5% elsewhere? A bank that gives you zero percent cashback for your direct debits, and for your mortgage payments? When you can get up to 3% elsewhere?

If your 'best bank' is a bank that doesn't have a 'press 1 - then 2 - then 5 - then 3 - service' but instead connects you to a person that then transfers you to another person who transfers you to another person, or puts you on hold whilst they have consulted with their colleague, we are so many million miles apart in our views that we don't even have to attempt to get onto a common ground.

To me, there is no such thing as a "best bank". Different people have different requirements. Different banks have different offers.

In the last 35 years, I haven't seen any individual bank offering me everything I want. So there's no 'best bank' for me. It is quite easy, though, to pick the best offers from across the banks, building societies and investment brokers.