First Direct 1st Account

Jaymistry

Ignore my last message...just saw it on the regular saver page!...duh!!

Mr_K

Jaymistry wrote: »

Funnily enough I was just inquiring about this today.

Speaking of which, I notice this regular saver account at 6% is not mentioned on the savings page. How come? To me it seems like one of the best rates around.

Does anyone know of anything that can beat 6% on up to £3600?

Thanks

Like all regular savers it's not that great i.e. you only get 6% on £3600 for one month - max possible interest £93 over the year and the money is tied up, so don't book your holiday to the sun...

I only opened the FD account to get their 3% Cash ISA, the lump sum for the current account was a nice bonus. They've now cut the rate to 2% on the ISA :mad: . Even after the cut I get more on the ISA in a month than the Regular Saver gives in a year.

rb10

Mr_K wrote: »

Like all regular savers it's not that great i.e. you only get 6% on £3600 for one month - max possible interest £93 over the year and the money is tied up, so don't book your holiday to the sun...

You get £93 interest on the regular saver.

You'd get around £30 in a normal savings account, on the same balance.

Or £45 in a Santander / TSB / Lloyds / Bank of Scotland current account.

So it depends whether it's worth the (minimal) effort to get an extra £45-60 interest per year.

Chris_Preston

Am I being thick, here? Looking at the FAQs on First Direct's website, it reads to me that after the first 6 months, whatever you do, you get charged £10 per month.
Is there a charge to bank with first direct? Banking with first direct usually costs £10 a month, but you will not be charged this fee for the first six months from account opening, when you pay in at least £1,000 to your 1st Account each month, or maintain an average monthly 1st Account balance of £1,000, or you hold a selected first direct additional product. Take a look at our Interest rates and charges for more details of other additional products.

rb10

Chris_Preston wrote: »

Am I being thick, here? Looking at the FAQs on First Direct's website, it reads to me that after the first 6 months, whatever you do, you get charged £10 per month.
Is there a charge to bank with first direct? Banking with first direct usually costs £10 a month, but you will not be charged this fee for the first six months from account opening, when you pay in at least £1,000 to your 1st Account each month, or maintain an average monthly 1st Account balance of £1,000, or you hold a selected first direct additional product. Take a look at our Interest rates and charges for more details of other additional products.

To clarify the quote they've given - you are not charged the £10 fee if any one or more of the following apply:

- The account was opened less than six months ago; or
- You've paid in £1k+ this month; or
- The average balance of your account was £1k+; or
- You hold a selected First Direct savings account.

The best way to run a First Direct account is to leave £1 in the 1st Account (to keep it open and ensure you are eligible for the Regular Saver) and open an e-saver with £1 (to meet the fourth criteria above to avoid the monthly fee).

You can then use a different bank for your day-to-day banking, one that gives some benefit for banking there (i.e. TSB, Lloyds, Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Santander or Halifax).

Vortigern

rb10 wrote: »

The best way to run a First Direct account is to leave £1 in the 1st Account (to keep it open and ensure you are eligible for the Regular Saver) and open an e-saver with £1 (to meet the fourth criteria above to avoid the monthly fee).

Why leave £1 in the current account? You could make use of the £250 free overdraft to fund savings elsewhere.

YorkshireBoy

Vortigern wrote: »

Why leave £1 in the current account? You could make use of the £250 free overdraft to fund savings elsewhere.

£250 would make a BR tax payer the princely sum of £10 a year (if it were sent to Nationwide's FlexDirect account paying 5% AER).

But...your credit report would show you living in your overdraft each and every month, which might not look too good to some lenders when searching your file for credit applications?

Not bothered personally (as I'm still stoozing a £10K O/D facility with Santander, and until recently doing the same with £7.5K from Nationwide), but others might be.

And finally, if you slip up you have the O/D to fall back on (obviously only for £250), whereas if you're -£250 there's no margin for error!

Vortigern

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

£250 would make a BR tax payer the princely sum of £10 a year (if it were sent to Nationwide's FlexDirect account paying 5% AER).

But...your credit report would show you living in your overdraft each and every month, which might not look too good to some lenders when searching your file for credit applications?

Not bothered personally (as I'm still stoozing a £10K O/D facility with Santander, and until recently doing the same with £7.5K from Nationwide), but others might be.

And finally, if you slip up you have the O/D to fall back on (obviously only for £250), whereas if you're -£250 there's no margin for error!

All very true, but my point was really that you don't need to leave £1 in the 1st account "to keep it open"

Gromitt

rb10 wrote: »

So it depends whether it's worth the (minimal) effort to get an extra £45-60 interest per year.

I use it simply because all my other '3%+' accounts are all full to capacity. It makes sense throwing it at a 6% regular saver than having it in a 1.9% account.

Assuming basic rate tax, If I leave the funds in my 1.9% account, It's get about £54, if I drip feed into the regular saver I'll end up with £118 in total, so £63 more, which pays my mobile phone bill