First Direct - a quick check needed.

I_want_a_baby

I just wondered if someone would kindly check if I am correct in my assumptions...

First I am a sahm, working hard to stretch the pennies, earn as much by making our money work and balance the books. I aim to save up a £12k emergency fund, pay off £10k of debt and reduce our mortgage by £25k in 5 years - my husband earns a modest 30k or year and we have two kids with one on the way.....

Anyway my husband and I have never changed our current accounts despite me being savvy with our savings.

Anyway I've just switched my current account to halifax to get the £40 quidco cashback, £100 halifax cashback and £5 per month. I already have 2 DDs from my current account and I will just cycle £750 through each month.

My question is.... If I transfer his to first direct are these assumptions correct:
If I use their switching service we will get £125 cashback.
If I open an e-savings account with £1 in it we will not be charged monthly for the current account.
I will be able to open a regular saver and save a maximum of £300 per month at 6%.
The current account does not need to have DDs
I don't need to cycle any money through (other than what I'm paying into the regular saver).

I just need a bit of reassurance as I don't mind messing my account up but don't want to mess my husbands up when he is trusting me to organise our finances.

Thank you very much in advance x

colsten

The full FD terms for the £125 are:

Open a 1st Account, then transfer your income of at least £1,000 per month using the Current Account Switch Service within three months of your account opening and we'll add £125 to your account. This offer is only available for people who haven't previously held any account with first direct and is limited to one payment per customer or joint relationship.

http://www1.firstdirect.com/1/2/banking/switching-bank-accounts

Seems you omitted the £1,000, or are they implied in what you are planning to do?

The following sounds right

I_want_a_baby wrote: »

If I open an e-savings account with £1 in it we will not be charged monthly for the current account.
I will be able to open a regular saver and save a maximum of £300 per month at 6%.
The current account does not need to have DDs

grumbler

The assumptions are correct, but it doesn't make much sense to start saving before paying off your £10K debt.

MSE article: Should I Repay Debts or Save?

I_want_a_baby

Thank you both for replying.

That is where I am slightly confused, does it need to be £1000 salary as in a bacs transaction or can it be £1000 transferred in and out?

The debt is to parents, no interest, paying £300pm to them and saving up in regulars savers to pay off in full.

mkb2014

The interesting things is to qualify for the £125 you only need to deposit £1000 within the first three months of opening the account, NOT every month - I think their wording is a bit misleading to be honest.

:beer:

colsten

As it doesn't say in the terms that it has to be a BACS transaction, it doesn't have to be one. "Income" can be anything from salary to pension to some money in cash etc.

It doesn't even have to be 1 transaction, as it doesn't so either in the terms.

colsten

mkb2014 wrote: »

The interesting things is to qualify for the £125 you only need to deposit £1000 within the first three months of opening the account, NOT every month - I think their wording is a bit misleading to be honest.

I think it would be fair to say that banks write their terms for people who want to have accounts with them, not for bonus tarts . If you are into exploiting those offers for the money, you need to be able to read and interpret the T&Cs.

I_want_a_baby

Lol I would add that whilst I am after the bonus, we would be using the current account as a current account (albeit low number of transactions) and we would be using the regular saver.

I have read the t&cs and read as many posts on here that I could find but was just a little unsure as they aren't as specific as the terms for halifax and seem a bit vague. I shall trf in and out the £1000 just to be on the safe side!

Thanks

IWAB

I_want_a_baby

Just completed the application and it said it needs to be reviewed further and they will contact us in 48 hours.

Hope I completed it ok :-(

polymaff

You sound pretty well on the way to meeting your target. Just one thought:

If you're planning to open a joint FD bank account and then run two Regular Saver accounts, get them to up your bank account overdraft from the default £500 to £600. That way, if your Regular Saver payments in get delayed you won't get stung by FD's new (November 14), significantly increased, overdraft charges.

As Colsten has said, you have to keep up to date with the *current* T&Cs.

grumbler

polymaff wrote: »

...
If you're planning to open a joint FD bank account...

Why sacrifice potential second £125 bonus?

It's about 2-years' extra interest that their regular saver generates.