No £125 from First Direct

snelmark

My wife & I were in the process of switching her banking to First Direct, in part to get her the £125 for switching.
They were happy that she waited to get debit card & cheque book before doing the switch. She has those now so just called First Direct to get the 'switch' moving.

Her present account is with Cahoot... First Direct say that Cahoot isn't on the list of banks they can 'switch' with, so even though she said she could do it herself (not many direct debits/standing orders), they say she won't get the £125.

This feels like a bit of a con. We've told them that in that case, they can close the account. What a waste of time that was.

Has this happened to anyone else?

ffacoffipawb

snelmark wrote: »

My wife & I were in the process of switching her banking to First Direct, in part to get her the £125 for switching.
They were happy that she waited to get debit card & cheque book before doing the switch. She has those now so just called First Direct to get the 'switch' moving.

Her present account is with Cahoot... First Direct say that Cahoot isn't on the list of banks they can 'switch' with, so even though she said she could do it herself (not many direct debits/standing orders), they say she won't get the £125.

This feels like a bit of a con. We've told them that in that case, they can close the account. What a waste of time that was.

Has this happened to anyone else?

I switched Cahoot to Co-Op to bag their £100, so Cahoot is switchable.

snelmark

Maybe Cahoot don't do switch to First Direct, I suppose? Seems odd, admittedly.

bxboards

I switched from Cahoot to Clydesdale within the last 2 months and Cahoot is definitely part of the Current Account Switch Service, so you should be able to switch just fine.

Phone up and talk to someone else. They can verify it's switchable with your Cahoot sort code.

MARTYM8`

You have 3 months from the account opening date to switch into First Direct to get the £125 – no direct debits needed and all you need to have done is paid in £1000 in total by the end of month 3 (which 3 months of funding for the £300 regular saver would almost cover).

So I suggest the OP's wife opens a donor account with another bank – and switches that instead.