Thoughts on First Direct

colsten

The Santander 123 and the FD current account are to some extent very different animals. Both obviously allow you to do what you expect any current account to do - cash withdrawals, SOs, DDs, faster payments, online and mobile banking, contactless/Apple Pay. Perfectly good and safe, even though the FD online banking is an ugly looking duckling.

You get no cashback, and no interest, from FD - but then, they also don't (currently) charge you for having the account. They have a brilliant Regular Savings account, Santander have no such thing. I don't know much about their loans, overdrafts and mortgage offerings as I don't need them.

For as long as FD are not paying interest in their current account, I would never use it to keep any money in it but I have been using it with a zero balance for years as it gives me access to their Regular Saver. The switching bonus is also nice to get but no reason for using their current account from thereon.

The FD "customer service" thing that so many harp on about means not much to me as I do 99% of my banking online.

If I were to switch my accounts away from Santander (which I may or may not do, not decided yet), I would switch to somewhere that pays me interest and/or cashback. If I had not already cashed in on all the switching offers (not just the FD one), I would definitely do them all as soon as possible, even if it meant I had to open some donor accounts.

mallard

Some really helpful experiences so thanks. Appreciate all banks get good and bad so it is useful to get more balanced views here...

MABLE

One other thing I do not want banks or any other business to treat like a long lost friend. This is why I always try and do everything online.

joe134

MABLE wrote: »

One other thing I do not want banks or any other business to treat like a long lost friend. This is why I always try and do everything online.

I was just about to switch a dormant A/c to FD,for the incentive and the RS @ 6%, same as,Hsbc, which, I've been with for 55 years, and there login would be the same,???? (Sorry if I'm wrong,) which I find ok.
However, reading this has stopped me dead in my tracks;
As a phone hater, I do not want to spend ages on it.Not for all the tea in China.
I have Just opened 4 tesco A/c's in a week from applying to putting first £3k in each today, all online,and only one form to sign
.That's good.
Here was me thinking you were everyones long lost freind Mable;)

Archi_Bald

MABLE wrote: »

One other thing I do not want banks or any other business to treat like a long lost friend.

I very much agree with that sentiment. Nobody should have any emotional attachment to any bank, or feel they should be loyal to a given outfit. The concept of "my bank" is ancient and we should be seeing banks as the simple "shops" that they are. We shouldn't be afraid to just pick the best offers from each of them rather than accepting everything from a single bank.

Archi_Bald

joe134 wrote: »

I was just about to switch a dormant A/c to FD,for the incentive and the RS @ 6%, same as,Hsbc, which, I've been with for 55 years, and there login would be the same,???? (Sorry if I'm wrong,) which I find ok.
However, reading this has stopped me dead in my tracks;
As a phone hater, I do not want to spend ages on it.Not for all the tea in China.
I have Just opened 4 tesco A/c's in a week from applying to putting first £3k in each today, all online,and only one form to sign
.That's good.
Here was me thinking you were everyones long lost freind Mable;)

No, their login is not the same.

You can do most transactions at FD online, including setting up a Regular Saver, as well as moving your money elsewhere when it has matured.

jimjames

mallard wrote: »

Some really helpful experiences so thanks. Appreciate all banks get good and bad so it is useful to get more balanced views here...

I certainly wouldn't jump from Santander just because their fee is increasing - if I was still making money from the cashback and interest.
FD may have good customer service but pays no interest so I'd never use it. I've had lots of experience with different accounts over the last year and my preference so far has to be for Tesco. They pay 3% with no fees unlike Santander - but have a lower balance that it is paid on which doesn't matter to me and their app is fantastic.
TSB pays good interest as does Nationwide but some of their account features for payments are quite clunky in comparison to Tesco.

mallard

Agree as well...they are just banks that we do business with so end of. Few years had quite a bit in a Natwest account and they were my best mates. Ringing to see how I was, whether they could do anything for me, blah blah. When i took the money out we fell out...no comforting calls, no offers of lunch in a natwest taverna, nothing! I was in a branch (that was one of those old fashioned building things) a few weeks later so thought I would have a bit of fun and asked them why they hadn't been in touch. Fun watching one customer services person asking the next and the next and the next yet non could tell me why our relationship had faltered. They did give me a coffee!

GraemeF

Hi I have just been on the phone for 20 minutes (mostly on hold!) with First Direct I have just found out I have been paying over drawn charges for the last 2 months they have stopped sending text messages regarding over drawn accounts. Customer services is nil and their online site and app are terrible. I am in the process of shutting down the account. AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!

meer53

GraemeF wrote: »

Hi I have just been on the phone for 20 minutes (mostly on hold!) with First Direct I have just found out I have been paying over drawn charges for the last 2 months they have stopped sending text messages regarding over drawn accounts. Customer services is nil and their online site and app are terrible. I am in the process of shutting down the account. AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!

Did you ask them why they stopped sending the texts ? How come you didn't know you were overdrawn ? You not checking your account for 2 months is hardly their mistake.