How did First Direct come first in MSE polls?

Yorkshire_Pud

They give a £250 interest free overdraft as well.....rotters:)

Mr_Goodkat

First Direct have always been a good bank for me but the recent reports coming from users about long delays on the phone, lengthy conversations to open regular savers and difficulty switching process is concerning.


I use FD as my 'main account' but I do have 30+ current accounts.


I have only very rarely had to speak to them but have always found the call has been answered almost instantly, the first person I have spoken to has fully dealt with my query in the vast majority of cases. If they have needed to pass me on the next person I have spoken to was fully aware of what I was wanting to do - top marks on CS from me so far but I have not had cause to speak to them for a while and do worry about the above recent reports - time will tell.


The 6% regular saver is a good savings product, the interest free £250 OD is nice given they don't pay in credit interest anymore so can draw cash on that whilst my money earns interest elsewhere. Decent mortgage rates and not bad ISA rates as well as giving me a £20k gold card credit facility with regular balance transfer offers. I have always found the internet banking functional, not the best but fine the app again has been functional and although not a massive fan of the latest version as more touch and feel changes than functionality improvements I am getting used to the new look and is still functional.


Very happy with FD currently but will be very much watching this space!

hellopaul

Mr_Goodkat wrote: »

I use FD as my 'main account' but I do have 30+ current accounts.

:shocked: :shocked:
Why? Is that part of your job, or just some kind of bank addiction?!
Those must be a nightmare to keep track of!

benjus

I haven't needed to call FD many times, but when I have called them they have answered quickly and been helpful. On the downside their online and mobile banking is nasty - I get frequent failures so simple operations can take numerous attempts. And in general I use online/mobile banking far more than the call centre.

I don't think FD's customer service has really been noticeably better than that of other banks I use - with a couple of exceptions (Metro Bank misplaced £1000 that I transferred in, and were not helpful about finding it until I really badgered them; Nationwide call centre told me I could not close a joint account without the other party's approval, but a local branch manager had no problem doing it for me)

colsten

hellopaul wrote: »

Why? Is that part of your job, or just some kind of bank addiction?!
Those must be a nightmare to keep track of!

Quite a few people on here have multiple current accounts, often dozens of them. It's because they are paying best interest for cash deposits these days. I have some 30-odd myself and I don't find keeping track a nightmare as I am recording all my accounts and accounts as I go.

HappyMJ

What I didn't like about First Direct so far is the welcome pack they send you doesn't fit in the letterbox and required me to go to the post office to collect it or get the post office to redirect it somewhere else.....and there was nothing really in it that couldn't have been communicated to me via the internet.

Mr_Goodkat

hellopaul wrote: »

:shocked: :shocked:
Why? Is that part of your job, or just some kind of bank addiction?
Those must be a nightmare to keep track of!

I have 30+ current accounts because of the many different benefits these accounts offer me. Current Accounts pay interest at a higher rate than any savings account with the exception of regular savers but do limit the amount you can hold with them at that interest rate hence so many accounts. I also hold both sole and joint accounts again to maximum the benefits on offer. Often banks release accounts without severely limiting the number of accounts you can have so the early bird catches the worm e.g. TSB allowing two sole accounts initially before reducing to one but allowing those who hold the accounts to retain them.


Just a few examples:
FD give me £250 interest free OD and access to their 6% regular saver
Halifax will pay a £5 reward on both sole and joint accounts
Santander pay 3% on £20k plus cash back on various household bills paid by direct debit
TSB pay 5% on £2k per account
Club Lloyds 4% on £5k
Nationwide Flex Plus charge £10 a month for a joint account including various insurances but this is offset in part by 3% interest on £2.5k


Keeping track is remarkably easy with cross firing SO's meeting monthly funding requirements and monthly nominal direct debits from Tesco pulling money as required to meet minimum direct debit requirements.


Once a month I then sit down and manually skim off the interest.

meer53

HappyMJ wrote: »

What I didn't like about First Direct so far is the welcome pack they send you doesn't fit in the letterbox and required me to go to the post office to collect it or get the post office to redirect it somewhere else.....and there was nothing really in it that couldn't have been communicated to me via the internet.

It's an A4 envelope, how big is your letterbox ?

Frank121

I have been with First Direct for nearly twenty years. Nothing came close back in the late 90's and the ability to phone them 24/7 to check transactions and salary payments was great! I remember they may have been one of the first to launch internet banking where you dialled a special secure access number (via a dial up modem for those that remember them!) and then were able to log into internet banking. (which I think was via a application installed on the PC rather than a web browser)

I think it's those things that people remember and increase the "yes" vote. These days I don't think they offer much more than any other comptent bank and their internet banking platform hasn't changed much in the last 10 years or more making it rather old fashioned now. I rarely have to call them these days but they are still helpfull when I do.

Personaly, I think the HSBC (same group as FD) systems and processes are just old and need a major update! I recently opened a HSBC advance acount which was a very lengthy experience!

HappyMJ

meer53 wrote: »

It's an A4 envelope, how big is your letterbox ?

Smaller than the envelope.