Top Bank Accounts Discussion Area

Cloudane

If you're not bothered about the MoneySaving aspect (they give you ZERO interest) I often hear very good things about First Direct for customer service.

It's my Plan B if I have the horrific experience with A&L that others seem to. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Giving them a chance though...

troubrs

I accidentally mistyped my password & got it frozen. Had to call an 0844 number (7p/minute) to get it re-set. After listening to music & holding for over 20 minutes I gave up. E-mailed & asked for my password to be re-set - they replied saying you had to phone the 0844 number. So I mailed back & asked for an alternative number & got a reply saying 'call the 0833 number'. At this rate it'll cost me £££'s to re-set my password! Not impressed, I think I won't bother & will just move.

Factor25

Ive just switched to the First Direct 1st a/c (from Abbey) and would highly recommend them. The switching process was a breeze and my only regret is not ditching the Abbey years ago. I had a couple of mishaps (my own mistakes) and they were sorted out no problem. Our first salary payment went in on 14/06 and we got the £100 joining incentive last week. Every time ive asked them to do something, its done. You ring them, a person answers, no options menus. Customer service is excellent, they have answered every question without passing me from pillar to post. We applied for their Gold card and this was all sorted out by the one person. They do have an 0845 number but they give you an alternative if you ask. Ok no interest paid but we shall just keep enough in to cover the bills and put the rest elsewhere.

Cloudane

So far so.... okay... with A&L - the biggest pain was Paranoid Paypal jumping at the opportunity to freeze my account (their favourite pastime from what I've heard).

Have to agree that trying to match the balance vs. available balance vs. transactions listed on the online statement is hard work. The actual balance makes sense but I've currently got about £6 missing from the "available" balance and no bills that I can think of for that amount. The mind boggles as to what it could be, and it seems a bit backwards in this day and age that you can take money out of an ATM or make instant transfers (yay!) and your balance is affected immediately, but doesn't show up in your transactions list. !!!!!!??

Cloudane

How long does the A&L transactions list take to update?? Talk about SLOW!

Withdrew £10 from one of their own cash machines on Saturday, reflected straight away for the balance but still not in the list today (would've appeared immediately with my old bank, but this isn't even next working day).

Transferred a chunk of money yesterday and again... reflected in the balance but not in the list.

Finally there is about £6 unaccounted for and has been since I checked yesterday. You guessed it... not in the list.

basiaking

I am just in the process of closing my current account with Alliance & Leicester. I have recently opened an account with First Direct - it was just to get the £100 initially but I have been so impressed so far I might even stay with them!

Alliance & Leicester were very slow at listing transactions. With First Direct I took out some cash and it showed up in the transactions list immediately (not just in the balance.) Also I transferred over some money from First Direct into another account held with Tesco late one night and the money was in the Tesco account by the next morning! When I used to do this with money in my Alliance & Leicester current account it would take 3 days for the money to reach the Tesco account.

OK you don't get any interest with First Direct but I am planning to keep money in a savings account linked with the current account and only transfer over small amounts of money to the current account as and when needed.

Also Customer Services at First Direct are very good. Can not fault them at all so far....and I get £100 for nothing! Whoo hoo!

Cloudane

To continue my running commentary on opening an A&L account...

Eventually I might end up downgrading the account to one without a minimum monthly deposit and using it just as a free way to use their otherwise chargeable ATM around the corner from me. I'd just use Instant Payments to transfer money in online and then withdraw it - though I may have to keep a buffer amount in if they pull this "withdrawals are accounted for before deposits, therefore we'll fine your !!!! off for going OD for 1 day" thing they're known for.

The ATM was a major reason for me switching (along with the headline interest rate), but their transactional systems are so painfully slow and unpredictable that I'm not sure if it's worth it. There has been exactly £1 'missing' from my Available Balance for over a week now, with no transaction or explanation. Okay it's only a quid, but I hate it when things don't tally for no apparent reason - it makes me very nervous of their ability to handle my money.

I'll give it a little while though - just because it's so much hassle switching. I don't care what Martin says on the bank accounts page, it's a Royal Pain in the Bum. Paypal disabled my account for a week. Some Direct Debits failed to transfer. My O2 Direct Debit transferred but still failed when they tried to bill me, so I had to phone them up and reset the DD over the phone. There's a payment which I *know* goes out on the 24th but has still not left either bank, so they'll probably be in the process of sending me some snotty letter. The transfer process went great on paper, but so far nothing has actually succeeded in reality!!

It's not really an MSE mantra, but I'm starting to see the whole "you get what you pay for" theory.

Cloudane

LOL further to my previous post, sure enough I got two letters from HFC when I checked the post this evening, one for the 24th payment I mentioned and one for another. Saying that the DDs are set up but it's too late for them to collect the money and I owe them £1.6million per account (bit of a high interest rate that eh!)

Anyway as it turns out they're my last payments for £10 and £34, which they were happy to take via debit card. Apart from the car (a necessity) and Egg Money (paid off every month for the cashback), I'm now debt free

So not necessarily A&L's fault, but so far *none* of the Direct Debits have gone smoothly.

bradgirl

anyone know who this new account that Martyn is talking about in the weekly email is with???

MORPH3US

I too would like to know bradgirl which account Martin is on about....