Top Bank Accounts Discussion Area

voodoomox

LongTermLurker wrote: »

I do believe I've spotted a loophole...

It appears you won't qualify for the waiver if you have a RS and a sub-12 month RSI (ouch, my wrist :rotfl:), but it says and, not or...:D

This was the rule anyway before Feb 2009

surely you can just open any other savings even if you have RS to qualify. or if you want 5% RS, just open one from Halifax

old_grouser

Lloyds' Classic Vantage is very good - but you have to pay in £1000 a month. I have more than that paid in automatically on 1st of every month, but in August 2009 this day was a saturday and so BACS routed in the payment a day early. The following payment was on 1st September, so... NO PAYMWENT IN AUGUST, and so VIRTUALLY NO INTEREST! I wonder if this has happened to anyone else? It is certainly not in the spirit of regular monthly payments!

premierfella

That's a bit odd old grouser. If your instruction is set up as a standing order that should not happen, as you give permission to pay on a given date, not before. Thus when the date falls on a non-banking day the payment should be made on the next banking day (i.e. usually Monday).

Just for info, which bank made the early payment?

stphnstevey

voodoomox wrote: »

Good news, I received a message from First Direct saying 1st account will not charge 10 pounds from 1st September if you have a savings, credit card, and so on... (reverting to pre-2 February 09) :money:

Not sure if anyone's got it.

Why is this good news??? They don't offer a great rate on their current account and you still have to pay in £1500 for the £200 bonus????

Also for Abbey, A+L deals, if you have any one of thier accounts (or cahoot), does that mean you can't get either of these deals or just if you already have the account your applying for?

smcg2212

LongTermLurker wrote: »

Basically, to get the 2x £100, you will need an existing current account that you want to transfer existing Direct Debits and/or Standing Orders from.

In terms of funding, and your original question, there's no reason why you can't set up ONE standing order for £1500 per montha to feed your FD account - then you can set up a standing order within the FD account to move £1500-value_of_direct_debits_etc back out again the next day.

Those direct debits/standing orders that you move can be minimal, say a £1 subscription to something or a £1 transfer to one of your other accounts.

Hi Lurker, thanks for the info,

The issue I have is that my current account is with HSBC and I would need to transfer the £1500 in and out of that account, which may look strange to First Direct (or the HSBC group). Will that be an issue?

I have a current account with another bank that I don't use much that has a direct debit in which could be moved to the First Direct account. Do I need a Standing Order as well or is it ok to move only one DD or SO?

Thanks

smcg2212

stphnstevey wrote: »

Also for Abbey, A+L deals, if you have any one of thier accounts (or cahoot), does that mean you can't get either of these deals or just if you already have the account your applying for?

It looks like only CURRENT accounts within last 3 months are the problem!

Go to the A&L website and click on "£100 cashback".

It says "This offer isn’t available if you already hold or have held one of our current accounts or an Abbey, cahoot or Cater Allen current account in the last 3 months."

stphnstevey

smcg2212 wrote: »

It looks like only CURRENT accounts within last 3 months are the problem!

Go to the A&L website and click on "£100 cashback".

It says "This offer isn’t available if you already hold or have held one of our current accounts or an Abbey, cahoot or Cater Allen current account in the last 3 months."

I presume then at most you can only get one of cashbacks from either Abbey or A+L and not them both

Not closing my Cahoot account for it anyway

voodoomox

stphnstevey wrote: »

Why is this good news??? They don't offer a great rate on their current account and you still have to pay in £1500 for the £200 bonus????

Also for Abbey, A+L deals, if you have any one of thier accounts (or cahoot), does that mean you can't get either of these deals or just if you already have the account your applying for?

why would anyone care about Interest Rates on Current Account... you should only look for savings or ISA interest rates... as for FD's 100 pounds incentive... you only need to pay in 1500 once and thats it...
wat i'm saying is that FD does not require to pay in at least 1500 per month from now on if you want to keep the account free, you only need to open a savings and dump 1 pound into it.

As for A+L, I wouldn't even go near it, couple of my friends tried to open it on previous promo... and they've never got it.. A+L kept on giving excuses excuses and excuses... PLUS you HAVE to keep paying in 500 pounds per month.

stphnstevey

voodoomox wrote: »

why would anyone care about Interest Rates on Current Account... you should only look for savings or ISA interest rates... as for FD's 100 pounds incentive... you only need to pay in 1500 once and thats it...
wat i'm saying is that FD does not require to pay in at least 1500 per month from now on if you want to keep the account free, you only need to open a savings and dump 1 pound into it.

Because some current accounts are currently paying better rates than savings accounts, thats why

The FD incentives actively encourage you to ditch the account - so what happens after this is no consequence

dougz_2

voodoomox wrote: »

As for A+L, I wouldn't even go near it, couple of my friends tried to open it on previous promo... and they've never got it... PLUS you HAVE to keep paying in 500 pounds per month.

I got my bonus immediately after querying it, and the £500 is not much burden as you can transfer out up to £250 by FPS.