Time period of opening and closing First Direct?

KieranMac

Hey guys,

I opened my First Direct account around 3 months ago, switching an account to do this and thus receiving the £125 switching bonus.

I now want to take advantage of the £125 switching bonus to Natwest, but I wondered if anyone knew if there was a limited time period I need to keep my First Direct account open before closing it?

Cheers

Katiehound

to use a well worn phrase on here- what did the T&Cs say?

karld316

Don't bother with NatWestMinisterial Bank. Crusty old IT systems, failure to inform people when their card is blocked (and it happens often), poor service and hardly any branches.

Choose Nationwide instead.

ValiantSon

karld316 wrote: »

Don't bother with NatWestMinisterial Bank. Crusty old IT systems, failure to inform people when their card is blocked (and it happens often), poor service and hardly any branches.

Choose Nationwide instead.

Nationwide aren't offering a £125 switching bonus, which is what the OP is after.

OP, there is no minimum length that you need to keep the First Direct account. I assume that you aren't making use of the regular saver (and would not benefit from doing so) because you can only have that with the current account.

YorkshireBoy

Don't fancy the nice 'n' easy £100 FD leaving present then?

ValiantSon

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Don't fancy the nice 'n' easy £100 FD leaving present then?

There is that as well, if you aren't using the regular saver!

OP, opening another account would give you an account to switch to NatWest. You should just about manage to get it open in time to switch if you act quickly.

KieranMac

Thanks for the responses.

I do not have the regular saver with First Direct and wasn't planning to use it, so that's why the £125 switch to Natwest looks like a good idea for me now.

Cheers again.

KM

KieranMac

ValiantSon wrote: »

There is that as well, if you aren't using the regular saver!

OP, opening another account would give you an account to switch to NatWest. You should just about manage to get it open in time to switch if you act quickly.

@ValiantSon are you saying I could open another account with First Direct, keep the original account open and switch this new account to Natwest?

ValiantSon

KieranMac wrote: »

@ValiantSon are you saying I could open another account with First Direct, keep the original account open and switch this new account to Natwest?

Theoretically, but First Direct can be a bit fussy about account opening. You could try, but an alternative is to open an account with a different bank and then switch that one. You could normally expect an account to be open and the debit card with you inside of 7 days, whcih would give you time to then apply to switch to NatWest by 13th. Two possible sources of these "donor accounts" would be Barclays and Santander because neither of them have previously offered switching bonuses (so it is less likely that they will in future, so you are reducing the chance of burning any bridges with them regarding getting a future bonus). The imaginatively named "Barclays Bank Account" and the "Santander Everyday" accounts are the obvious ones.

KieranMac

ValiantSon wrote: »

Theoretically, but First Direct can be a bit fussy about account opening. You could try, but an alternative is to open an account with a different bank and then switch that one. You could normally expect an account to be open and the debit card with you inside of 7 days, whcih would give you time to then apply to switch to NatWest by 13th. Two possible sources of these "donor accounts" would be Barclays and Santander because neither of them have previously offered switching bonuses (so it is less likely that they will in future, so you are reducing the chance of burning any bridges with them regarding getting a future bonus). The imaginatively named "Barclays Bank Account" and the "Santander Everyday" accounts are the obvious ones.

Great. Thanks for the in depth response!

KM

YorkshireBoy

KieranMac wrote: »

...are you saying I could open another account with First Direct, keep the original account open and switch this new account to Natwest?

Is FD your 'main' account?...eg it receives your income and pays your bills. Or is it just an account you switched into purely for the £125 incentive?