First Direct

Skippy13

Yes or no? I've thinking about changing to them as they always get good reviews, but I've read a few things recently with people saying their customer service has gone downhill.

I like the idea of the regular saver and actually speaking to a human if necessary rather than 'press 1, press 3, your balance is £xxx!

masonic

Regular saver is great, online banking is fairly good, app is mediocre and I really haven't had any cause to deal with their CS, despite that being their most well known strength.

The concept of a "main account" is lost on me, but it is one of the ones I tend to use more than others.

Skippy13

Thanks. My 'main account' is the one my salary is paid into, currently Halifax. I've also got a Nationwide Flex Direct and Barclays account.

I've only got the Barclays one as it was my Mum's account and she had me addd onto it and I kept it when she died. I can't quite bring myself to close it yet, daft I know. It's also an antique, her and Dad had it in the 1950s!

None of the other banks are offering anything I want at the moment (or anything I can think of) other than First Direct and the regular saver but I'm not sure if it's worth it just for that.

masonic

Skippy13 wrote: »

None of the other banks are offering anything I want at the moment (or anything I can think of) other than First Direct and the regular saver but I'm not sure if it's worth it just for that.

I would say it is, but they may well bring back their switching incentive in the future so it could be worth holding off for that.

forgotmyname

I found it a right PITA to switch a joint current account to them.

They had no issues with my details, but asked my partner to provide proof of ID. Before having the Santander joint account she had no credit history at all.
FD said the switch was on hold, then the debit cards arrived, then the pin numbers arrived and they switched on the date that originally quoted eve though we had not provided the ID.

Provided the ID and now we have found the new FD account is not on her credit file.

She is not very good on the phone and its a PITA to speak to them. The customer service experience in her case is like speaking to a robot. Slight hesitation or pauses in the security questions and the call ends.

[Deleted User]

forgotmyname wrote: »

The customer service experience in her case is like speaking to a robot. Slight hesitation or pauses in the security questions and the call ends.

My experience is the complete opposite. No automated answering; straight through to a human who do their very best to help you. Even when I forget my security details they have been superb. I now have voice ID activated so should be easier from now on.

Lomcevak

I've had them as my main current account for 15 years or so and mortgage for five, and remain a happy customer. I rarely call them - maybe three or four times a year - but have always found customer service very good, and perfectly capable of dealing with most usual queries. On the rare occasions I need something non-standard (maybe once a year or so) the service has been excellent, I've always been forwarded through to someone with the ability to get things done. Overall I'd say they're well ahead of customer service at my other current accounts (I have all the usual suspects who give halfway-decent interest rates)

Only comment about calling them is that until a year or two ago I cannot ever recall being in a queue, you used to get through to someone within one ring. More recently you queue, although rarely for more than thirty seconds or so.

For day-to-day, I fully agree with masonic's assessment: "regular saver is great, online banking is fairly good, app is mediocre" - getting TouchID working on my iPad was bizarrely complicated. I'd add that other savings accounts are mediocre too, so it's unlikely you'll take all your banking there.

ValiantSon

masonic wrote: »

I would say it is, but they may well bring back their switching incentive in the future so it could be worth holding off for that.

They've introduced a new switch incentive. I think the days of £125 have gone.

My personal experience is:

• Good regular saver, indeed best available at 5% on £300 p/m;
• Perfectly adequate online banking, if not the best, but still entirely adequate;
• Nice to be greeted by a real person on the phone, but the experience beyond that is no different than other banks where I get to speak to someone after a (usually very short) period going through the menus.

I'd say that it was worth opening an account for the regular saver if you will make full use of it, and using it as your "main" bank account shouldn't cause you any real problems. Don't expect much beyond that. The customer service is lauded by a fanatical group of individuals, but it really isn't better than any other bank I have dealings with (nearly all of them). I suspect that a lot of the hype comes from people who only have a First Direct account, and have done so for many years. (It is also helped by the ludicrous love-in that this site has with First Direct).

sausage_time

I find First Direct's on-line and phone security measures rather fiddly and overly complex. I need to remember a user name, an electronic password, a "memorable answer" word to a question I provide, a telephone password, a memorable date, a memorable address, and favourite food. If I want to add a new payee or do some other risky transactions I need to use a software token on my phone to generate a numeric token - which I always seem to get wrong first time. On the plus side the app does support fingerprint login which for simple actions like balance checks is quick and easy.

masonic

sausage_time wrote: »

If I want to add a new payee or do some other risky transactions I need to use a software token on my phone to generate a numeric token - which I always seem to get wrong first time. On the plus side the app does support fingerprint login which for simple actions like balance checks is quick and easy.

Looks like you need to use their digital secure key instead of the hardware device if you want to be able to enable fingerprint login - unless I'm missing something?

sausage_time

masonic wrote: »

Looks like you need to use their digital secure key instead of the hardware device if you want to be able to enable fingerprint login - unless I'm missing something?

I do use the digital secure key (the soft one) and I do have fingerprint login for the app. My point is the large proliferation of passwords, phrases etc. Seems way more complex than other platforms I use, and I'm not convinced that there is added security with obscurity.