Anyone tried First Direct?

paul_liverpoolfc

Been a happy Tesco Bank customer for a few years now but I'm feeling tempted by First Direct's £125 switching bonus.



Has anyone here tried them?


Is it true they also give you £100 if you decide to leave after 6 months?



Although they don't offer interest, the switching bonus would be the equivalent of two years worth of interest with Tesco for me.



Thanks.

masonic

You will struggle to obtain the £100 to leave unless you have a good justification for doing so.

I use FD as one of my main accounts. I've not had any issues and the 5% regular saver requires a current account, so I don't see myself ditching the account any time soon.

If you are happy with Tesco, why not open an account elsewhere and switch that to FD?

mab3000

I was with them for about a year. Generally I found them pretty good. Depends on how you use your bank account. They offered me a £500 overdraft facility where the first £250 was interest free, which was useful. And if you like telephone banking or need to contact them for any reason calling them is super efficient ie) no automated menu systems get straight through to talking to someone.

The negatives, if you needed to use a HSBC branch, for instance to pay cash in or a cheque, found the service in my local branch terrible, probably because your a first direct customer and not a HSBC customer (although I believe you can go to the post office instead). Their online banking and mobile app banking is terrible, how they scored so highly on the last bank survey results I don't know.

When it came to leaving, I didn't particularly have a need or want to leave, just different circumstances meant I no longer needed the account. Yes I qualified for the £100 payment for deciding to leave, however actually getting that payment was a bit of a struggle.. although I did get the payment eventually.

I'd say if you like to speak to someone over the phone often about your banking, then First Direct is the bank for you. Other than the interest/fee free overdraft amount they offer, tbh can't really see why they are anything special compared to the others. Although I'm sure the financial incentives will help your decision

quirkydeptless

First Direct also have a 5% Regular Saver.

enthusiasticsaver

Yes, I have been with FD for about 4 years now and got a switching bonus for moving to them. Never had a problem. Not sure about £100 for leaving them though.

Butch_Dingle

mab3000 wrote: »

Their online banking and mobile app banking is terrible,

That's just your opinion, ie subjective. For me their web internet banking is very slick and lets me do more or less everything online. Likewise their iOS app runs fine, it lets me do everything and as I have the digital secure key, I don't have to faff around with additional physical devices. I suspect your description of "terrible" refers to their black & white colour scheme, I guess you prefer the garish colour schemes of other banks.

masonic

Butch_Dingle wrote: »

That's just your opinion, ie subjective.

What is a thread entitled "Anyone tried First Direct?" going to produce other than subjective opinions? Such as mine, mab3000's and even yours.

mab3000

Butch_Dingle wrote: »

I suspect your description of "terrible" refers to their black & white colour scheme, I guess you prefer the garish colour schemes of other banks.

I was actually referring to the lack of functionality that other banks have compared to FD, in particular with their mobile banking app, eg) card features such as freezing your debit card, viewing the pin, controlling what you spend; looking at statements and letters that have been generated; viewing and applying for different products such as loans, insurances; paying in a cheque through the phone. FD's online banking I barely used but found it poorly laid out and for some reason squashed in the corner of the screen rather than filling the whole page.

I did leave them nearly 8 months ago so some of these features might be available with them now, not really bothered if they are as I don't bank with them anymore. But the point of this thread was the OP asking for peoples opinions about trying first direct which I have given. And like the previous post writer said, everyones opinions including yours are going to be subjective.

Amoux

Personally I would switch elsewhere, and I say this as a main FD customer.

The mobile app/online bank is outdated and terribly basic by todays standards. They are behind all their competitors for the mobile/online bank interface and functionality. It desperately needs a facelift and anyone who says otherwise must be kidding themselves. In addition the current account offers no interest, but they offer a market leading regular saver so there is that.

I've never had any need to call them up other than setting up the account - which thinking about it was a bit of an annoyance. No other bank other than M&S (same subsidiary of HSBC) required me to jump through hoops just to open an account. But if telephone banking is something you require then this is where they shine.

Brewer20

I've been a FD customer getting on for 20 yrs, never had any problems, customer service spot on really if you need to talk they answer the phone almost immediately. The app is ok, I can't really see why folk have problems, it does most stuff you need to do? We use the PO to pay in cheques, if you need an HSBC branch they are ok but most of ours locally have closed but not a big deal for us.
I am loathe to change my main bank (FD) but have others to do my day to day spending like the OP I have Tesco but keep the FD for the credit card (hardly use) and a regular saver, the £250 overdraft on our main account is handy too if you slip into a - situation anytime.

colsten

Amoux wrote: »

The mobile app/online bank is outdated and terribly basic by todays standards. They are behind all their competitors for the mobile/online bank interface and functionality.

I am most certainly not one of the religious First Direct fans, but I do have accounts with them (as I have with literally all the other current account providers).

Can you list the missing functionality? What can you not do with the FD app, or with their online banking? I have yet to find anything that's missing. I'd even go further and say that, from a technical point of view, I prefer FD to the banks that need a card reader or other physical gadgets to operate.

FD isn't may main account though, as the only reason I have accounts there is their superb Regular Saver. As long as there are banks which pay interest on current accounts, there's no way I will leave a penny sitting in my FD current account.