First Direct £100 switch, £100 to leave

jmlw123

Hi,

I've noticed First Direct are offering £100 to new customers when they switch, then if you are not happy with in 6 months you can switch elsewhere and get £100 for doing so.

If I were to switch from my current account to First Direct, then switch to say the co-operative bank, I'd be able to claim £300 in the process?

I would like to know if there's anything with in the Terms and Conditions that would stop me from doing this. I've read the T&Cs on the first direct website yet I can't find anything that I would do that would stop me from claiming the offers. I also can't find anything on the switch guarantee "terms of use" that would effectively stop me from doing this.

Sorry if this is quite obvious or has been mentioned before, but it seems "too good to be true".

Thanks a lot!

eskbanker

Firstly, if you apply via the MSE link then you can earn a higher FD bonus of £125 rather than the £100 generally available elsewhere.

If you want to receive the £100 for leaving then it's not 'within six months', it's at least six months (but less than twelve), after which you need to provide a valid reason for leaving - this isn't spelt out clearly in the Ts & Cs but has been covered in previous threads such as https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5947571/please-could-a-mod-delete

In terms of switching onward to another bank, your ability to do this to earn another bonus will obviously therefore depend on which incentives are on offer later on in the year....

jmlw123

thanks for the reply,

I guess it comes down to needing a good reason to leave and that there is an offer in 6 months time worth moving to. I'll switch to FD on the basis that if I don't decide to move I can take advantage of their 5% savings account which is better than my current one.

alandaniel132

so it is £125+ £100 = £225, not £300

Terry_Towelling

alandaniel132 wrote: »

so it is £125+ £100 = £225, not £300

I think OP's £300 figure was based on making two switches. £100 (or £125 via MSE) to switch to FD, £100 to leave (after 6 months rather than within 6 months) and then £100 to switch to the Co-op (if the £100 switch offer is still in place at that point).

Zandimos

I have used the First Direct £100 leaving incentive twice. I didn't need a reason, just phoned up once my switch had happened and they transferred £100 into my new accounts. Before anybody asks, two accounts... one for me, one for the partner.