First Direct and £125 switch bonus

rjmachin

Hi,

The offer at the moment for First Direct to get the £125 switch bonus does not mention anything about direct debits.

It says to pay in £1000 a month, which I can do no problem.

I have an account which has no direct debits, can i switch this and get the bonus as long as I pay in £1000 per month?

quirkydeptless

Yep, no direct debits.



Nice 5% regular saver and a £250 interest free overdraft too.


Watch out for the fee which can be easily avoided with e.g. one of their savings accounts with a £1 in it.

meer53

Standard overdraft is £500, of which £250 is interest free. No direct debits required.

rjmachin

Thank you for the answers.

I have now opened the account with First Direct, received the debit card and literature. The account security details are now set up with a switch date moved to the 8th May.

I just need to transfer the £1000 in to it and then open one of the saver accounts in the next 6 months to prevent being charged the £10 per month.

Thanks again
Robert

Tawny_Owl_2

I switched a current account to First Direct at the beginning of the year. I also opened up a regular linked Savings Account.

What I didn't like is that they sneakily set up a standing order from my current account to the Regular Saver.

Also, I thought the default position was electronic statements, but after receiving my first one by snail mail I had to change my settings. Annoyingly, their statements cannot be downloaded as .pdf files, you have to choose some other format eg. Excel :mad:

They do seem to spew out a lot of paperwork for an internet-only bank. Because my mobile phone has an old operating system, I'm unable to use their app & have to resort to a special little gizmo they give you to generate codes. It's smaller than a credit card, you can't replace the battery (as it's sealed) and the first one they sent me became faulty.

I know Martin Lewis heaps lots of praise on First Direct but I'm not overly impressed by them. I'd rate Nationwide, Santander & Halifax higher. :T

YorkshireBoy

Tawny_Owl wrote: »

What I didn't like is that they sneakily set up a standing order from my current account to the Regular Saver.

Sneakily? The Reg Saver T&Cs seem to state that the payment MUST come from your 1st Account.

Also, I thought the default position was electronic statements

What led you to think that?

They do seem to spew out a lot of paperwork for an internet-only bank.

They've built their reputation as a phone bank, first and foremost.

snowqueen555

I have just opened a LLoyds account to take advantage of the transfer in. It says you can also keep £1000 average balance to get the bonus rather than transferring £1000 each month?

Do you also have open a second savings account?

Jami74

snowqueen555 wrote: »

I have just opened a LLoyds account to take advantage of the transfer in. It says you can also keep £1000 average balance to get the bonus rather than transferring £1000 each month?

Do you also have open a second savings account?

Are you talking about First Direct?

As I understand it you get the £125 switching offer (about 28 days) after you've deposited £1000 into the account.

After six months they then start charging you £10 a month for having the account, unless you have an average balance of £1000 or a savings account. So you could just keep £1000 in, but you might rather put that £1000 somewhere that would pay some interest, in which case opening a second savings would give you that option.

snowqueen555

Sounds like a good deal. I can just deposit 1k and leave it there, £125 is a good deal on £1000, and I could even make use of the regular saver

badger09

snowqueen555 wrote: »

Sounds like a good deal. I can just deposit 1k and leave it there, £125 is a good deal on £1000, and I could even make use of the regular saver

Why would you 'just deposit £1k and leave it there' when it could be earning interest elsewhere?

Good idea to use the regular saver, however, after 6 months, First Direct will start charging you £10 per month, unless:

you have an average balance of £1k
(which you wouldn't as some would be moving to the regular saver each month, so you'd have to replace that amount and keep average of £1k earning nothing:()
or
you open another savings account
(with a very small balance:D)

snowqueen555

I'd rather just keep £1k in there than have to keep moving money around, if you are able to manage your money the way you said then the regular saver is a good idea.

You can't earn a lot of interest on £1000, and the £125 bonus makes up for it.