First Direct and £125 switch bonus

badger09

snowqueen555 wrote: »

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.

You can have the £125 bonus without leaving £1k lying permanently idle. However, its your money, so your choice:cool:

YorkshireBoy

snowqueen555 wrote: »

I'd rather just keep £1k in there than have to keep moving money around...

But you're still going to have to "keep moving money around" each month...up to £300 in fact. If you're funding the account with up to £300 per month you may as well fund it with £1,000...it's the same amount of work!

And there's perhaps one very good reason for funding the account with £1,000 per month in the first year (and especially since you need to feed it with the regular saver money anyway...and don't forget you'll have £1,000 available whilst it's making 1.5%)...what if you become disillusioned with FD, or their customer service is found to be lacking?...you can't claim the £100 leaving present in months 7-12 if you haven't paid in £1,000 per month during months 1-6 (and up to 12 if you take it to the wire).

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

I'd rather have the £15 it would make in a 1.5% savings account, than give it up unnecessarily (see above re funding the account anyway), but each to their own.

PRAISETHESUN

snowqueen555 wrote: »

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.

Or you could open up a "savings account" (not the regular saver) and put £1 in it. This will stop the monthly fee being charged and will still earn more interest than what you are proposing - the £1000 can then sit in another account and earn more interest than the 0% FD pays. No requirement to move money around either. At the end of the day however don't feel pressured to do anything you don't want - there are plenty of people who will go to the ends of the earth for that extra £1 but some people would prefer to settle for a bit less effort to make a bit less cash

20SmthngSver

First Direct 1st Account is fee-free for six months, so you don't have to pay in £1000 or hold another product during that time. I opened one in February, only paid in £1000 to get the bonus incentive, and I've not been charged £10 a month. I transferred the £1000 back out straight away as I'd fulfilled the paying it in.

I'd recommend opening their basic savings account and add £1 to it before the six months is up, else you'll have to pay in £1000 a month.

For 99% of the time, mine only has £1 in it. I add in £300 a few days before it is transferred to their regular saver. That's all I use it for.

Byzar

You won't have to pay a banking fee:

for the first six months after opening your account
any month you pay a minimum of £1,000 into your account* or you maintain an average monthly balance on your account* of £1,000 (month means calendar month - we'll work out the average monthly balance by adding together the end of day balances of each day during the month and dividing the result by the number of days in that month). Money can't be sent from another first direct account

tryin

I clicked on the MSE link to up the offer from £100 to £125, but the website still says £100. Is that a problem?

bioboybill

Was looking at switching an account to First Direct for the £125, but been put off by the palava you have to go to in order to open account. You now have to get your ID and proof of address docs certified by a professional like a barrister, doctor, dentist etc. Surely it should be enough to send them a jpg. of your passport and a utility bill like every other bank? I should imagine that most of these professions are too busy to bother and if they do then they will charge thereby eating into the switching bonus.

Zero_Sum

bioboybill wrote: »

Was looking at switching an account to First Direct for the £125, but been put off by the palava you have to go to in order to open account. You now have to get your ID and proof of address docs certified by a professional like a barrister, doctor, dentist etc. Surely it should be enough to send them a jpg. of your passport and a utility bill like every other bank? I should imagine that most of these professions are too busy to bother and if they do then they will charge thereby eating into the switching bonus.

I switched to FD online & they accepted a photo of drivers licence along with a selfie. Mind once the account is open there is also a lot of palava in setting online banking also.

bioboybill

Ok, so I decided to go ahead and open an account and set up a switch online yesterday in the hope I wouldn't have to get certified docs. At the end of the process it said that there were a few further checks they needed to do and they would contact me. 24 hours later and no contact at all from them. Not even an automated email. Every other account I opened I have had a decision in minutes. I am well over the pay requirements and have an excellent credit rating, so don't know why there is a delay. Is this normal with these? Doesn't seem very good customer service to not even bother with an automated email.

[Deleted User]

bioboybill wrote: »

Ok, so I decided to go ahead and open an account and set up a switch online yesterday in the hope I wouldn't have to get certified docs. At the end of the process it said that there were a few further checks they needed to do and they would contact me. 24 hours later and no contact at all from them. Not even an automated email. Every other account I opened I have had a decision in minutes. I am well over the pay requirements and have an excellent credit rating, so don't know why there is a delay. Is this normal with these? Doesn't seem very good customer service to not even bother with an automated email.

You may not match their customer requirements - your "excellent" credit rating means nothing to anyone.

Contact them and ask for an update on the status of your application