First Direct - £100 exit bonus since coronavirus?

tel_

I took advantage of opening a FD bank account paying £100 joining bonus back in August 2019, with the incentive to close later on for the £100 leave bonus if not satisfied with the service/account.

Has anyone tried to get the £100 leaving bonus since the coronavirus affected our shores? I imagine this might be more difficult now, even with a 'plausible' non-satisfied reason to leave them. Especially as all the £100+ switching incentives to join banks have gone.

Experiences since Covid-19 and thoughts welcome.

Highland76

So you're not satisfied with FD? Any particular reason?

Shakin_Steve

Highland76 said:

So you're not satisfied with FD? Any particular reason?

Some people just saw it as a £200 bonus, satisfied or not. I couldn't possibly put the OP into this category, of course.

tel_

Highland76 said:

So you're not satisfied with FD? Any particular reason?

I just don't need the account anymore, and I didn't take advantage of the 5% reg saver at the time as I didn't have the funds for it. So I do still have time until July to possibly claim the £100 exit bonus.

YorkshireBoy

Were there some conditions attached to the leaving present? Specifically you must have paid in £1000 per month for the first 6 months? This might catch a few out since they removed the banking fee, when I assume many would have stopped funding.

tel_

YorkshireBoy said:

Were there some conditions attached to the leaving present? Specifically you must have paid in £1000 per month for the first 6 months? This might catch a few out since they removed the banking fee, when I assume many would have stopped funding.

Correct. You had to have £1k in your account or pay £1k in each month. I have been paying in 1k, and still do.

dcs34

Sound's silly but would you get the leaving present for just switching away from the account - or only if you formally tell them you are leaving for X or Y reason. Sadly I never saved a copy of the offer T&Cs and can't find them on the website anymore.

tel_

dcs34 said:

Sound's silly but would you get the leaving present for just switching away from the account - or only if you formally tell them you are leaving for X or Y reason. Sadly I never saved a copy of the offer T&Cs and can't find them on the website anymore.

You have to phone them and give a plausible reason to leave, you can't simply switch out.

I'm guessing if they do honour the exit payment, it gets paid in once they receive the switching request from your new bank.

margaretx9

Love this thread - the efforts people go to for £100!
Won't anyone think of those poor bankers profits.
First Direct are quite hard to get into - they don't give accounts to just anyone - and their 2.75% regular saver is still pretty good. So I will be sticking with!

mrmajika

I've no experience of leaving FD as they continue to be my main bank, however, nor do I criticise anyone for attempting to get the £100 from them.

A reason for leaving for me would be their mobile app and internet banking application which is quite behind competitors in many respects.... no savings pots, no spending categorisation, no ability to rename accounts, no mobile cheque depositing. I think giving a few of those reasons would be enough to justify your exit and £100.

HTH.