MSE News: First Direct doubles interest on regular saver to 7% – how to get the new rate

masonic

Mine disappeared today as it is due to mature tomorrow. I thought I'd give it a try to apply for a new one, and the application was accepted. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. Worst case I have to wait and apply again after the bank holiday weekend, which I would have had to do otherwise.

TheWoodler

I transferred out my matured balance to my current account to stop the 1.30% Saver in its tracks and access my funds immediately.

I was quoted 8 working days - well over the 5 days in the literature and in-app - for the associated closure to happen. I asked why and the agent said due to the number of maturity requests happening at the moment which the back office is dealing with.

A back office? For an online and app bank? And if your balance can be transferred out, why can’t they CLOSE the thing? Most financial institutions allow to to specify maturity instructions of your choice which then happen automatically/same day. They really need to up their game here.

ashteadgirl

Band7 said:

ashteadgirl said:

On principle will not let them get away with it.

How will you achieve that? And when?

Already been contacted by CS dept. and had lost days interest  paid into current account  at regular saver rate. May take upto 8 days for old reg saver to be closed.
 At least not losing interest as moved money to totally different bank so feel that they have not got away with it Band7

milton1970

I am another of those that has experienced the poor service from FD on maturity of the Regular Savings Account recently. Been a happy customer of FD for nearly 30 years and agree that the bank is starting to struggle with old technology and competition improving their offering.

FD are starting to suffer.

On the RS product they justify poor service and a manual back office process by stating that maturity MAY take 5 days in t&cs. That could be 5 days of money locked away (as you cannot withdraw from RS online yourself after maturity) … the 5 days turns into 5 WORKING days .. and if you ask them to transfer the balance out (by chat or call) that becomes 8 (working) days to close the account down) !

FD don’t appear to recognise this as poor service … 

My transfer and closure was forced through after waiting 7 days .. by raising a complaint … but it is strange how relatively small issues like these makes you rethink your banking provider as the cracks start to show and the basic service is challenged.

Shambles

I had a savings account btw … so this may just be volume of maturing accounts.

ForumUser7

That's really bad! I was considering opening an EA saver so the process was quicker upon my maturity, but seems it sometimes doesn't make a difference anyway

wmb194

ForumUser7 said:

That's really bad! I was considering opening an EA saver so the process was quicker upon my maturity, but seems it sometimes doesn't make a difference anyway

It won't cost you anything to do that though and the maturity process worked fine for me.

where_are_we

Small point - my literature states interim saver @1.2% - has that been increased to 1.3%?

Also got caught out by my first direct digital keypad`s battery being dead so couldn`t log in to process my RS maturity.

Had to phone up to process payment and open new RS.

Up to 10 days for new keypad or go into a branch - so decided to install the App.

I was told I couldn`t have a new keypad as well as installing the App. Does this mean I have lost online access?

wmb194

where_are_we said:

Small point - my literature states interim saver @1.2% - has that been increased to 1.3%?

Also got caught out by my first direct digital keypad`s battery being dead so couldn`t log in to process my RS maturity.

Had to phone up to process payment and open new RS.

Up to 10 days for new keypad or go into a branch - so decided to install the App.

I was told I couldn`t have a new keypad as well as installing the App. Does this mean I have lost online access?

No, you use the app to generate the key. You may need to call to set it up, though.

Frogletina

FishInGlass said:

I already had a savings account from a previous maturing FD regular saver. The latest one matured on the 2nd May. Yesterday the money was available in my regular saver. I transferred out all bar £300 which I left in my FD 1st Account and requested a new regular saver. On checking today it says the £300 was transferred to my new regular saver. So 24 hours start to finish (admittedly on working days). Still not as quick as some other banks but no too shabby either especially as I'm not aware of a better regular saver return anyway.

If you don't have a first direct savings account already I would suggest setting one up in advance of the regular saver maturity in order to make the process as seamless as possible given FD's way of working.

I have just applied for a savings account thinking it might make the process easier. What a palaver.

Had to log into online banking, was given a link to outside of online banking to see how to open it - which said I needed to go back to online banking and go to chat, first with chat box who sent me numerous things to read, and lots of questions to answer, then passed to an agent, and then the account takes up to 5 days to open!

Rudyson

My RS matured today. Closed it over the phone and ready to set up new one. Didn't have to wait any number of working days.