First Direct regular saver

Band7

RG2015 said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

Mine has matured today, just called FD.

First person said i have to wait 5 days.

Called back, Second lady said you need to to speak to the Account closure team.

10 mins later £3710.93 is in my Current account.

Very simple, now i can open a new one.

Old regular saver still showing on my account list so will need to wait until a day to open new saver.

Mine matured today and this amount has appeared in my FD savings account today.

I did phone yesterday and they said it would mature tomorrow and be transferred to my current account on Tuesday.

Are you saying you were misinformed by FD CS?

RG2015

Band7 said:

RG2015 said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

Mine has matured today, just called FD.

First person said i have to wait 5 days.

Called back, Second lady said you need to to speak to the Account closure team.

10 mins later £3710.93 is in my Current account.

Very simple, now i can open a new one.

Old regular saver still showing on my account list so will need to wait until a day to open new saver.

Mine matured today and this amount has appeared in my FD savings account today.

I did phone yesterday and they said it would mature tomorrow and be transferred to my current account on Tuesday.

Are you saying you were misinformed by FD CS?

Yes, but I have been given incorrect information on several occasions by customer services at different banks.

I have become used to this and thought most on this site were aware of this shortcoming at most banks.

Dietofsoup

The lags for closing and re-opening a RS with this lot are frankly embarrassing.

Upto five and three days respectively

Their systems are clearly a little bit clunky 

wmb194

Dietofsoup said:

The lags for closing and re-opening a RS with this lot are frankly embarrassing.

Upto five and three days respectively

Their systems are clearly a little bit clunky 

No, it's not quite that bad. It just says that in order to manage expectations and try to reduce the number of people who'll be bugging them constantly about where their money is. Stockbrokers are the same, they all say dividends can take up to five working days to be credited to your account but these days they're usually the same or next day.

Mine was due to mature yesterday and this morning I can see it's in my instant access savings account and ready to withdraw* and I've applied for a new 7% regular saver. Remember that this is on a Saturday and Sunday respectively: there was a time not so long ago that HSBC/FD would never have done this on a non-working day.

*And I have, to Chase. I'll take the gamble that Chase pays interest on deposits made on Sunday.

Hattie627

My FD was due to mature yesterday (29 April) and the maturity sum is in my instant access savings account (which was already set up from a previous maturity) this morning. Money moved out to Chip. I've applied for a new First Direct RS. Tip: when applying for a new RS, remember to move the initial payment (up to £300) into your First Account as the payment will be taken immediately when the new account opens (and then on the same day each month).

With the change of interest rate from 3.5% to 7% on 1 Dec 2022, I calculated that interest was due on the maturing account of £111.25 (£300 deposited from 29/4/22 to 29/3/23). The actual amount credited was £110.93, so pretty close.
    

trickydicky14

ZeroSum said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

I call FD the day it matures, then ask for my money.
Takes them 5-10 mins to sort it.
I ask for it so I can open a new regular saver.
They are happy to do it then.

Add on the 10-15 mins to get through to the call centre.

But in the 21st century, you shouldnt have to or need to do that. It should just mature & then you should just be able to open a new one with the click of a button which it should then just be open & not 5 days later. They're still operating like it's the 1990's

Yes ok it’s not great but it pays the best rate available and you know what’s going to happen when it matures, so you have a informed choice at the end of the day, and as others have said, you have a work around if you wish to use it, life’s too short.

ZeroSum

trickydicky14 said:

ZeroSum said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

I call FD the day it matures, then ask for my money.
Takes them 5-10 mins to sort it.
I ask for it so I can open a new regular saver.
They are happy to do it then.

Add on the 10-15 mins to get through to the call centre.

But in the 21st century, you shouldnt have to or need to do that. It should just mature & then you should just be able to open a new one with the click of a button which it should then just be open & not 5 days later. They're still operating like it's the 1990's

Yes ok it’s not great but it pays the best rate available and you know what’s going to happen when it matures, so you have a informed choice at the end of the day, and as others have said, you have a work around if you wish to use it, life’s too short.

I fully agree you have an informed choice, however my grievance is around their overstated customer service claims. Which Martin Lewis is complicit in by constantly mentioning it on TV

Recently I've just taken out a 17 month stooze CC with them. When the card arrived the covering letter stated it was only 12 months. So nearly half an hour on the phone being passed about, it transpires that they've just sent out the wrong letter as they've recently just dropped the introduction period. Didn't even get an apology either.

All of this could've been avoided by just supplying a summary / letter with my personal terms in like every other bank does.

Not supplying basic important information is simply poor service

I know every bank has its various issues that customers grumble at, but the stuff FD seem to struggle with is very basic stuff.

Brewer21

Don't know why all the fuss for an odd days wait, no such happening with ours.
Matured 30th, paid into the saving account today. So next day, and that was matured on a Sunday, paid out on the bank holiday  Monday the 1st with no intervention from me ringing them up.

Hattie627

Brewer21 said:

Don't know why all the fuss for an odd days wait, no such happening with ours.
Matured 30th, paid into the saving account today. So next day, and that was matured on a Sunday, paid out on the bank holiday  Monday the 1st with no intervention from me ringing them up.

My experience is the same. Regular Saver matured Saturday 29th, the full maturity proceeds were showing in the saving account Sunday 30th, and then could be moved out (via FD current account). All on a bank holiday weekend without any phone call necessary. New RS was applied for online on Sat 29th and open, funded and showing on Sunday 30th. Could not have been done more quickly or more efficiently. I feel I have to place this on record in the light of other posts criticising FD and suggesting that it is operating in the Dark Ages.

trient

Not my case. RS matured 2 days ago. Funds showing in RS but unable to touch them. Asked advisor today to close RS manually, he moved the funds to the current account but said RS closure now initiated will take another 4-8 working days with no manual option. Can't open new RS until current one is closed.

Edit: also found out that strangely all my payees were gone (I seem to have read about them expiring after 13 months or so? I'd understand expiry of unused ones but not the case - they deleted everything).

Edit 2: Tried to transfer the money to another account in my name, transaction flagged as high risk,
asked me what the purpose was. "Transfer to own account" wasn't an option (unlike "asked by bank or police" for example). Had to select "family or friends" even if technically incorrect. It went through then (with successful COP) - but am really surprised, do FD really assume their customers only have one current account?!

All in all quite a bad experience dealing with them on the simplest of tasks. The magic of FD is gone for me..