First Direct (things to note)

Martin_Smith

On my wife's behalf, I recently opened her a new current account and a new regular saver with FD. My wife is not computer literate and is happy for me do do such things.

I am in the process of doing the same in my own name (ONLY BECAUSE OF THE FIXED RATE INTEREST AVAILABLE). We only have one mobile which accepts the FD app., so I tried to order a Physical Secure Key, and that's when the trouble started.

I contacted them by email, but they responded by saying I had to approach them on the app, or call them. Once through to their employee they insist that no-one can overhear the conversation, so my wife was left to fend for herself. Not so good when you are the other side of 70 with a defective memory, have a weak mobile phone connection and the other party sounds like they are in a gold fish bowl. Most calls took in excess of 30 minutes and the situation was only resolved by reporting that whilst the new pin number had arrived there was no sign of the physical card. We were locked out of the account for reasons unknown, but they suggested we might like to receive a Physical Secure Key through the post (circle completed).

What might only have taken minutes to resolve took in excess of an hour.

It's fine if you have unlimited free calls on your mobile, a familiarity with computers and mobile banking and a wonderful memory.

You have been warned !!!!

flaneurs_lobster

Do you have Power of Attorney over your wife's financial affairs?

I ask because if all that is wanted is a 7% regular saver each then you could apply for a joint current account with First Direct. 

masonic

Do you have a lasting power of attorney in place? It sounds as if you need one to avoid such things in the future.

prettyandfluffy

I don't think this is specific to First Direct, any internet bank would probably have had issues in this situation.

You said, "Not so good when you are the other side of 70 with a defective memory, have a weak mobile phone connection and the other party sounds like they are in a gold fish bowl. ".  None of those things are within the control of First Direct but it does sound like your communications need improving - if you are relying on a mobile phone to talk to the outside world and you have a poor signal, perhaps you should consider getting a landline installed.  Possibly not money saving but potentially life saving?

boingy

First Direct might not be the best choice for your wife. Although they have an app and an online presence it is still fundamentally a phone banking account. The App chat can sort some stuff out but they quite often need you to phone them for things. 

On the up side I've found their phone service to be excellent and they have never had to put me on hold or pass me on to someone else. 

Bigwheels1111

A lot could be resolved with an ipad for eg.

My late wife an I both had our face id and fingerprints activated on the ipads.

This allowed us both to use each others FD bank accounts.

Not sure its 100% legal, but worked for us.

ColdIron

Given that it's primarily a telephone bank. I find it irritating that you can't open the RS over the phone

Section62

Martin_Smith said:

On my wife's behalf, I recently opened her a new current account and a new regular saver with FD. My wife is not computer literate and is happy for me do do such things.

I am in the process of doing the same in my own name (ONLY BECAUSE OF THE FIXED RATE INTEREST AVAILABLE). We only have one mobile which accepts the FD app., so I tried to order a Physical Secure Key, and that's when the trouble started.

....

Might have been better to open the second account (yours) using online banking rather than the app and ordered the physical secure key for that one.

Having the same phone linked to two different customer profiles may lead to issues later, even if the current problem has been worked around.

LHW99

Don't know if they still do but some 10 years ago my mum gave me 3rd party access to her first Direct account. It allowed me to do payments etc for her by phone, get details of her balance and set up DD's and SO's on her behalf. If you don't yet have LPA that might be a work around in the interim.

You would (in those days) phone with your own phone details, and then state the account that you had the mandate for. It was possible as we both had current accounts with 1st Direct. She didn't have an LPA because this was in the days of EPA's that couldn't be triggered until capacity actually was lost or there was no likelihood of her ever being able to do her own banking.