First Direct - what’s all the hype?

hoc

Only Martin Lewis hypes them. You have to wonder why.

EarthBoy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81991795#Comment_81991795

That's since First Direct changed their debit cards from Visa to MasterCard. The new debit cards are no longer compatible with the pay-in machines in HSBC branches.

I wouldn't be surprised if First Direct eventually revert to using Visa for their debit cards.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81991949#Comment_81991949

To be fair, they consistently appear in the top quartile in the biannual independent service quality surveys conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the CMA, involving about a thousand customers per bank:

https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/personal-banking-service-quality-great-britain-february-2026

https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/PCA%20Detailed%20Methodology%20Feb2026%20v18.pdf

wmb194

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81991949#Comment_81991949

Anecdotally, I have friends and relations who rave about it as well. A couple of those are anti-internet banking ("insecure") and do everything via telephone banking and highly rate FD's offering.

oldernonethewiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81991969#Comment_81991969

Oddly (or not) you can still use the cards to pay in at ATMs which accept deposits.

Xenon

I had a current account with them for a little while to take advantage of their regular saver.

The website design is/was awful all that black/white could not stand it after a while.

I also found certain things confusing to actually know how to do. (if that makes sense).

Eventually closed the account.

Anyway i find RBS much easier on the eye and much simpler to use.

masonic

Which goes to show there's no accounting for taste. I find RBS poor and much prefer FD's online banking system, even if it isn't the best around.

But the main reason I could never use RBS/NatWest is their inability to show DDs until they have paid out, which is a security issue, and you also can't set nicknames for payees, which makes it very difficult to use with various savings accounts in your name.

B0bbyEwing

No idea about right now but when I joined years ago, yeah there was hype about them. They were supposed to be superamazinggreat.

But all I found that that tag seemed to be about was the ability to phone & get a person pretty quickly.

But I don't care for that.

1. I don't like talking to people on the phone anyway
2. I don't want to have to contact a bank really. If I'm contacting then there's a good chance that means I have a problem & I don't want a problem. I just want to give them my money & not hear from them again until I tell them I want to hear from them.

They offered the best regular savings interest rate for years, so I stuck with them for that but that's all.

I find their online banking system (browser - I avoid banking APPS wherever possible) to be prehistoric. Just so poor & in drastic need of a redesign & bringing up to the modern day.

I stay with them for the regular saver interest & that's it.

masonic

"I don't want to have to contact a bank really. If I'm contacting then there's a good chance that means I have a problem & I don't want a problem. I just want to give them my money & not hear from them again until I tell them I want to hear from them."

I don't think anyone wants to contact a bank. But if you have a problem, for example when a large debit card payment you have made didn't go through due to problems with the Visa network, or a utility company claims a direct debit payment they were not entitled to, it's nice to be able to get through to someone easily. It's hopefully rare to need this, but when you do you do.

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81993763#Comment_81993763

For people in the outside world I'm an oddity when it comes to banking as I have so many accounts with so many banks but I'm probably more at home with people on here when it comes to that.

This has been the case for years. Over 15-20 years now.

The number of times I've had to contact a bank in that timeframe is very very few. If I was making frequent contact then perhaps it'd be a factor.