What's wrong with FirstDirect

stoke_bishop

I'm planning to ring FD tomorrow for a mortgage.
But people on here seem to be suggesting 5 year fixeds that quite a bit higher than FD's 5.29%. I was just wondering, what's wrong with First Direct?

THanks

homer_j_3

Not seen the FD slating but I bank with them and find them great.

Their products do seem competitive and if the customer service is like their bank account, it will be second to none.

I know they have had a huge response to their mortgages so the application process may take a while.

mrsm

I'm remortgaging with them and so far its been great. (We have a 10 yr 5.15 fix that we secured back in Feb).

As homer_j says they are really busy, it takes several days to get the call back, but once the ball gets rolling and especially once your banking is set up its easy to get to talk to them

InMyDreams

The other issue with FD is that their criteria are tight I believe, so won't be suitable for many people. They also don't go through brokers.

So if you have good credit history, good LTV, aren't asking for too much, are happy to go it alone without a broker's help, aren't in too much of a rush (they are snowed under due to their competitive rates) then they seem to be proving very popular.

jem16

My son has been applying for his first mortgage with them. Everything has been going pretty smoothly apart from one small hiccup where it seemed to get stuck in a queue somewhere.

Their lending criteria is tight - maximum LTV is 80% and they wouldn't budge for him even though he is paying off capital each month as opposed to just interest. He had asked for £82,500 but they would only give £82,400 as that is 80%.

They are very busy and initial callback is taking around 10 days I believe. This may put off a few people as well as the LTV.

The nearest our broker could get was going to be around £50pm dearer and around £2000 more over the 2 years.

stoke_bishop

Thanks for the replies. V. helpful.

Just rang them: 10 working days to get a call back from them! Lord above!

dweeby

stoke_bishop wrote: »

Just rang them: 10 working days to get a call back from them! Lord above!

I think you just answered your own question "what's wrong with First Direct?" they're very busy, thats what's wrong!

If you're interested, just keep calling - you will get dealt with. Try different times of the day, many of us have got through after being told 10 days for a call-back.

dunstonh

First Direct have always cherry picked their business. This doesnt necessarily mean best credit but also profitability. There is nothing wrong with them and I have seen no references to them being bad. However, the criteria is likely to be more stringent than others.

Treadmill

Being the market leader is not something banks are aspiring to at the moment because they are trying to keep hold of funds so expect FD to become less competitive.

allan673

i too am remortgaging with them, 5.15% 10 year fixed rate when i booked it in feb - nearly completed now.
i would recomend them - excellent so far

Treadmill

5.15 is a good deal, I'd be well happy with that especially now the rate the banks charge seems to have broken its tether to the base rate.