First Direct - customer service not very good

dmarks

I applied for my mortgage way before Christmas -on every letter and every call I told them that the mortgage needs to start on May 1st otherwise I revert to NR's ridiculous SVR! They said that's fine it'll definately be set up and guess what - today has arrived and nothing and NR have taken over £750 out of my First Direct account. If it wasn't such a good rate I'd tell them to shove it! Doesn't bode well for the future of my dealings with FD. I've always been polite with them but starting to lose my temper with them!:mad: :mad: :mad:

homer_j_3

I have always found them to be brilliant on the banking side.

How far has your mortgage got? Have you had the offer? Have you had the informaion from the solicitor? Have you spoken to the solicitor?

dmarks

It's a remortgage and everything has been done. They have told me countless times that everything will be set up on May 1st as all the paperwork was with them and it was just a case of waiting until today! My experience with the banking side has been good so far but there mortgage department has been well below par so far

nathanhill69

Unusual for First Direct as in all the years I've banked with them the service has been flawless. They're currently doing my re-mortgage and it's gone very smoothly so far and surprisingly quick.

I assume they confirmed with you that they had received your redemption statement from NR and that they finally confirmed with you the drawdown date would be May 1st?

Have you spoken to First Direct today - Are you sure they haven't done the drawdown on your NR mortgage and NR have just automatically taken the Direct Debit. This often happens if you have your mortgage transferred between lenders on the same day as your monthly payment is due to be made, for this reason the recommendation is to cancel your Direct Debit with your old lender to avoid this situation. If this is the case it can take a couple of weeks to get the money refunded by your old lender.

dmarks

I have confirmed they have got the redemption staement and they did confirm it would be May 1st. Was never advised to cancel DD so didn't think it would be an issue. I think it's lucky I didn't cancel the DD as the last thing I want is NR on my back for missing payments!
I haven't spoken to FD today yet as I'm in class for most of the day and can't make 0845 numbers from work. Hopefully wife will be able to phone later - i've emailed them but no reply yet...!

nathanhill69

I can't understand how you can claim that FD are rubbish if you haven't even spoken with them today to confirm wether your mortgage drawdown has actually gone through. For all you know everything might have gone through fine.

As for cancelling the Direct Debit, that's your decision/responsibility, no one is going to advise you to do this. Until the drawdown takes place your current lender will obviously process the DD as normal, if both things are due to happen on the same day then obviously there is going to be some overlap and they will process the Direct Debit as normal, hence a good idea to cancel it.

Personally don't rely on the e-mail as it could take 24-48 hours for a response as it probably goes into a que - you really do need to phone them ASAP and have a one-to-one with an advisor to see where your mortgage is at.

Good luck

dmarks

I have spoken with their advisors almost daily - the last one yesterday who said it would all be going through. I can't have tried any more than I already have! Do you work for FD??
I don't want to affect my credit history by defaulting on a mortgage payment which is the reason why I didn't cancel DD.
If you read my posts I don't have a problem with the banking side it's just the mortgage department is pants.

Gailk

if you haven't spoken to them how do you know it hasn't gone through?
We remortgaged and were due to complete on Tuesday, we did complete but not until nigh on 3pm, so it may be happening.
Unless you cancel the existing mortgage DD it will be taken, I believe they then refund the overpayment to you.

(P.S. I don't work for First Direct!)

allan673

my remortgage with first direct was completed 2 weeks ago, and it took 8 weeks from start to finish.
i couldnt rate them highly enough, the re-mortgage team were briliant and very helpfull everytime i rang.
you havent really found out whats going on judging by your posts ?

nathanhill69

dmarks wrote: »

Do you work for FD??

No would be the answer to that one If you read my posts I'm trying to be helpful to your worries (however founded or unfounded they may be).

The point I am merely trying to make, and it would seem other posters are as well, is that if you haven't spoken with First Direct today how can you claim their customer service is rubbish? Personally on the day my mortgage drawdown is due to complete my first priority will be to phone FD to confirm it's all gone as planned.

The fact that NR took the regular Direct Debit today is not FD's or even NR's fault - it's just one of those things that happen as the whole drawdown was happening on the same day as your payments going out. To avoid the situation you could have cancelled the Direct Debit but no great loss as NR will just refund it back to you, however it may take two or three weeks depending how efficient they are.

Finally, I have found that re-mortgaging with FD has been a smooth experience so far, when I call them they always get the file up, tell me where we're at and I always ensure we're "all reading from the same page". We have an "ideal" date when we wish for our mortgage to be drawn down and everyone is working towards that date but ultimately there are no guarantees. I would go as far as to say exemplary customer service and I have banked with them from the begining (1988/89?) and have always found this to be the case in all my dealings with them.

I sincerly hope your mortgage transfer has happened today but there really is only one way to find out....

gtrevor

I would agree that their banking side is fantastic - phone gets answered by a human immediately, and they are always friendly and helpfull...

Have tried ringing the mortgage dept 3 times now over the last few days, and each time after being on hold for 30 minutes I have given up....

Had a text 2.5 weeks ago to say that they had arranged for the valuation, but heard nothing since....