Regular Savings Accounts Article Discussion

Nigbob

FYI- For those who live in the East Midlands, I've received notification that the 3.1% on the Nottingham BS Go for Gold Saver highlighted on this site will be reduced to 2.1% on 1st October. Time to look elsewhere!

skitskut

Nigbob wrote: »

FYI- For those who live in the East Midlands, I've received notification that the 3.1% on the Nottingham BS Go for Gold Saver highlighted on this site will be reduced to 2.1% on 1st October. Time to look elsewhere!

You mean their original Regular Saver (Issue 1). Go for Gold Saver is still 3%. Mentioned here...https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/608697

Dewpoint

Day three after applying to First Direct for a regular Savings account and still not opened. £300 (meant to be in my Regular Saver) still languishing in my current account earning no interest.

And MSE considers this bank "and has won every customer service poll we've ever done, that's not a bad move."
Absolute rubbish - just like FD, and its parent company the HSBC bank. Shockingly bad service.

I'm giving them 24 hrs to get it fixed or I'm off elsewhere.

badger09

Dewpoint wrote: »

Day three after applying to First Direct for a regular Savings account and still not opened. £300 (meant to be in my Regular Saver) still languishing in my current account earning no interest.

And MSE considers this bank "and has won every customer service poll we've ever done, that's not a bad move."
Absolute rubbish - just like FD, and its parent company the HSBC bank. Shockingly bad service.

I'm giving them 24 hrs to get it fixed or I'm off elsewhere.

I had a similar issue when I opened my first First Direct RS account a few years ago. It appeared to have been opened but at some stage the process had stalled. After a couple of days, I phoned and the person I spoke to had no idea why it had stalled, but he pressed a couple of buttons:p and got it sorted.

If I hadn't been checking, it would have languished in the ether indefinitely:(

Dewpoint

First Direct are rubbish - their incompetence also cost me 1% interest rate. I'm beginning to suspect that commercial interests are now taking priority over others since MSE was hived off by Lewis for £87m to MoneySupermarket! I just wonder how much FD has paid MSE to promote their rubbish bank.
I sent a secure message first thing this morning asking for the status of my application - still no reply. They've got until tomorrow morning to fix it or I'm off.

By contrast, I applied for a similar savings account online last month with Nationwide, and in the same online session, I opened and transferred the initial deposit (10 mins) and was able to view the account information online the following morning! Effortless and quick.
Don't see N/W being promoted by MSE - just wonder if they refused to pay?

eskbanker

Dewpoint wrote: »

I just wonder how much FD has paid MSE to promote their rubbish bank.
<snip>
Don't see N/W being promoted by MSE - just wonder if they refused to pay?

If you read http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts you'll see that both First Direct and Nationwide have affiliate links from MSE and the explanation at the foot of the page clarifies (or at least claims) that "the editorial line (the things we write) is NEVER impacted by these links".

Dewpoint wrote: »

MSE considers this bank "and has won every customer service poll we've ever done, that's not a bad move."

To be fair to MSE, they're not promoting FD as such, they're saying that those who choose to vote in MSE customer satisfaction polls consistently rate FD highly, that's not the same thing....

Dewpoint

From my experience as a customer of both Nationwide and FD, the former is streets ahead of the latter in terms of customer service, online system usability and customer responsiveness - and I don't think I'm alone.
The latest MSE missive on regular savings accounts states for FD: "And as its bank account also pays a £100 bonus to switchers and has won every customer service poll we've ever done, that's not a bad move." So where does that put MSE surveys?
That's not promoting FD? Come on! A £1000 bonus wouldn't entice me to transfer my accounts to them.

taktikback

been with FD since 1992 -never had a problem with them - consistently good. Nothing wrong with Nationwide, but they are rarely competative. FD are not rubbish. You wait 3 days to get a new account opened paying 6% and then threaten to "take your business elsewhere in 24 hours." if they don't get it sorted"...do me a favour...

I recommend you try dealing with MBNA...never mind 24 hours ...that bunch of B&*^%rds will just tie you into a nice deal and then steal your money...

YorkshireBoy

taktikback wrote: »

been with FD since 1992 -never had a problem with them - consistently good. Nothing wrong with Nationwide, but they are rarely competative.

With a 5% on £2.5K paying current account*, a 5% regular saver taking another £6K over a year, free UK/EU travel insurance, a very good overseas use credit card, a 'Plus' account paying 3% on £2.5K and giving a host of other benefits for £10 a month, a decent regular saver ISA a couple of years ago, and the chance to make £1K per year in referral incentives I'd have to disagree with you!

I recommend you try dealing with MBNA...never mind 24 hours ...that bunch of B&*^%rds will just tie you into a nice deal and then steal your money...

They only "steal your money" if you breach the T&Cs (if I understand your point correctly). If you stay within the T&Cs you win...every time!


* For a great many families in the UK, this means they make 5% AER on every penny they have in the world...until they spend it!

taktikback

OK -fair point on Nationwide...they do seem to have upped their game recently...

and yes MBNA are fine as long as you don't "breach their T+C's"...but then they deliberately make it easy to do that and then clean up...fair enough -technically correct...but then, I don't see that as ethical business...just trying to fleece anyone they can...I hate that..and hope they never get any business from anyone ever...unfortunately...life ain't like that...but there you go...if you dance with the devil in the pale moonlight...