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First Direct Current Account Switch Blagged Deal

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  • CGG
    CGG Posts: 746 Forumite
    Have successfully opened an account for my 85 year old Mother, switching her ancient NatWest current account in the process. She is in sheltered accommodation, only income is from her pension and the switch has been hassle free. She just awaits the incentive bonus now.
  • marks87
    marks87 Posts: 180
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    I've just opened one of these accounts online and gave the details for switching. Once I'd finished filling in the switch form, the window closed and I was left back at the "Start your application" page.

    I've not received any kind of email confirmation. Is that normal, and I just wait for something through the mail? Or should I give them a call to make sure everything is opened and set up?
  • marks87
    marks87 Posts: 180
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    Scratch that - an email has just come through.

    I'm not a fan of such a big delay because you're never quite sure if the application has gone through, or if you've accidentally typed your email address incorrectly etc.

    Even if today's email was prompted by human intervention, an automated "we have your application and are processing it" email soon after submission would be nice.
  • Hey,

    Just a quick question...I'm aware that if I switch they will transfer my salary but will they transfer my child benefit or will I need to let the council know myself?

    TIA :)
  • Cecelia23 wrote: »
    Hey,

    Just a quick question...I'm aware that if I switch they will transfer my salary but will they transfer my child benefit or will I need to let the council know myself?

    TIA :)

    Regardless of what happens, you should inform anyone, that regularly pays in to your account, of the change.
  • Has anyone successfully claimed £100 for leaving this account ?
    Like others I find the online services painfully slow,so have just moved my regular saver away from them.
    Can I open a new account elsewhere and switch away to that and still claim the £100 as I'm not happy with first direct ?
    I have checked the t&cs but couldn't find any details there.
  • AlpineF30
    AlpineF30 Posts: 20
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    Just seen that this offer is to end on Monday.

    I applied for the account yesterday and they have said they will let me know in a few days after performing a credit check.

    However as I cannot switch until the account is open does that mean I am out of luck?
  • ormolu
    ormolu Posts: 15 Forumite
    In answer to your question @AlpineF30, it seems if you INITIATE the switch before Monday, you'll still get the money (within 28 days after you pay in 1000 quid).

    I called them today as they were taking a while to send my welcome pack, which has the account number and sort code, and I had previously been told I would need to wait for that info before calling to initiate the switch. But when I called this morning, they gave me the acc # and sort code over the phone, took the details for the switch, and gave me an official switch date (which has to be minimum 6 working days from initiating). You need to go through their security question walkthrough before they'll do this with you on the phone, but it wasn't too laborious - less than the 10 to 15 mins they said it would take.

    Yes, it takes longer than the '7 day switch!' marketing suggests, but this seems more of an industry issue than a first direct issue. The phone experience was good and I'm cautiously optimistic despite horror stories above...
  • Hi Martin,
    Was a bit concerned about what you were saying about this account on This Morning, firstly you said that “you need to pay in a 1000 pound a month to qualify for the account, and the switching fee, so you need to be earning £13000 per year”

    To be able to pay in a £1000 a month from earning you need to be earning around £17500 a year to allow for all taxes and national insurances and top up pensions to be taken in to account to ensure that you can safely qualify for the barrier to ensure that the £10 a month fee is waived.

    Also, you were saying that there would be £100 cash on switching paid with in 28 days of opening the account and this would be linked to a 5% savings account. when taking in to account inflation and if this savings account is not paying 5% above inflation then this works out that it would be making 2% a year over all.

    As £17500 a year is what the ONS says that is the basic minimum to live off in the UK after tax it would assume that the individuals that would qualify for the minimum of a £1000 a month would not be paying very much in to the savings if anything at all after you take in to account rent, council, tax, and the general cost of living that is incurred in the UK, meaning that when you split the linked savings across both the current account and the savings account, and include inflation in to the calculation then there is a 1% additional on cost to the account each year not a 5% savings bonus

    In theory if you are one of the customers that would not be using or would find it very difficult to use the savings facility, then in your first year the account has cost you £290 based on £13,000 being paid in to qualify for the waived fees on the account £100 being given in cash and a western average of 3% inflation added to the general cost of living and monetary buying power, then around £390 a year after this

    when you work with the savings facility at to cover this hidden cost placed on the account of which everything has a cost in finance! You would need to be looking at saving at least £8000 a year in the savings facility to beat the losses to inflation.

    And if memory serves because of regulations First Direct would need to show that an individual would have to have at least £16000 a year in disposable income, dependant on how fast the client could access the savings before they would be allowed to save that sum, and could restrict who they are allowed to qualify for this account.

    I beleive that they are not after your average joe, but expanding there cash rich client base.
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 30,375
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    zag337 wrote: »
    Hi Martin,
    Was a bit concerned about what you were saying about this account on This Morning, firstly you said that “you need to pay in a 1000 pound a month to qualify for the account, and the switching fee, so you need to be earning £13000 per year”

    To be able to pay in a £1000 a month from earning you need to be earning around £17500 a year to allow for all taxes and national insurances and top up pensions to be taken in to account to ensure that you can safely qualify for the barrier to ensure that the £10 a month fee is waived.
    Firstly, don't be under any illusion that Martin Lewis personally reads all the posts on here - there are over 43 million of them at the time of writing!

    Your analysis of pay obviously differs from the MSE editorial view, as https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/tax-calculator/ works out that a £13K annual gross income results in £228 income tax and £549 in NI (both annually), leaving £1,019 net monthly.

    Without going through all the rest of your post line by line, you're overthinking it and mixing up a variety of messages - I didn't see the piece concerned but doubt that anybody is trying to claim that someone on minimum wage will be able to save significant amounts (with FD or anywhere else) and clearly any quoted savings interest rates don't take inflation into account!

    Of course it's impractical to express a detailed and considered analysis of a bank account and linked savings account (plus switching incentives, published application criteria, etc) in bite-size TV-friendly terms, so anyone seeing him on telly obviously still needs to do their own research rather than being led by soundbites....
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