MSE News: First Direct's top for service again — what's the secret?

i spent some time as an employee for first direct. I underwent their training, its all about the sales, the rapport is simply to build trust, then go in for the sales.
its a bank, its a business, the calls are not timed as such but there are targets to be met.
I didnt enjoy my time as an employee as i found them to be totally unsympathetic to my family needs ie care of sick child, ie if it happens again your out.

It's a shame that FD have chosen to invest a lot of cash recently into a re-haul of their commercial website but have chosen not to spend any cash on developing the Online Banking area.

There are some key vulnerabilities which I informed First Direct about a year ago which are still outstanding:-

Internet Banking Access
1. Internet Banking loads in a separate, small pop-up window. This is very old-fashioned. Personally, I would prefer the 'Internet Banking' link to redirect me to the Internet Banking logon screen in the main webpage window.


Security
2. In the 'Internet Banking Log On' page, if an incorrect username is entered, the warning 'Your username has not been recognised. Please try again' is displayed. From a security perspective, this is dangerous as it instantly visually alerts hackers to the existence of a valid account. Symantec would advise that the log on should continue regardless of an invalid entry to the next page (password and security question) - even in the case of an invalid logon ID having been entered - and only report that one or more details have been entered incorrectly after the user clicks [Proceed] - this way, hackers are completely in the dark as to which piece of security information is invalid. If an invalid logon ID has been initially entered on the initial page, a random question could be asked on the password page to fool them.

3. I would prefer dropdown controls instead of textboxes for the 3 password character fields. This is to prevent keyloggers from collecting any password-related data.


Menus
4. It is not obvious that the menus collapse and expand to an inexperienced user. Normally, [+] and [-] symbols are shown next to collapsing/contracting menu options to indicate that this is the case. Certain menu options (e.g. 'View Statements') actually load a new webpage, whereas other options (e.g. 'My Details') simply expand the menu option. This difference in behaviour makes the site less easy to navigate.

5. When a collapsing menu is selected (e.g. 'Order Items') when one is already open (e.g. 'My Details'), the first one automatically contracts. Why?


Payments & Transfers
6. Clicking 'Standing Orders' brings up a combined list of standing orders & direct debits. The 'type' field is the only visible differentiator. Why can't the standing orders be in a table at the top while the direct debits are shown in another table underneath - this would be much more visible.

7. Why do Standing Orders appear to be set up manually by First Direct staff? I've never been required to enter information such as 'monthly on 20th' in a frequency field before. Normally, I would expect prompts such as 'Daily/Weekly/Monthly/Annually' and 'Payment Start Date'.

8. When I set up a payment for a credit card, if I know all of the banking details for the card including the reference (card number), account number & sort code, the website simply rejects it if I attempt to enter it using the 'Pay Another Person' option. The site simply instructs me to select the card from the 'Pay A Company' list, complaining that the payment should be added using that option - this seems ridiculous!

9. If I select the credit card from the 'Pay A Company' option, the payment destination is listed in my payment destination list as the name of the card plus the card number, sort code & account number. I am not able to enter a destination alias, e.g. 'Paul Santander CC'. I have several similar payment destinations set up where both myself, my Wife & my Father have cards/accounts with the same companies, it makes life very difficult attempting to work out which one of the very similar payment destinations I should select from the list.

10. There appears to be no way to remove payment destinations set up previously. If no longer have an account with bank X then there is no way of being able to remove it from the list of destinations.

11. If I wish to make a payment to my First Direct Credit Card from my First Direct Current Account, there appears to be no easy way of making a transfer other than setting up the Credit Card as a new Payment Destination and scheduling a payment. I had wrongly assumed that the 'Make Payment' option on the 'My Accounts' page next to my credit card would allow this - but it appears to only allow payments to be made FROM the card to my 1st Account. However - there was no similar option in my 1st Account to make a payment TO the credit card - I had to set up the payment manually myself. After I had scheduled the payment, I expected it to disappear from my 1st Account instantly and appear in my Credit Card account moments later - it didn't - it only appeared the following day!

Firstly the negatives....

Their online banking website is quite annoying that way that its open in a little window.

I think they are wasting money on things like First Direct Labs. Its just a PR exercise. They don't seem to listen to anything posted on it.

For example, there are hundreds of requests for an Android App, but last time I asked, there were no plans to develop one.

Also, I posted a request that after making a payment, a summary screen should be displayed, so that I can print proof of payment. At the moment, i've got to print off my statement as proof of payment.

Having said all that, I do like their customer service. Its very quick and efficient, and I dont think i'd switch any time soon.