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First Direct
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It is good to come first
| Rating of the author: | published on 18.10.2007 by freediveheaven |
| Staff courtesy: | Excellent |
| Promptness of service: | Excellent |
| Efficiency of service: | Excellent |
| Competitiveness of charges/rates: | Good |
| Online - Content/organization of site: | Excellent |
| Online - Reliability/speed of site: | Good |
| Online - Ease of applying for products: | Good |
| Online - Investment tracking: | Excellent |
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Pros: Excellent personal service Cons: Some of the terms changed recently |
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The competition for our banking business is not always as competitive as it should be, mainly because of customer inertia which results in many of us staying with the same bank. The main banks enjoy this as it helps them maintain market share. For many banks the current account is a loss leader, it provides little in the way of revenue provided the account holder remains in credit or within an agreed overdraft limit whilst the average cost for a bank to operate a current account is £70 per year. At least that was the figure used by the bank that I worked in for over 16 years. For most people it is seen as too much hassle to move their account or that there is little difference on offer so why bother and for 16 years I fell comfortably into that camp enjoying the convenience of being able to access my account from the branch located in our building. When I was made redundant and found myself enjoying a summer on garden leave that convenience was gone and suddenly I had to travel all the way into the centre of town, pay to park my car and queue with the great unwashed of Northampton, I even risked meeting some of the unsavory review writers that live in Northampton, you know who they are. I also discovered just how awful the telephone banking service is for my old bank with its multiple button pressing which ultimately sees you being routed to India to find out the balance of your account. With First Direct I get none of this inconvenience. I can still use a branch if I want to but now I can choose from any one of the HSBC branches (first direct are part of the HSBC group) importantly I get access to the best telephone service I have ever come across. The operators are extremely pleasant and most importantly efficient. It is not often that you feel like you are being treated as an individual but with First Direct you do. Every interaction I have had has been personalized, there is always the offer of advice if required and on one occasion when a large amount was due into my account this was identified by the operator, however rather than go straight into a sales pitch they took time to ask the right questions to ensure that I knew what I needed to do with the money and only then did they mention the products that they had available. No hard sell and no unwanted follow up calls. Opening an Account Account opening can be either through the website or by completing an application form. The information requested is only that required to open the account and there is no fishing for possible sales leads at this early part of the relationship. Once the account has been opened you receive a welcome pack. This contains the required forms to arrange for your salary to be paid into your account and also to transfer your direct debits and standing orders. With the transfer form you have the option whether to request First Direct to close your old bank account or leave it open. You also get to state the date from which you want the payments to be made from your First Direct account however you do have to allow at least 20 working days from returning the forms to First Direct to allow them to complete the transactions. Prior to this date any direct debits due will be collected from your old account. When deciding upon a date it is a good idea to select a time of the month when payments do not usually go out as there will be less chance of any payments being missed. By the way if anyone uses NTL for any service it does not matte what date you select the will still cock it up. With the exception of NTL I was really impressed with the transfer service and everything seems to have gone smoothly which is not bad when you consider that I have over 22 mandates set up on my account. As part of the security procedure your debit card, pin number, cheque book and paying in book all come by separate delivery and usually arrive within ten days of the account being opened. Account Facilities With the account you receive a debit card and cheque book as well as a paying in book. Statements are issued monthly and contain all the relevant detail. You also get an automatic overdraft limit of £500 and this can be increased up to £1,000 upon request by yourself at no extra charge. However if you want an overdraft facility above £1,000 then you will be charged 1% of the new limit as a one off charge. This is probably the only area which lets First Direct down as my previous bank did not make such a charge basing its overdraft facility on the credits going into the account. It is not that I live life overdrawn just that it s nice to know I have the facility if it is required before I’m able to move savings money into the account. The account does not pay a great interest rate on credit balances, effective from 1st August the credit rate is 1.58% net which is not very generous however this type of account should be viewed as an account for day to day living and not a place to keep long term savings. For me the rate is not the most important feature as I move any surplus into other higher paying accounts and given the average balance of the account the net gain from a higher rate would be negligible. The overdraft rate is also slightly on the high side with a rate of 10.48% p.a. on an agreed overdraft and a whopping 18.47% p.a. on an unauthorized overdraft. For a full list of charges on the account check out the website. As well as being able to set up direct debits and standing orders you can also set up a bill payment facility however existing bill payments are not transferred as part of the transfer process. The debit card doubles up as a cheque guarantee card up to the value of £100 and is a chip and pin card using either the Maestro or cirrus system depending on location. No charges are made by First Direct for withdrawals from most cash machines however be aware that some machines, typically those found in pubs and clubs will charge you for withdrawing money. Since opening teh account the conditions to receive free banking have changed, these do not affect me as I also have a savings account with them but they have now set minimum monthly credit limits into your account otherwise you may incu a monthly charge, this can be negated if you have a second financial relationship with them but do read the small print before applying. Operating the Account You have a number of options when it comes to operating your account. There is an excellent web site to operate the account online. It is easy to navigate and is well set out with clear uncluttered text. With the exception of actually withdrawing cash all other transactions can be performed and you can link the account to other online savings accounts to make it easy to transfer funds. Be aware that First Direct do offer a very attractive 5% on their online saver account however if you make a withdrawal from this account you receive no interest for the whole of that calendar month. You can also operate your account by phone. There is one simple number 08456100100 to use for all transactions and the real beauty here is there is no endless pressing of buttons to filter your call. You are put straight through to a real person; the longest I have ever had to wait to speak to someone is less than two minutes and the service is 24 hours 7 days a week. Another feature that I like is that I do not have to have my account number with me instead the security procedure makes use of a password and some personal information. This is one less set of numbers that I need to remember. For paying in money you can either visit a HSBC branch or send in cheques by post using the freepost envelopes that are sent with the welcome pack additional supplies of which can be ordered via the website. Withdrawing funds is via any of the HSBC cash machines or those displaying the Maestro or Cirrus logo. Security One of the big concerns with any bank and in particular those that rely on a non face to face service is account security. To be honest the greatest risk to your money is a rampant partner armed with a credit card in the sales but we have all heard about the lapses in security and the problems of identity theft. Most people in the industry will tell you that it is the banks own computer systems that are most at risk against the determined fraudster while customer stupidity is the next biggest risk. First Direct will never ask you for your whole password instead they use a random selection system to ask for three characters in the password when you contact them. If you transact online this password is different to the one that you use on the phone. For online transactions you use a customer name or number and followed by the requested three digits from your password. You also have to answer a question however this is printed for you so any user with some knowledge would be able to nput it unless you did not deliberately set up the real life answer. So for example you could have the question What is my mothers maiden name and then choose a wrong answer like CASTRO that no one would guess. For telephone transactions name and postcode start the process followed by the random password characters and then a personal question like place of birth as final conformation. In addition e-mails have limited account details contained in them to help ensure that you are not being hoaxed and do not contain links to the first direct website to avoid the potential for fishing. Conclusion For me to recommend a financial institution they must be pretty good and I would not hesitate to recommend First Direct. In fact it was an even fussier friend who switched me on to them, this professional complainer from Yorkshire was often heard to sin their praises and they have not been proved wrong. If you are not worried about interest rates and keep your account out of the red and want an excellent personalized service then you cannot go far wrong taking a look at First Direct, they only miss getting 5 stars due to the limited free overdraft facility. Thanks for reading and rating my review. |
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Comments on the review
| Comments on the review | Rating | Date | Member |
|---|---|---|---|
| very detailed! |
very helpful
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25.3.2008, 11:22 |
Author: jane
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| Well written and informative |
very helpful
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24.10.2007, 9:25 |
Author: chocolatelady
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| Great detailed review |
very helpful
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18.10.2007, 21:20 |
Author: sweetdaisy
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