First Direct - feedback and general chat


Looks they offer cheque imaging… and you can pay in cash at Post Offices…
I’m using Monzo as main account as well. And I can’t deposit money at all (pay point is not an option)

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Ooh yeah.
Yeah I don’t like how Monzo charge to pay money in. But to be honest all my transactions are done via BACs, transfers and contactless payments so no biggy.

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This is a valid point to be fair, they said the change to Mastercard was going to bring lots of benefits, but so far I see 0 benefits and 1 negative. But saying that my local Post Office is nearer than my HSBC branch anyway. But not really the point, as one of their big things is that you can use HSBC branches.

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Very true. The roles have reversed with more banks closing and more post offices expanding in convenience shops. Just wish post offices would bring back current accounts but their more focused on credit cards, loans and mortgages now

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Cheque imaging here, has done for least half a year now.

Can’t always blame customer services, if so much went wrong I can’t imagine all the staff are to blame :eyes:

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I was caught out by this. The one time I had cash to put in and I thought “no problem, I’ll just nip into HSBC” and found that since it was a digital branch I was PNG.

Super strange really. Is there a reason they don’t allow you to use their machines apart from being Mastercard. I don’t bank with HSBC

I’m not sure. My local branch isn’t a digital one (I didn’t know that was a thing until I just searched it), it has staff behind the counter still. But their paying in machines have just never accepted the new FD Mastercard debit cards. It was a known issue we were told about when they made the change, it was worded like it was temporary, but doesn’t seem to be. I can still queue up to pay money in at the kiosk but it was always much easier using the machines.

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Omg… they assign categories manually?! No option to change category until someone assigns it. (Few days for some transactions). So spending insights are useless as pending and uncategorised transactions are not included

I don’t think it’s manually done, though it wouldn’t surprise me!

I’m thinking this is down the the lag that there is between their systems and Bud, who power the insights.

I’ve actually grown used to waiting to sort it a day or so after it’s cleared. I would prefer it to be instant and custom pay periods though.

What’s most irratating is that Bud was actually not a bad app back in the day. I do wish they hurried up and integrated it. Perhaps by 2025

As much as I love FD so far. As has been said by others the pace of innovation is… Erm… Glacial to say the least. You would have thought with their history in innovating with telephone banking back in the day they would have been faster and more motivated to keep up with the neo-banks. :person_shrugging:t5:

Yeah I’m not sure that FD know what a fintech actually is. I think they think they are one, though.

To be honest I actually quite like them and the app. It knows who its customers are and keeps its proposition aligned accordingly.

Their live chat and phone is gold standard, the app is clean looking and it does what I need.

I agree that it would be nice to see them speed up a little in terms of budgeting, notifications etc but then there’s Doris who likes to ring each day just to check their balance to think about…

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That’s the point: I don’t think Doris needs “budgeting” so you’re unlikely to see first direct implement it.

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Well colour me optimistic then :laughing:

I think the other point is its actually surprising just how little I’ve missed having in-app budgets, its actually made me spend less

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Yea, tbh these are the things that keep me using it. Analytics are fun but day-to-day I think it meant I spent a lot of time having my poverty thrust in my face. Ignorance is bliss as they say… :sweat_smile::sob:

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Anyone know if I CASS out my current account will it mess with my app and credit card at all?
Sorry if dumb question.

In case anyone wondered my friend did exactly this and his CC is still open, the current account is now gone from his app and CASS is finished.

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Received a letter from FD today for managing money.

it’s a dormant account. Nothing cracking on.

Complete waste of paper.

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My guess is they’re moving across to the HBSC design studio (with appropriate branding). If that’s true, could be good news. That was quite good with demo apps and other interactions.

Weirdly that’s where I first saw insights mooted, but it never made its way to HSBC but instead to first direct for some reason (smaller customer base at a guess)

Anyway wonder if we can expect some of the many “coming soon” features to finally appear

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Would be awesome to start seeing more features from them!

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Maybe notifications which they promised as coming soon over the last 5 years.

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FD is so close to being my main bank, I just wish it had notifications mainly. The 7% savings account is decent, very limiting though. Do they have an easy access savings account?

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