Go with First Direct, £250 free overdraft, no ties beyond paying in a certain amount each month. Not the most exciting account, functional, but with great service.
There is no cost for the first six months. After that you can avoid paying the £10 monthly account fee by:
- paying at least £1,000 into the account every month
- or maintaining an average monthly balance of £1,000
- or also having a mortgage, credit card, Personal Loan, savings (except Regular Saver), First Directory or Home insurance with us.
Potential, assets, fees.
I tried FirstDirect, but it just felt … old, if that makes sense. That was a few years ago maybe they have improved?
I’ve more than 26 years with FD, £2000 authorised overdraft for the best part of those years although it’s been a few years since I’ve had to dip into it. Customer service has been second to none in all that time although since using the app I’ve hardly needed to contact them except for setting up a Regular Saver account once a year. I’ve never had cause to complain, the app is clean and functional whilst lacking any ‘wow’ features. If it wasn’t for Monzo’s app I wouldn’t know I’m missing out on anything.
Although I’ve transferred most of my banking to Monzo I still think that having a reliable legacy bank like FD has its place, if only to maintain the facility to easily deposit cheques and cash as well as having emergency alternatives to fall back on like Apple Pay and Visa debit/credit cards whilst Monzo’s services are still in their infancy.
4 Likes
I set my regular Saver up via the internet site last year, so I don’t have to call them even once a year now!
Agree with everything, FD are great, customer service is superb.
1 Like
They’re CS is ace. They answer straight away with no robots.
2 Likes
Got an update for the android app last night. I now have the overdraft option but it’s not active yet. App version is 1.16
Yep, that’s the beauty right there 
I guess it’ll turn blue maybe when applications are available?
Yes, Starling currently charge 15% to new applicants, but earlier applicants got a rate of 12% and Starling are retaining this rate for them.
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.