Been Ripped Off vs First Direct

[Been Ripped Off]

Hello All, I have finally decided today to take action against First Direct.

I think their overdraft and excess overdraft fees are outrageous.

I have been having a few financial problems over the past few months and have been burying my head in the sand and hoping they would go away, by this I mean being too scared to open my bank statements from First Direct. From what I can see they charge you an overdraft fee for exceeding your overdraft and then an excess overdraft fee on top. Never mind all the £37.50 returned direct debit fees. I originally spoke to First Direct to explain that I was having a few financial problems caused by my employer messing up my salary every couple of months but First Directs response was to call me a thief. The lady from their credit services department told me that by exceeding my overdraft “I was steeling money from the bank” I explained that they charged me for this, but she was adamant that this was steeling.

 

I have been a customer of First Direct for 14 years and always found them to be very efficient and helpful but their letter about the £10 a month charge is the last straw.

 

Does anyone know if they have actually closed anyone’s account as a result of them refunding the charges? Also if you close your bank account will they automatically close your credit card and demand immediate repayment?

[notsmilingnow]

I used to work for them and used to think they were ok.

 

I was in a similar position to you and the bank screwed me over. They were really nice and offered an increased overdraft. I then said that due to my van breaking down it would help if i could have a larger overdraft. They refused and the day after removed my full overdraft without notice. I then called and complained.

 

To cut a long story short they were complete poo heads and annoyed me enough to make the money claim. By this time they had taken over £1200 in fees.

 

They didn't take my account but did remove my overdraft which if i'm honest i can understand but i know how there accounts work and i could easily become £200 overdrawn again with what they call there Bradford score and the ridiculous charges.

 

The good news is after my first letter, 14 days after in fact i rang First Direct and the very helpfull frontline advisor told me that the money would show in my account the very next day. True to their word i spent it the next day

 

Good look but i hope and almost expect you wont need it. Both Smile and First Direct paid out without any hold up or question.

[Been Ripped Off]

Hi notsmilingnow,

Thanks for your post, I have tried to call them and the lady I spoke to first of all, was really helpful, but then when she passed me to credit services the helpfulness ended. The credit services department was not at all interested and gave me a lecture in the “proper way to run your bank account” i.e. don’t exceed your overdraft etc. That was this morning and since then I have sent them the Subject Access Request as I am fed up with the we don’t care attitude. I have spent the last 10 years recommending them, but I won’t be doing that again. So far they have charged me £362.50 in the last month alone.

[notsmilingnow]

Annoying thing isi used to work with most of credit services, they are a complete bunch of heartless *&$&^£$*£ somehow they forget that they are dealing with people and do whatever they want.

 

I demanded to speak to a manager and the lecture just got worse.

 

To add to it part of the reason my aco**** wasn't great was because my dad was terminally ill. I mentioned that to the person in credit services and the reply was 'my dad was also terminally ill and i always ensured my account was perfect in fact i made it a priority'

When i heard that comment i just hung up. Certainly not happy with them.

[monkey_uk]

Hi BRP, best of luck with your claim (not that you need it), keep us posted, and above all, stick to your deadlines. You set the timetables, not First Direct.

[androobe]

With reference to being a "thief"... in the vast majority of cases the bank can stop you exceeding your limit. They choose to allow you to go over it (thereby turning themselves into thieves by charging you an unlawful penalty). The top bods that make these decisions must think that we're really stupid - yes they have been getting away with it for years, but not anymore.

[Been Ripped Off]

Well, it’s now Thursday and I have received a letter from First Direct, and it’s not quite the letter I was expecting. I assumed that I would get the usual acknowledgement as mentioned by others on this forum saying “We have received your Subject Access Request” well instead I got a letter from Nicky Bridge – Credit Services Manager. She kindly points out that if I exceed my overdraft or they bounce any payments they will “withdraw your banking facilities without notification” How thoroughly nice of them. I find their attitude absolutely unbelievable if my account was in some sort of arrears or seriously over the overdraft limit, then fine but it’s was not over the limit until they started adding their blasted charges, like “excess overdraft fee” £70 “overdraft fee” £30. The saga continues……….

[androobe]

Doesn't surprise me. I think they really started to get scared about not being able to rely on making nice juicy profits from charges. The new T&Cs coming only go to prove this. I'm only glad I got rid of this lot 3 years ago... and suggest everyone else does too. Remember they might have friendly customer service, but they're still part of HSBC who are making sickening ££bns profit every year. God forbid the directors losing a few thousand in bonuses.

[Been Ripped Off]

Well as I said in my earlier post the saga defiantly continues, I called First Direct today to inform them that I had decided to close my bank account and that I wanted to change the way I paid my credit card from them and my loan again from First Direct. The first guy I spoke to was adamant that there is no way you can have a loan from them and not pay it from your First Direct account, I pointed out to him that I had enough of their attitude and behaviour and I had in fact opened an account elsewhere.

 

At this point clearly it was too much for him and I was passed to credit services who grudgingly admitted I could pay the loan by standing order. It became obvious as the conversation progressed that they were not going to make it easy though. I asked them to set up a direct debit so they could get the money on time themselves, no sir we cannot do that YOU have to make sure we get the money on time and if the payment arrives late it wont be good. As for the credit card that was a similar story, you can pay when you receive the statement, or we can send you a form but you have to send it to your new bank.

 

I was then asked why I was taking my banking elsewhere, to which I informed the lady about the letter I had received from them in the morning in which THEY were threatening me with my account being closed. She then explained how the whole thing was a misunderstanding. Apparently they decided to send me this letter last week, but that they have a “special” department who type letters and who clearly take a week to actually type it and post it. I don’t believe a word of what they say as the date on the letter was yesterdays and it certainly did not look written merely a computer generated letter.

 

If the letter was a misunderstanding then they should not have sent it.

 

I wonder what the next thrilling installment will bring.

[Been Ripped Off]

Right, First Direct have replied to my Subject Access Request letter and have said the statements and copies of notes will be sent by courier as they say they want a signature. They retuned my cheque, like I believe they did with others on this forum.

[Been Ripped Off]

Well it’s now almost 3 weeks since First Direct returned my cheque and acknowledged my request for the previous statements as in my previous post. But I have not received anything from them.

I telephoned them today and have been told that they don’t understand their own notes. The lady I spoke to asked her colleague to read their notes on the system, but she too could not make sense of them! Apparently it's their data systems department who I need to speak to.

Has anyone else had this sort of delay, and if not how long did FD take to send you the statements?

I am wondering if this is some sort of delaying tactic.

[Been Ripped Off]

First Direct called me today and informed me that thy will be taking the full 40 days to send me the statements.

 

Has anyone else had to wait this long?

 

They also say they are looking into all my accounts with them, even though I only asked for the statements for my current account. They also think the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) (the one from this forum) is confusing, am I missing something here ?