The 3.5% rate is now live for applications as of this morning.
I’ve opened an account, but unfortunately First Direct are very old school and apparently take three working days to open the account, plus potentially an extra working day for the account to display on online banking or the app.
Distinctly behind the times when compared with other banks, especially considering you can apply in the app but then can’t see your new account for days!
So what date do you reckon your SO will be taken each month?
I’ll be opening one, but would prefer SO taken AFTER 1st of the month, and not the 29th of each month 
Well, that’s part of the problem here!
I would assume that it probably will be on or after the 1st and that’s why they’ve oddly launched it midweek near the end of the month (if they say three working days, then Monday is the third day?) but actually I have no idea.
You could apply on the 1st, but then you will likely end up with a standing order on the 4th!
You also absolutely must fund it from your 1st account, so can’t set anything up externally, and you aren’t allowed to miss a month unlike many other regular savers (the most you can do is edit your standing order to the minimum amount) so even missing a payment and then starting the next month on the 1st is not an option.
Looking at my old notes for my previous First Direct RS, suggests that applying today may be ok, but still not definitive.
New opened Thu 29/03/2018 - 5% - SO 29th of the month
New applied Thu 04/04/2019 - 5% - SO 5th of the month
However, the latest one,
New opened Mon 06/04/2020 - 2.75% - SO 11th of the month - FIVE DAYS after opening.
Yeah, this is not an issue for me as this account is otherwise unused.
My SO will go from my main hub account to First Direct 1staccount on 1st of each month (my payday), and sit there for the FD current account to RS internal SO transfer each month. No chance of it being spent in the meantime.
I will be drip-feeding the FD RS from my Chase Savings account for the first three payments, as those fresh, monthly funds are currently sent to Skipton on the 1st of the month for their Member’s RS at 3.5%
Last deposit with Skipton is 1 July 2022, so I will change my SO after that date to go to FD from 1 Aug 2022. Simples 
Interesting, this is my first First Direct regular saver so I have no such past experience to compare. It all seems a bit pot lock, based on your notes!
My point about it coming from the 1st account was that you have to have your £300 or whatever in there on the “correct” day, which is slightly annoying when I don’t use it for anything else either. If it could come from somewhere else, I could link it to one of my actual main accounts. But then again, that’s common with regular savers as most banks seem to think of them as some kind of “reward” for loyal customers!
I am a bit worried about substantial sums left in my 1st account for any length of time, what with the news stories about the First Direct Nando’s fraud (and no instant notifications to alert me to it), but hopefully they’ve sorted that now.
This is my concern with a few of my dormant current accounts, as not all provide the notification feature to make you aware of any issues.
I run on a £0 balance, and have no overdraft facility. First Direct would send an SMS if you enter an unauthorised overdraft, which would be the case with a fraud transaction, if paid.
As my source account actions my SO on the date requested, regardless of banking day or not, I do not worry about this aspect.
Of course, if your source account does not action SO on weekends or bank holidays, you may miss the timeline.
I have to say, I admire the effort some of you are putting in to open this FD RS account. The return is so poor, it’s a joke imo. All that effort for not very much after 12 months. But I guess some will say, every little helps, but for me, it’s just too much effort.
I’ve only had a FD account for a full couple of months and I’ve literally done nothing with it. I took the £150 joining bonus, which of course is far more than the paltry interest they’re offering with the RS and that’s it. With no requirement to transfer any direct debits and no minimum pay in other than the inital £1k, there’s no need to even bother doing else with it in my view. Even more so as the mobile app is just well behind Starling and Chase.
Yes, very poor and another reason why I’m just not going to bother.
First Direct’s app is well behind every bank going, not just behind Starling and Chase!
Another diabolical App, is M&S credit card, equally as poor, certainly as poor as the old M&S current account app. But then they all come from the same provider don’t they? HSBC?
This is why I set my card controls to freeze for everything when I’m not using them. Especially with FD because I do have too much money still sitting there in the current account which I definitely should just transfer the majority over to Chase. In fact, I’m going to empty most of it now whilst it’s in my head!
Yes they do - but curiously First Direct and M&S Bank seem to share app code, while HSBC itself has a different (and, in lots of ways, better) app. John Lewis Partnership Card is yet another totally separate app, but it’s also provided by HSBC. That app doesn’t even let you log in easily, as they make customers input the card’s CVC as well as use biometrics every time they login! You should think yourself lucky with the M&S Bank app - notifications and all!
It’s all very messy, and seems like a huge duplication of effort on HSBC’s part. You would expect them to use absolutely identical, just reskinned, apps as Lloyds do with their brands (Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland & MBNA all have basically identical apps). Not so over at HSBC!
PS: I’ve just remembered they also have two business apps - HSBC Business and HSBC Kinetic. Also for seemingly no good reason!
And whilst we’re on the subject of HSBC, for those that want to get in their quick because it ends tomorrow:
Not for me personally because I’ve already mugged them off with the £150 from FD, plus, there’s the whole thing with direct debits etc.
Well I can’t speak for the FD current account regarding notifications, because I haven’t received any yet on account of the fact I don’t actually use the account for spending. I’ve still not even used the debit card. The M&S credit card, yes, I do get spending notifications, but the whole app is pre-historically behind AMEX for example, which is by far the best credit card app I’ve seen.
And yesterday, I actuallly received an email from FD asking me for my opinion on how they could improve things 
I’m not sure if they’re acting a bit dumb here, but surely, they must be aware of Starling/Chase/Monzo banking apps and that is what they should be aspiring to! You can’t tell me that not one bank employee of FD doesn’t have an account at one of the other app only banks. It’s the same with Nationwide, they are so far behind the digital only bank apps, it’s embarrassing. I find Nationwide’s lack of card controls, other than just to completely freeze the card, really very poor.
I do think it’s a bit misleading when banks advertise savings as “3.5% pa” when they should also state the maximum amount to be deposited - Virgin did something similar with a 2% offer a bit back, as I recall, with a maximum deposit of £2k. I could offer 100% interest on a £1 maximum deposit, and it would only cost me £1 extra.
I don’t think they can be any clearer that the maximum amount is £300 per month (£3600 per year).
And also stating the max interest in a year, which again, they do.
I’m torn whether to open one of these, or get a NatWest account first for their digital regular saver – that one could keep earning the same interest even after the first year
The thing I don’t like about the HSBC group Regular Savers is the lack of flexibility if you want to withdraw/close early. If you do, you lose the high interest rate for the period the account was open.
I tend to use Santander, Nationwide, and/or Coventry because they’re all more flexible (although interest rate is usually lower).
Haven’t used NatWest but that’s because I’ve never had a NatWest account.
You can’t argue with that, it’s clear enough.
Why don’t they show the Net interest rate though?
Net after tax?
I don’t think it’s an option for banks to pay tax on your behalf any more. I think interest is now always paid gross and it’s your responsibility to figure out if any tax is due and pay through tax returns.
For most people tax won’t be due because of the personal savings allowance introduced a few years ago.
Fair point. I haven’t saved anything into a proper savings account for about 5 years now, so I’m a bit behind the curve. The Chase savings account is the first savings I’ve put money into as I say, for a considerable amount of time, but I did that because opening a savings account was instantaneous, not like this BS from FD who go through some convoluted process. They need to get a grip.