First Direct Classic Visa

...for a credit card with First Direct and receiving 6 bottles after my first purchase. Like any self-respecting freebie-hunter I thought that I would have a bit of that.

But exactly how good is this credit card?


Interest Rates

The APR for the First Direct card is currently at 14.9% for balance - not very competitive compared with some of the deals around. This is reduced to 0% for any balance transfers ...
...that when my card was first used I received a letter telling me that and if I hadn't used it to report it to them straight away. I thought it was a nice touch and gave me the confidence in their security as it was a net transaction.

They also run their own card protection scheme which will insure you for the usual loss of job, sickness cover etc at a charge of £15 per year or £35 for 3 years. From research that I did about a year ago ... more

Free wine sounded like a good deal to me. I had just received 12 bottles from opening a Zurich bank account, and I read a review on Ciao, which gave details about applying for a credit card with First Direct and receiving 6 bottles after my first purchase. Like any self-respecting freebie-hunter I thought that I would have a bit of that.

But exactly how good is this credit card?

Interest Rates

The APR for the First Direct card is currently at 14.9% for balance - not very competitive compared with some of the deals around. This is reduced to 0% for any balance transfers for the first 6 months after your account is open. That's not as good as it seems as the 0% offer is actually only open for balance transfers of over £500 and upto the top limit of £2500. For cash advances, the rate is a pretty high 17.0% plus the 1.75% handling fee of your withdrawal, subject to a minimum of £2. At the moment there is a special offer for 0% interest for 6 months on all new purchases too although you have to apply before the 24th February 2003.

Annual Fee

As with many cards around nowadays, there is no annual fee involved with this.

Eligibility

There are 3 conditions for acceptance and these are pretty much standard for whatever financial service you are trying to get. You need to be a UK resident, over 18 years of age, and have a good credit rating.

Fees and Charges

Make sure that you read the small print here as there are quite a few potentially hidden charges associated with this Card. The main one being that if you fail to make a payment then they are entitled to charge you £20. Charges are also levied for an unpaid direct debit if that is how you choose to pay and a cheque that bounces (currently £15), bringing me onto the worst thing about credit cards.......

Repayment

The minimum monthly payment is 3% of the outstanding balance or £5, whichever is the greater - a figure pretty much standard with most companies. You only get a 25 days interest free period which is very poor compared to others that I have seen. On the plus side, you are covered for any mistakes or unauthorised charges that appear on your bill as a result of Internet shopping - although this does seem to be pretty standard on most credit cards these days.

Other features

There is an online banking facility, but as of yet I haven't been able to find it on their rather confusing website, so for me everything has to be paid in by the usual methods (and as usual there is a charge for paying at a bank other than HSBC). You can apply online, but all this does is give you an idea if you will be accepted and if so, then they send you a pre-printed credit agreement to sign. Completing it online is very easy, and takes about 10 minutes, but you need to have a lot of information with you such as work and current account details. A very good security feature worth a mention is that when my card was first used I received a letter telling me that and if I hadn't used it to report it to them straight away. I thought it was a nice touch and gave me the confidence in their security as it was a net transaction.

They also run their own card protection scheme which will insure you for the usual loss of job, sickness cover etc at a charge of £15 per year or £35 for 3 years. From research that I did about a year ago when choosing my main credit card this is a standard offer from most companies, and £15 per year is about average.

Now to the free stuff

Unfortunately they closed the free wine offer earlier than they intended to, but apparently they claim to give monthly special offers, and recent examples are claimed to be discounts on theatre breaks, cases of fine wines at reduced prices, free passes to top UK attractions, and low price European breaks. In almost 3 months of having this card there have been no special offers that I have been alerted to - maybe they don't advertise these as they weren't on the website, no emails arrived and nothing comes via snail mail except the bill and constant flyers to get a current account with them.

Would I recommend it?

Well there is no doubt that there are some better credit cards out there, but the only things that I could recommend this card on are the free wine (no longer available) and the security that it seems to have. If it wasn't for the carrot of free wine I probably wouldn't have got it at all. So no, I wouldn't recommend it at present but you never know if they will do another offer in the future. I think that the card is distinctly average and now the wine offer has finished has no real incentive to make people want their card - they have much more incentives and good features for their banking arm. For heavy card users and those who don't repay the full amount I think that there are much better deals out there for you, but for people who need a 0% APR balance transfer period then this may be a useful card. I have only used it occasionally for small amounts and so pay it off in full every month. I am going to cancel the card this week, as I feel much happier with my Sonycard.

To apply, you can do it via their website at www.firstdirect.co.uk 

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