First Direct Mortgages

The first thing that attracted me to a First Direct (a division of HSBC Bank plc) offset lifetime tracker mortgage was that it was listed at the top of the 'best buy' tables on moneysupermarket.com. A quick search revealed that it had also been voted the best lender for customer service in the Which? Money survey on mortgages 2008. This was the second year running that First Direct had come out on top. With a score of 90% first direct was 11% ahead ...
...First Directs mortgages have won numerous awards over the years, the most recent being What Mortgage Magazine's winner of Best Direct Lender over 5 Years (February 2007). In January 2009 their offset mortgage was one of the lowest rates on the market. Although I was not actually looking to remortgage at this stage because I still had nine months to run with my old mortgage the very attractive rate encouraged me to take a closer look at the product. ...

Krazikas 28.05.2009 · Read full review
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Review of First Direct Mortgages

...the Offset Mortgage offered by First Direct and this is the one my partner and I have remortgaged our home with. The basic principal of the Offset Mortgage (it used to be called “Smart Mortgage”) is that all your borrowing and lending is brought together at the same interest rate. So, if you have a mortgage of £50k and savings of £10k, you will only pay interest on the outstanding sum of £40K: i.e. the mortgage sum gets broken down into ...
...Direct or Intelligent Finance but First Direct also guarantees that this rate will not rise more than 1% over the Bank of England base rate. This compares with no such guarantee from Virgin Direct, and a not-above 2% over the base rate assurance from Intelligent Finance. There is a one-off arrangement fee of £245 to set up your offset Mortgage, and if you are remortgaging a property worth less than £250k, then the valuation is free. For properties ...

srxwilson 16.10.2003 · Read full review
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Review of First Direct Mortgages

...wouldn't be surprised if some First Direct employee used my mortgage money to pay off their own debt. I hope the FSA can do something to stop mortgage lenders from making such mistakes. In my situation I was completely unaware that when I received the message from First Direct telling me that my mortgage was setup, that they hadn't bothered getting any confirmation that they had sent the money to the correct lender or got any receipt that my old ...
...debt with my bank account. First Direct advised me to cancel the payment which if I had done I would have been charged an extra £25 for bounced direct-debit. Also, I'm sure if you miss mortgage payments that your home is at risk. This must have affected my credit rating with other lenders which during the current financial situation is the last thing I need. In summary, don't trust First Direct, call them at least once a day, make sure you speak ...

MR_K 02.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of First Direct Mortgages

...options and plimped for a First Direct Smart Mortgage. Now all the money I have in my saving and current account gets offset against my mortgage thus reducing my monthly interest. As First direct have such a good online / phone service it literally takes seconds to get a top up from the mortgage account into your current account to use for whatever purpose you want, changing monthly payments is just as easy, either online or by phone. Only problem ...
...and so had a 2 week delay setting it up. Also bearing in mind I am a self employed computer contractor they were very helpful discussing with me how much I could borrow (even allowing me some negotiation on future advances). I now save about £75 per month on what I was previously paying. ...

gazzab12 29.05.2003 · Read full review
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Review of First Direct Mortgages

I signed up to first direct mainly because I really needed some cash and wanted the £100 joining fee, little did I know how much I'd want to stay. Their customer service a wonderful bonus, I can call whenever I want to, I'm pretty dis organised, so they seem to help me out in this respect. I don;t have to worry about dashing out to the bank on my lunch break as I can call when I get home and have all the correct details in front of me and a glass ...
...one since. Anyone who joins first direct will realise that they are a pretty handy service after a while, and won't bother to get the £!00 pounds to leave. I'm so involved now that I've started an offset mortgage with them and am hoping it's going to be my new thing! I am going to be a responsible banker from now on. It was easy to apply for and will hopefully keep me on the straight and narrow financially! They're a pretty savvy service, go to their ...

Lazybones13 22.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of First Direct Mortgages

...and day to day banking. First direct peeps are pretty cool. They seem genuine, it's only been 3 months, but I'm not looking back. My last bank was a complete hassle, even setting up internet banking took years. I no longer have to traipse to the bank in my lunch break to deal with queues and unfriendly staff. I just press speed dial on my phone from the comfort of my sofa and speak to some chirpy and seemingly intelligent human being. It's fab - ...

fizzy_pig 21.08.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of First Direct Mortgages

...clue what they're talking about. If you like dealing with call centres staffed by well meaning idiots then you could do a lot worse than a first direct mortgage. I think what makes the bank so good is that you never have to actually speak to these people. ...

himi89 25.07.2005 · Read full review
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Review of First Direct Mortgages

We like many others went for an enowdment morgage, when we recived our last statement which was well below what it what is should be I lost my cool. I wrote to them and said no this is not what I was told when it was sold to us. They had made the mistake and I wanted to know why there sums were wrong. Yes I do live in the world and I know what the state of the markets have been but us every day people have no control over that. Any way I had a reply ...
...is relvent to their company and I have started the wheels in motion to complain. I was miss sold the policy I have kept my part of the contract they have not theres as no one said I would loose out and there was a possiblity that the money at the end would not cover the outstanding morgage. Judging by the numbers of people who have the same type of morgage, not all of us can be stupid. One last point why did the Lloyds names get compersation when ...

penska 10.11.2003 · Read full review
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Review of First Direct Mortgages