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Home > Finance > Banking & Personal Finance > Mortgage Lenders > First Direct Mortgages
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User Reviews

for First Direct Mortgages

Rating Summary based on 8 reviews

  • 5 Stars
    		4
  • 4 Stars
    		1
  • 3 Stars
    		0
  • 2 Stars
    		0
  • 1 Star
    		3

Detailed rating

  • Competitiveness of charges/rates
  • Efficiency of service
  • Online - Content/organization of site
  • Online - Ease of applying for products
  • Online - Investment tracking
  		• 4.0
  		• 3.8
  		• 4.3
  		• 3.3
  		• 3.8

Review attribute filters

Previous page Next page Page 1 of 1 | 1 to 8 out of 8 Review(s)
  • 0 of 3 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Lazybones13

    Lazybones13

    5 Stars Amazing first direct... 22/09/2009
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Friendly and savvy

    Disadvantages Disadvantages No physical bank. but you can use hsbc if desperate

    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 of wine in my hand. It's great. Plus the operators are pretty friendly. I'm always amazed at how chirpy they seem, no matter what time of night. I've ... more
  • 0 of 3 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of fizzy_pig

    fizzy_pig

    5 Stars Soo deliciously happy with my first direct offset mortgage" 21/08/2009
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Simple, easy and best of all saving me a packet

    Disadvantages Disadvantages you have to be web-wise. Not for the technically unsound.

    The offset is the way to go..I can offset my mortgage off my savings - which aren't huge, but enough to make complete sense, It means my mortgage rate goes down. Not only is the offer good, but I'm loving the service I get on my current accounts 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 ... more
  • 23 of 23 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Krazikas

    Krazikas

    4 Stars First Direct Offset Mortgage 28/05/2009
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages First Direct - great offset mortgage

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Too easy to access the equity in your home!

    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 of its nearest rival in the survey of 18 lenders. First Directs mortgages have won numerous awards over the years, the most recent being What ... more
  • 4 of 4 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of MR_K

    MR_K

    1 Star Dont trust First Direct. They make unacceptable mistakes. 02/03/2009
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages low rate

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Sent money to wrong account, Extremely slow, Dont let you use your own Solicitor

    Check out the dates on other reviews too. They were slow, didn't let me use a normal solicitor and then sent my repayment monies for my old mortgage to the wrong account !!! This mistake of accidentally sending my entire mortgage repayment to the wrong account is completely unacceptable. I do not know many people who can afford to have 2 mortgage payments going for 2 different mortgages on the same property. I 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 ... more
  • 0 of 12 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of himi89

    himi89

    1 Star First Direct - Mortgages 25/07/2005
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages Constant phone contact.

    Disadvantages Disadvantages You will have to be in constant phone contact.

    Imagine if you will dealing with an untrained mortgage advisor. Then imagine if you will dealing with 100 of them. Each of whom you will get to know intimately as you are forced to call each day to clarify details, get lied to on a staggeringly regular basis, find documents have gone missing, discover basic errors have been made and nothing further done to follow them up and generally have a joyless time of it. They're either thick or untrained. I suspect a little of both. I have got to the point of having to get line managers to call me back to clarify what is happening, so many are the ... more
  • 0 of 13 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of penska

    penska

    1 Star Endowment morgages 10/11/2003
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages contact endowment company to make your feelings know to stop that frustrated feeling

    Disadvantages Disadvantages not improving the situation

    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 and they gave me an organisation to complain to which is relvent to their company and I have started the wheels in motion to complain. I was miss ... more
  • 27 of 27 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of srxwilson

    srxwilson

    5 Stars reading this could save you a lot of money 16/10/2003
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Pay off mortgage early, save thousands in interest payments, low interest rate, tax-free savings

    Disadvantages Disadvantages they can be a bit picky about who they'll take on

    Yes, I know financial stuff is boring, to me as well as you, but if you can bear to put aside your preconceptions and read this, you may well be very glad of it. In the old days, the banks held all the cards in their hands; if they lent us money they did it at one interest rate, if they took our money on deposit, then they paid a much lower rate or none at all. So basically, their money was worth more than our money. Pretty unfair, eh? Nowadays, a whole new range of mortgages has come onto the market, which go some way to levelling the playing field, and ensuring that the consumer gets a fair ... more
  • 6 of 7 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of gazzab12

    gazzab12

    5 Stars smart mortgage a real cost saver. 29/05/2003
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Saving reduce Monthly Fees

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Paperwork lost in post

    When I was considering a mortgage increase to pay for an Extension. I looked into various 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 I had was the first mortgage application form never ... more
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