First Direct

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 Mortgage Magazine's winner of Best Direct Lender over 5 Years (February ...  Read the complete review

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. In my situation I was completely unaware that when I ...  Read the complete review

I was looking around for a new mortgage deal because we are due to have an extension built in the Spring and it needed financing. I was also keen to reduce the term of our mortgage significantly as I would like to retire without having to still be paying. I looked into the Offset mortgage which were on the market as I had a lump sum saved up to go towards th ebuilding and also liked the way that the bank account would be linked to the account . We finally went with First direct because unlike some other offset mortgages you only have to pay on the outstanding amount rather than the amount that you borrow regardless of the amounts you are offsetting. ...  Read the complete review

This is about my second mortgage with First Direct. My original mortgage was a fixed rate and as the fixed rate period was due to expire I had been thinking about a new mortgage and also shopping around for a good deal. I must admit the Virgin One account looked very good value for money. I liked the idea of linking savings and mortgage together to lower interest repayments and maybe pay it off early. I'd not really been shopping around too much nor had I really given it much thought when my phone rang a few days later......... It was First Direct. They'd noticed it too. So I mentioned the Virgin One account, this kind of honesty ...  Read the complete review

I have recently switched to a First Direct SmartMortgage in order to escape from the rather punitive interest rates of another mortgage provider. First Direct were the first place I looked. I have banked with them for many years and they have been consistently helpful and reliable. I wanted one of the new style mortgages which are linked with a current account and/or savings account in order to reduce the amount of interest payable. This is exactly what SmartMortgage is. The interest rate is a low 4.75% and I effectively receive this on my savings and on any money lying around is my bank account too. The rate is linked to the Bank of England's base rate so you ...  Read the complete review