Why all the questions to open a simple First Direct savings account?

In a whirlwind of activity this week, savings rates have continued to be pumped up.

You can now bag a 5.41 per cent rate on a one-year fix and 4 per cent on an easy-access account – with expectations of more rises to follow.

Most of the activity comes from smaller banks, but even big banks are offering dribs and drabs of savings morsels, albeit largely with deals reserved for existing customers.

One of these is First Direct. HSBC’s digital offshoot launched its headline-grabbing 7 per cent regular saver at the end of last year.

Questions maze: A previous First Direct savings account opening took seconds – this time around, it involved a phone call and personal questions which have no savings relevance 

However, recently, I was in the market for a simpler savings account than one with the catches regular savers carry.

A look on the First Direct app revealed nothing that resembled a bread-and-butter, money-close-to-hand, easy-access savings account.

This was on one of those apps that banks have pushed us to get so we bank online. Indeed, this kind of thing was once upon a time First Direct’s USP, given that it is branchless.

But then after ditching the app to scroll through First Direct’s website for more information, I unearthed a bonus saver account paying 3.5 per cent on balances up to £25,000. Perfect.

I say ‘unearthed’ as two of my This is Money colleagues are fellow First Direct customers and they had no idea about the rate either, so it seems well hidden.

This 3.5 per cent deal is a tad below the 4 per cent offered by stablemate HSBC up to £10,000. But it’s still a reasonable rate and as it is with my bank, it’s an easy place to park cash and view things all under one roof.

Reading the bumf, it transpired you can only open the rate over the phone.

That seems strange for a customer-friendly bank like First Direct – especially given you can open its regular saver and cash Isa with a few clicks on its app.

So, I called up and was met with the Spanish Inquisition as I attempted to open the account. It was all rather bizarre.

It started with are you a UK taxpayer, are you a UK resident, where were you born… all questions that First Direct knows the answer to already.

Then it turned into something I became more uncomfortable with and that I would describe as a data mining exercise.

I can only conclude this was for cross-selling purposes, as let’s face it, First Direct sells mortgages, credit cards, loans and even has a sharedealing service.

To get the 3.5 per cent rate, I had to navigate a maze of questions. Four of them I took umbrage with, as I believe they have absolutely no relevance to whether or not I can open a savings account.

Computer says no: Without answering a few personal questions, I couldn’t open the basic account (pictured: David Walliams in BBC show Little Britain)

1. My marital status: Why does First Direct need this? Is it only open to those who are married, or who are single – what jot of difference does it make?

2. Which other banks do I hold accounts with?: Can I not have the account if I deal with another bank?

3. Do I own my home?: Can people who rent not open the account?

4. How much do I earn?: This isn’t a credit check – what difference does it make if I earn £10,000 or £1million? Can I not open the account if earn too little or too much?

I refused to answer the question on other banks and how much I earn (information I’m pretty sure First Direct can easily work out for itself).

The staff member in the savings team put me on hold. I was then told I couldn’t have the account without all this information filled in. Computer says no.

It makes no sense. I’d opened a First Direct regular saver last year without all this information, while a relative recently opened that HSBC bonus saver without any faff.

I asked First Direct why this happened. A spokesman told me the call gives it an opportunity to check the information held on customers is correct and up-to-date. But what benefit is that to me?

They said I can open the bonus savings account via the chatbot in the app. I have since tried that, and it didn’t work – instead spurting out robotic chat about the regular saver that I don’t want. (Do chatbots ever work?)

First Direct tells me it will soon make the savings account available digitally. Set that against the backdrop of nimble, rival banks racing to up rates and it doesn’t look great.

Once upon a time, First Direct was the plucky upstart – albeit backed by a big banking name – offering something different and making things simple.

With rates rising, I’ll go elsewhere. After all, there are now 23 savings deals offering 3.5 per cent or more in our independent This is Money best buy tables.

Opening a savings account with a bank you’ve had a relationship for a long time should be simple. It shouldn’t be a grilling.