As part of a new campaign, the UK's number one bank for customer satisfaction, first direct, is promoting its satisfaction guarantee which gives customers up to £200 when they switch their account to a first direct 1st Account.

first direct is so confident that customers will love its 1st Account that as well as giving them £100 when they switch, it will give them a further £100 and help them to move banks if after six months they aren't happy with the service they received. 

Paul Say, Head of Marketing at first direct, said "We know our customers love the service they get from us, so we've developed this unique satisfaction guarantee to really put our money where our mouth is and encourage new customers to give us a go. 

"If after six months a customer isn't happy, we'll give them another £100 and a helping hand to move banks - no other bank does this." 

The key benefits of first direct's 1st Account include: 

• Internet banking and text alerts to help customers manage their money.
• A £250 interest free overdraft. Overdrafts above this will be charged at 15.9% EAR variable.
• Withdraw up to £500 a day at more than 55,000 HSBC cash machines in the UK.
• Speak to a real person every time a customer calls.
• first direct never closes. 

To bring the satisfaction guarantee to life, a multichannel brand campaign is taking place during January and February. The campaign is an extension of the highly successful 'live' site launch in October 2009 which sees customer comments from over eight million websites aggregated and showcased for people to read at firstdirect.com/live. 

first direct is the UK's leading online bank. 

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For further information or interviews with first direct, please contact Charlotte Brophy (c.brophy@brahm.com) on 0113 220 0538. 

Notes to editors

first direct requires a salary or income of at least £1,500 to be paid into the 1st Account each month in order for it to be free*. This will also apply if a customer maintains an average monthly balance of £1,500 or holds an additional first direct product**. 

New customers must contact first direct's Easyswitch service to qualify for the satisfaction guarantee. This service allows first direct to obtain details of Standing Orders and Direct Debits from previous bankers in order for them to be transferred to the 1st Account. 

*If under £1,500 is paid into the account each month, an account premium of £10 per month will be applied.

**Selected products.