FirstactiveReviews of firstactive.com

Applied 6th September, still waiting for account, I have never seen such a delay in opening a savings account, and I've been banking for 48 years. I didn't have a great option of NatWest before this but now...

Finally opened my account - started the proces on the 1st September finally opened on the 30th. Just WOW!

I applied for an account as they were advertising a higher interest savings account. Nearly a month down the line and they just keep sending emails stating ‘they have had more applications than normal and are still working on my application’ In this day and age which company takes a month to open and verify an account, appalling service! I went with Monument, same rate, opened in 5 minutes! Get your act together First Active and move with the times!

Not that impressive. Appalling service but they are under Natwest so that's not great to begin with. The 2026 relaunch made it a trading name of National Westminster Bank plc, which is part of NatWest Group. Their service is poor because NatWest launched First Active as a minimal‑cost, digital‑only savings brand, and they’ve under‑invested in support, stability, and UX. The result is a product bolted onto NatWest’s backend but without the polish, staffing, or reliability of the main bank. I'm still waiting for them to sort out my account and it's been weeks. I think this experience speaks volumes. Email updates are automated. No one reads the responses or responds. I can't rate them higher than one star I'm afraid and I frankly don't think they care.

Took 4 weeks to get an account verified but got there in the end. ther interest rate has changed since i applied but they have given me the one i applied for luckily. Lets hope the banking experience is better than the initial processing of the account.

I honestly don’t understand some of the negative reviews. My experience with First Active was completely different. The whole application took around 5 minutes, verification was straightforward, and I was able to move my money into the account without any problems. I appreciate that banks have to carry out their own verification and security checks, and I suspect that individual circumstances can make the process very different from person to person. In my case, everything was smooth and hassle-free. So far, I’m very happy with the experience and glad I went ahead rather than being put off by the negative reviews. Sometimes your own experience can be very different from what you read online.

Totally abysmal. I've now been waiting over 3 weeks for account verification. So I opened an account with another bank - I was verified and my account opened within 2 minutes. Is NatWest always this bad?

Applied on Aug 29th which required negotiating a very clunky application process. Subsequently received four e-mails to tell me that they were working on the account and they had received "more applications than usual". Fifth e-mail today requesting more information before they could proceed. Exasperating process, poor service. Withdrew my application. On Aug 29th I applied simultaneously to open a similar account with one of their competitors which was up and running within 3 days.