- Unarranged overdraft fees to be removed completely from Santander current accounts that charge monthly account fees: 123, 123 Lite and Select / Private current accounts
- Unarranged overdraft fees to be capped at £50 per month, reduced from £95 per month, on other personal current accounts
- Customers to be automatically registered for unarranged overdraft alerts to help minimise or prevent fees
Santander announced today that it will remove or reduce unarranged overdraft fees paid by customers from 10 July 2018, simplifying overdraft fees on personal current accounts.
All unarranged overdraft fees will be removed completely from the 123 Current Account, the 123 Lite Current Account and the recently introduced Select and Private current accounts providing additional benefit to four million Santander adult current account customers who pay a monthly account fee for the benefits these accounts provide.
On other personal current accounts, where unarranged overdraft fees will continue to apply, such as the Everyday Current Account and the Student range of accounts, the Maximum Monthly Charge (MMC) – or the monthly unarranged overdraft fee cap – will be almost halved from £95 to £50. This monthly cap includes all unarranged overdraft fees, including paid and unpaid item fees. Arranged overdraft fees are not included, however students benefit from a fee-free arranged overdraft.
To further support customers, from 2 February 2018, adult current account customers will automatically be registered for free unarranged overdraft alerts1.
Santander’s Basic Current Account will continue to be available to all new and existing customers. This account has no overdraft fees and no monthly account fee.
Customers will be notified of the changes with their February 2018 statement so will have time to review their options ahead of the changes in July.
While the vast majority of overdraft users will benefit from these changes, a small proportion (0.1 per cent) could pay higher total overdraft fees as the monthly fee cap (MMC) will only apply to unarranged overdraft fees, whereas in the past it has applied to both arranged and unarranged combined. All of these customers will be sent a letter outlining the changes and the options available to transfer to another Santander current account. Santander has specialist support teams in place to help customers who incur fees.
Arranged overdraft fees remain the same for all accounts where they apply2. The £12 overdraft usage fee buffer will also remain in place and customers will still be able to credit their account by 4pm to avoid overdraft fees.
Reza Attar-Zadeh, Head of Customer Proposition and Experience at Santander UK said: “These changes mean four million adult current account customers will benefit from no unarranged overdraft fees on their accounts. On other accounts, the maximum unarranged fees a customer could pay each month will be almost halved and customers will be automatically registered for unarranged overdraft alerts to help them minimise or prevent such fees.
“Our customers can be confident that we’re here to help: we have specialist support teams in place and a range of free tools and services, such as mobile banking and account alerts, so our customers can stay on top of their money.”
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The information contained in our press releases is intended solely for journalists and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions.
Notes to editors
- Santander offers a range of other free SMS and email alerts so customers can stay on top of the transactions on their account, such as when the account balances falls below a set amount (e.g. £100) or if a payment over a certain amount (e.g. £50) is made from the account.
- Arranged overdraft fees for adult current accounts are £1 per day for usage up to £1,999, £2 per day for usage from £2,000 to £2,999.99 and £3 per day for £3,000 or more.
About Us
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 30 June 2017, the bank serves around 14 million active customers with c19,500 employees and operates through 826 branches (which includes 61 university branches) and 65 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.
Banco Santander (SAN SM, STD US, BNC LN) is a leading retail and commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain. It has a meaningful market share in 10 core countries in Europe and the Americas, and is among the world’s top banks by market capitalization. At the end of June 2017, Banco Santander had EUR 1.65 trillion in managed funds, 131 million customers, 13,800 branches and 200,000 employees. Banco Santander made attributable profit of EUR 3.6 billion in the first half of 2017, an increase of 24% compared to the same period last year.
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