Bank extends eligibility for what it calls the UK’s first fee-free current account as from next week

News - Banking

Written by Ray Clancy

Thursday, 04 March 2010 09:57

Eligibility for what is described as the UK’S first fee-free current account is being extended.

From next week the Santander ZERO Current Account will be available to customers with a Santander investment product or open one, which means that six out of ten UK current account holders could now qualify for fee free banking, the company claims.

It says that over 2.5 million Santander customers can switch to the new account as they already have a mortgage or investment product with the bank but hold their current account with another bank.

‘Millions of customers could switch. I encourage every one of them to visit a Santander branch, visit us online or call us, to discuss how they can take advantage of our free switching service and start to save money on their banking by moving,’ said Vim Maru, Director of Retail Products.

‘When we launched the Zero Current Account we said that Santander was uniquely placed amongst UK banks to change the way it does business. Extending the eligibility to allow many more people access to fee-free banking is another example of our new approach,’ added Maru.

The bank claims that efficiency means that it can reward loyal customers with better deals and opening of the new account have exceeded expectations. Other deals include making all 4,300 Santander ATMs in Spain free to use for all of Santander UK’s current account customers, waiving the 3% balance transfer fee on the Zero Credit Card for all existing customers with a mortgage or a current account with Santander or Alliance & Leicester and waiving booking fees on mortgages for primary current accountholders.

The Santander Zero Current Account has no overdraft fees , no arranged or unarranged charges and no fees for paid or unpaid items and if you do go overdrawn the interest rate applied is described as ‘a very competitive’ 12.9%. In addition there are no fees for banker’s drafts or counter cheques.

The Santander Zero Current Account also offers free ATM access around the world. This is for withdrawals customers make using the Visa Debit card associated with the account. There is also no foreign exchange loading charge and there will be no charges on the use of the Visa Debit card to make purchases worldwide.

The Santander Zero Current Account is also available to anyone who has a Santander Asset Management product or one of Santander’s structured products. Customers have the choice of investing over 5.5 or 3.75 years and linking their potential returns to either the FTSE 100 or house price index. The minimum investment is £1,500.

The minimum lump sum investment required in a Santander Asset Management fund is £500, or customers can choose to make regular contributions from £25 a month. Customers looking for either growth of income can choose from a range of funds with no upfront charges.