Santander enhances overdraft facilities for students
Santander is to offer enhanced arranged overdrafts for students in the first two years to £1,500, up from £1,000 in year 1 and up from £1,250 in year 2, effective from 1 August 2012.
In addition Santander is extending its offer of £50 to any student who opens a Santander Student account or switches their existing one to Santander by 30 November 2012. The offer was originally going to close on 31 August.
Santander's Student Current Account offers an interest-free arranged overdraft facility up to £2,000 by the fifth year of study, 1% gross/AER (variable) on credit balances up to £500 subject to students paying in a minimum of £500 per term (no interest paid on balances over £500).
The account also offers the flexibility of managing their account online, via mobile banking including iPhone/iPad, by phone and in branch.
Customers can easily transfer all their existing standing orders, bill payments and direct debits from their old bank to the Santander Student Current Account using Santander's switching service.
Santander has 34 university campus branches, and a further 1,250 right across the UK.
Reza Attar-Zadeh, banking director at Santander, said: "Going to university is an incredibly exciting time, but it's also expensive. At Santander we recognise this so we're increasing the arranged overdrafts we offer to students in their first two years of study, and rewarding any student customer who joins us with £50 to help them out with the costs of their studies."
Handy alerts by text and email
To help students manage their money once they're with Santander, customers can set up and receive the following free alerts by email or SMS or both:
If the account balance is close to your overdraft limit
If the account balance falls below a certain amount
If the account balance goes above a certain amount
If a high value debit occurs on the account
If a large deposit is made into the account
If a payment has been allowed to proceed even though the account had insufficient funds and a fee has been incurred
If a payment has been returned unpaid because the account had insufficient funds and a possible fee has been incurred
To warn customers if they're not going to have enough funds to cover a Direct Debit or Standing Order
Mini statements.
Student current account features
Pay £500 into the account each term to get:
0% EAR (variable) overdraft and no daily arranged overdraft fees - starting at £1,500 in year 1 and then increasing up to a maximum of £2,000 (depending on the year of study), effective from 1 August 2012.
1.00% AER (variable) interest on balances up to £500. No interest is paid on any amount over £500.
Easy access to the account online, via mobile banking including iPhone/iPad, by phone and in branch.
A Visa debit card for easy, secure withdrawals and purchases.