Santander says adios to Spanish ATM charges
Following the announcement of the Zero Current Account in November 2009, Santander is today announcing another initiative aimed at rewarding loyalty amongst its existing customers. From next week, when Santander starts to rebrand its Abbey and Bradford & Bingley businesses in the UK, all of its adult bank account customers, will get fee free cash withdrawals from all of Santander's 4,300 ATMs in Spain.
This means:
No cash handling fee - 1.5% of the transaction (minimum £1.99); AND,
No foreign exchange fee - 2.75%
The savings will help our customer's travel money go further. If a customer draws out the average €130 three times whilst in Spain - they will save £15.51 - if they use a Santander ATM. Santander predicts that if all of its customers who visit Spain use a Santander ATM next year, the total savings could be as much as £2 million.
Spain is a popular holiday destination for Abbey customers. In the last year, almost one in four (22%) of all withdrawals made from an Abbey Bank account, using an ATM overseas, was made in Spain.
Alison Brittain, Executive Director, UK Retail Distribution, Santander UK, said: "When we launched the Zero Current Account, we made a pledge that we would offer further initiatives aimed at rewarding loyalty amongst our existing customer base.
"Providing free access to Santander ATMs in Spain could save our customers over £2 million a year in ATM charges. Spain has always been a popular destination with Britons, and we wanted to reward the loyalty of our customers by saving them some money when they visit."
Following the acquisition of Alliance & Leicester and the Bradford & Bingley savings business in 2008, Santander now has a significant share of UK retail banking and 25 million UK customers. Over the next few years, the bank aims to increase the number of products each of its customers hold through increasingly competitive and market-leading products to its customer base.
Santander's UK strategy has been built on three pillars - improving efficiency at a faster and to a greater extent than its UK peers; using this competitive cost advantage to give customers better value-for-money products; which in turn drives more customer business to the bank. This successful strategy has enabled Santander to outperform its UK retail competitors for the last two years and it is now the UK's most efficient bank.
Abbey's Bank Accounts include:
Preferred In Credit Rate (PICR) - which provides a market-leading 6 per cent AER/gross interest on credit balances up to £2,500, generating up to £150 in interest in the first year, and paying over 60 times more interest than most other providers.
Preferred Overdraft Rate (PODR) - which offers an interest free agreed overdraft for 12 months when customers switch using our Account Transfer Service, followed by a competitive overdraft rate of 12.9 per cent.
Abbey Reward Bank Account - a packaged account which offers 6 per cent AER credit interest, free annual family worldwide travel insurance including winter sports and golf cover, car breakdown cover, 0 per cent APR on the first £100 overdraft, ID protection and card cover if you lose your cards and keys, and more, for a £10 monthly fee.
Zero Current Account - From 11 January 2010 for all customers with an Abbey Mortgage - this revolutionary account will have no overdraft fees, fee-free foreign transactions and cash withdrawals worldwide and pay 6 per cent in-credit interest.