PROVIDENCE – Santander Bank N.A. customers who overdraft their accounts by $100 or less will no longer be charged a fee under a new policy announced on Monday.
The increased no-fee overdraft threshold is the highest of any traditional U.S. bank, twice as high as the $50 cutoff for leading competitors, according to a press release.
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The new program, called Santander Safety Net, is expected to get rid of overdraft fees for nearly one-third of bank customers who have recently overdrawn, the release stated.
“We’re here for our clients, and we want them to know that we have their back,” Pierre Habis, head of consumer and business banking at Santander Bank, said in a statement. “They told us they need more leeway to manage the unexpected, especially during these challenging times, and so we’re launching Santander Safety Net for every client and applying it to any transaction type including debit, bank-to-bank transfers and checks. I’m excited to see the positive impact it will have in our clients’ daily lives.” Across the country, banks are making changes to waive or add flexibility to overdraft policies, many of which were already temporarily suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them is Citizens Bank, which in October rolled out a new deposit feature that lets customers reverse overdraft fees if they pay back the missing money within one business day.
Santander has also made other changes to its overdraft fee structure. They include getting rid of the $12 fee to automatically move money into a checking account from a different account to avoid an overdraft and cutting the maximum number of $35-each overdraft paid and returned fee charges from six to three.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
