Students: £50 in Your Pocket for Switching Current Account to Santander

LONDON, April 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Santander is offering £50 to any student who switches to its Student Current Account between 16 April and 30 June 2012*.

Santander's Student Current Account offers an interest-free arranged overdraft facility up to £2,000**, 1 per cent interest on credit balances up to £500, and the flexibility of being managed online, via mobile banking including iPhone/iPad, by phone and in branch.  Santander has 34 university campus branches, and a further 1,350 right across the UK.

Using Santander's switching service customers can easily transfer all their existing standing orders, bill payments and direct debits from their old bank to the Santander Student Current Account.

And to help students manage their money once they're with Santander, customers can sign up to free text and email alerts telling them their account balance and whether they're approaching their overdraft limit.

Liz Chang, Santander's Banking Director, said: "Money's always tight during term time and an extra £50 could come in very handy.  Switch your student current account to Santander and not only will you get £50 from us, you'll also get the benefit of all the branches we have on campus, mobile and online banking, telephone banking, a really decent interest-free overdraft and interest on your credit balance."

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 £1,000 in year 1 and then increasing up to a maximum of £2,000 (depending on the year of study).
• 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.

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

* The Student Current Account is available for applicants aged 18 or over.  Limit of one Student Current Account per person.  £50 incentive:  Offer available to customers who open or switch to a Santander Student Current Account between 16 April 2012 - 30 June 2012.  £50 will be paid into your new account on 18 July 2012 providing it was opened between these dates and is still open on 18 July 2012.  Limit of one £50 incentive per person.  This offer is not available on the International Student Current Account or to existing Santander UK current account customers. 

**When the Student Current Account is opened Santander will automatically provide customers with an Arranged Overdraft limit of £250.  Once they have paid £500 into their account they will receive the following Arranged Overdraft allowance depending on the year of study.

• Year 1 allowance: up to £1,000
• Year 2 allowance: up to £1,250
• Year 3 allowance: up to £1,500
• Year 4 allowance: up to £1,800
• Year 5 allowance: up to £2,000

Overdrafts depend on circumstances and customers must repay any overdraft when Santander asks in line with the bank's General Terms and Conditions.

About Us

Santander UK plc is a full-service retail and commercial bank providing services to 25 million customers, with more than 1,400 branches and 28 regional business centres. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Banco Santander. Santander UK plc manages its affairs autonomously, with its own local management team, responsible solely for its performance. Over 85% of the assets on Santander UK plc's balance sheet are UK based and it is subject to full supervision of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.  Sovereign exposures to Europe (excluding UK) as at September 2011 are not significant at less than 1% of total assets and primarily relate to Swiss government. Total exposure to periphery countries is c. 0.5% of total assets.

Banco Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N, BNC.LN) is a retail and commercial bank, based in Spain, with a presence in 10 main markets. Santander is the largest bank in the euro zone and is among the fifteen in the world by market capitalization. Founded in 1857, Santander had EUR 1.383 trillion in managed funds, more than 102 million customers, 14,760 branches - more than any other international bank - and 193,000 employees at the close of 2011. It is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America. Furthermore, it has significant positions in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, Poland and the U.S. northeast. Santander Consumer Finance operates in the Group's core markets as well as in the Nordic region. In 2011, Grupo Santander registered EUR 7,021 million in recurring net profit.