Santander launches fee-free bank account
Santander, the Spanish financial giant which owns the likes of Abbey and Alliance & Leicester, has today announced plans for a fee-free bank account which will go on general release in the UK in 2010. Under the terms of the account, holders will not be charged any fees on authorised or unauthorised overdrafts although they will still incur a pre-agreed interest rate which will start at 12.9%. Even the interest rate is one of the most competitive in the marketplace at the moment!
The only proviso for those applying for the fee-free bank account is the fact they must have a mortgage, or a mortgage pending, with Abbey, Bradford & Bingley or Alliance & Leicester. The Santander Zero current account would appear to be the company's response to the expected announcement on overdraft charges which could cost the UK banking sector billions of pounds in compensation. This is an issue which has been ongoing for some time but one which is now nearing a close, and a close which should hopefully be in favour of UK consumers.
Opinion is split as to whether other UK banking institutions will follow suit, but one thing is for sure, the UK banking sector as we know it today will be a very different animal in 12 months time.
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