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Santander Bank has launched a new feature that the bank said would eliminate fees for nearly one-third of customers who overdraw their accounts.

The bank today launched Santander Safety Net, which raises the threshold for overdraft fees to $100 and eliminates an overdraft fee if a transaction causes an account to be overdrawn by $100 or less. Santander said in a statement this is the highest threshold of any traditional U.S. bank with a brick-and-mortar presence, and double the next-highest overdraft threshold of the bank’s top competitors.

The new overdraft program applies automatically to every Santander Bank customer, the bank said, adding that the program is expected to eliminate overdraft fees for nearly one-third of clients who have recently overdrawn.

“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 the 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.”

Santander also made other changes to its overdraft fee structure. The bank eliminated a $12 fee for automatically moving money from one account to a checking account to avoid overdrawing. Santander has also reduced the daily number of overdraft paid and overdraft returned fee charges from six to three for each. Each of those items receive a $35 charge.

Santander Raises Overdraft Threshold

by Banker & Tradesman time to read: 1 min
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