Santander is sending out a mailing to inform their Extra20 Checking accountholders that the monthly $20 bonus program will end in June.
Extra20 to End
The Extra20 program allowed us to get $20 per month when having $1500 direct deposited monthly and doing two bill pays monthly. They stopped taking new applications back in November 2015, and they are now ending it for the rest of us. We’ll probably all get this mailing soon.
On July 1, all Extra20 Checking accounts will be converted to Simply Right checking, and Extra20 Savings will become Santander Savings. Account numbers will not change.
HT: Reddit
Savings Account Promo
They are offering a promotional 1% APY rate on balances up to $10,000 in the savings account until January 1. Starting in 2017, the rate will revert back to the standard rate (currently, .03% APY).
Update 8/3/16: The 1% APY rate is only if you have less than $10,000 in the account. Don’t put more than $9,950 to leave room for any future interest earnings.
Keeping Accounts Fee Free
After the change, you can simply close down the accounts if you don’t want them. You can close over the phone, there may be other options as well. Best would be to close it out between when you get your bonus in June (for me, it will be around June 22) and July 1 when the accounts switch over.
If you plan on keeping the account, be sure to keep them fee free.
- Simply Right Checking has a $10 monthly fee. Fee is waived if you make at least one financial transaction (deposit, withdrawal, transfer, or payment) during the calendar month.
- Santander Savings has a $1 monthly fee. Fee is waived if you have a personal checking account with the bank or if you have $100 in the savings account.
Basically, if you keep both the checking and savings, the savings will be free and you’ll have to do one transaction per month to keep the checking free.
Related: Santander $150 Checking Bonus – Available Nationwide
I wish I had saved my documents and correspondence from them, but I threw them away in disgust several months ago.
I wrote to Santander as well and their reply made it crystal clear that they have absolutely no interest in customer satisfaction.
This is a very shady and unprofessional operation.
Anyone have their terms and conditions they can send me? [email protected]
I’ve had another issue with Santander as well, said they would credit a fee that was assessed, never did. Just another reason to switch. PNC virtual wallet has a $200 or $300 dollar reward, check it out.
I’m not very happy that they got me to switch over and then took away the account. It’s not easy to switch everything over to a new bank.
I found an ad where Santander stated you could earn $1,200 in 5 years. This appears to be false advertising since the longest a person could have been in the account is less than 3 years. http://www.eastersealsnj.org/weeklywrap/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Santander-at-Work-Extra-20.pdf
I filed a complaint through http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ – my bet is that they’ll end up paying off anyone who complains so they don’t get another fine like the $10 million they just got hit with for deceptive overdraft practices.
I filed a complaint with consumer finance, and Santander wrote me a letter, basically…. Goodbye, we’ll help you close your accounts.
Closing all my account with them.. also have about 20+ friends doing the same.
My account switched over on July 1. I left my direct deposits and online bill payments in place for June and closed my accounts on July 18 assuming (bad idea) that my $20 for June would have been posted to my account in early July. It wasn’t until after I left that I realized that the amount they gave me seemed to be $20 short. I tried to verify this online but because I closed my accounts I no longer had access to any statements or account history. I called the 800 # and was told that they couldn’t help me because I had closed my accounts but to go to my local branch. I did and, after about 15 minutes of research, they agreed that I should have received another $20 in early July for the June activity. However, DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT WAS THEIR ERROR, they couldn’t give me the $20 I was due because I had closed my accounts.
Because it was only $20 and because the people that I dealt with at the branch were really very nice, I decided just to drop it so I thanked them and left. However, I will NEVER do business with Santander again and sincerely hope that their deceptive business practices eventually result in effective legal action against them.
I have successfully orchestrated a class action lawsuit against a financial institution before. If you could please send me the original documents with the false advertising claims, I can get the law firm I used for my last one and get them to work on this since they are really good at doing these against financial institutions. I was also a extra 20 customer but don’t have any of the original documents. Good job to those who do though. My throwaway email is [email protected]. Thanks.
Has anyone contact you yet?
nobody has contacted me, which is unfortunate because I just closed out a settlement and did great against a major bank
I for one, would like to know about a class action suit. How will we know if there is one? They are a bunch if lying crooks. Even with Interest Rates being quoted, and when you go back a day later, the say, and I quote “I never said that”.
this was false advertising…I was told the account was not a promo and would remain active. I agree we should pursue a class action…and I will take out my money in nov.
I got the benefits of Extra 20 for 20 months. I do remember they claiming this offer is valid until I keep the account open with no closure time. I spoke to one of the representative and she told any offer is never for life. It was a promo offer and got ended as decided by the bank management. I dont see any motivtion to keep the accounts open and will close out once I transfer all my money and Bill Pay serrvices.