Santander Extra20 Gets Even More Difficult

Santander Direct Deposit

As you may know, Santander offers a checking account which pays out a $20 bonus per month when certain conditions are met, including a qualifying direct deposit of $1500+.

We reported that Santander is cracking down on what counts as Direct Deposit and that ordinary ACH transfers no longer work to trigger the bonus. At that time, a few options things were still working: Alliant, Chase, Capital One, Serve, and Paypal. The key was that if it didn’t come up as ‘P2P’ it would  work.

Since then we noted that Santander added into the terms that deposits made by an individual will not work. They specifically note Paypal as an example of something which will not qualify as a direct deposit.

Now Enforced

At the time, we didn’t have confirmed reports of the change. Now, a report came in that Capital One is no longer working to trigger the bonus. They’re actually enforcing the updated terms and Paypal probably won’t work either.

Note that not only will you lose the bonus by not having a real direct deposit, you’ll also get hit with a $10 monthly fee as a result. Use it or close it.

Other Options

One upside of the new terms is that they explicitly allow other types of business payments to qualify as a direct deposit. Very technically, a direct deposit is payment from an employer. Payment from Amazon to an Amazon seller, for example, wouldn’t be included. (Although this has always worked in practice, it may not be included in the actual terms.) They now specifically mention that such transactions should satisfy the requirement.

Direct deposits include deposits made by your employer or a federal or state government agency or retirement benefits administrator and generally payments made by corporations or other organizations. It does not include deposits to your Account that are made by an individual using online banking or an Internet payment provider such as PayPal.

Using these terms, Amazon sellers should be okay with payment from Amazon. Likewise, those who sell to gift card exchanges and get paid via direct deposit (usually bulk sellers), would be able to use those deposits to satisfy the requirement.

I actually want to use this myself. As a bulk seller on Raise, I get my sales direct-deposited to Santander and this should work to trigger the bonus.

Does it actually work? I’m not sure yet. It comes up as ‘WWW.RAISE.COM TRANSFER’ which does not sound good. We’ll have to wait and see….

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AD
AD (@guest_232270)
March 10, 2016 15:07

Just a warning about Extra20 – I have automated transfers set up using the santander website to move $20 from the savings to the checking monthly – then these make two $10 bill pays. This last month, my monthly transfer failed – no explanation given. Subsequently incurred two separate insufficient funds fees at a cost of $35 a piece. These same transfers had gone through without a hitch on prior months, even when the bonus deposited on the same day as the transfer.

The initial CSR was unwilling to waive the fees, and the supervisor also did not waive the fees. I was then transferred to the online banking department. They were able to inform me that there was a SANTANDER systems issue causing many automated transfers to fail. A supervisor was able to waive the fees without issue. Remember, if you have a negative balance for > 5 days, Santander will charge a sustained overdraft fee as well.

Ron
Ron (@guest_190580)
October 27, 2015 14:38

I was just told by one of their reps today that the extra20 bonus program is being stopped and if true, will no longer be offered to new customers. Existing extra20 customers will be able to continue receiving the bonus. Their website still has the online signup available but not sure how long it will be that way, or even if it lets you complete it.

BigSexy
BigSexy (@guest_172635)
September 15, 2015 09:38

Used Amazon Payments (small amount) in a pinch and I just got my bonus.

Eric
Eric (@guest_173125)
September 16, 2015 12:38

What do you mean by small amount? Isn’t $1500 the requirement? Also, I thought I read that Amazon Payments stopped working several months ago. Was that wrong?

BigSexy
BigSexy (@guest_173147)
September 16, 2015 13:27

Payroll came in just under 1500 so I took the gamble with Amazon Payments to make up the difference.

joE
joE (@guest_170376)
September 10, 2015 14:33

Chase ACH transfers continue to act as DD’s, just received my August bonus.

Al
Al (@guest_166909)
September 2, 2015 15:01

Transfer from Sallie Mae savings triggered the bonus at the end of August.

Just as a warning, don’t have a misstep or they have no hesitation about fees. I accidentally overdrew the account by $9 and got a $35 overdraft fee. When I took eight days to correct it, then they added another $35 fee because I didn’t correct within seven days. After I again added funds to get back above zero, the phone CSR refused to reverse either fee. Bonus still seems to be worth it but just be aware.

bn
bn (@guest_154932)
August 4, 2015 09:29

Paypal in July still worked. Received bonus Aug 4.

Matthew
Matthew (@guest_151583)
July 28, 2015 11:27

I can confirm that I have pending $10 for using CO360 as DD of $1500 into the account for July.

Win
Win (@guest_143714)
July 10, 2015 18:13

Just applied and was approved, application being processed. Was only able to fund $99.00 with credit card – the application would not take three digits. Am going to try direct deposit from a Chase business checking account. We’ll see in a few months.

Debt Hater
Debt Hater (@guest_143671)
July 10, 2015 15:03

I’m still just using a standard direct deposit from my employer for this deal. Have not had any fees or missed a bonus yet.

William Charles
Admin
July 11, 2015 01:00

Yeah if you’re using a real direct deposit, you shouldn’t have any issues. That’s what I’ve switched to as well, then I can set & forget.

J T
J T (@guest_143042)
July 8, 2015 23:15

Alli@nt worked for June DD, posted 7/7.