Santander entices mortgage borrowers with Zero current account

Mortgage borrowers with Santander will soon be able to take advantage of a bank current account that attaches no fees to overdrafts, whether authorised or unauthorised.

The Spanish banking giant is launching a “Zero” current account on 11th January 2010 to coincide with its rebranding of Abbey, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester to the group name.

Customers going into the red will be relieved of the usual penalties and will pay interest at a market-leading rate of 12.9%.

In addition, the Zero account allows fee-free withdrawals from overseas ATMs and pays interest at 6% during the first year, for customers whose accounts are credited with at least £1,000 a month.

The deal will first be made available to those with a Santander mortgage and existing customers of Abbey and Bradford & Bingley.

Alliance & Leicester customers will benefit when the bank is rebranded some time next summer.

Last month, Santander reported that Abbey had captured 20.5% of the UK mortgage market in the three months to the end of September.

In addition, the bank had opened over 800,000 new accounts in the first nine months of the year.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: Santander entices mortgage borrowers with Zero current account