Santander authorised overdraft charges

Floofy

Hi everyone.

I recently went 59p overdrawn on my Santander account. I'm not sure what type of account it is, I think it's just a basic bank account. I went to my local branch to try and see if they would be able to reduce or waive the fee for going overdrawn. Instead of charging me for going overdrawn, they gave me a £250 overdraft. I had money paid in a few days later and the outstanding money was paid off.

The problem is though, he didn't say what the rate was for interest/fees on the account, so I don't know what I will owe the bank if I go overdrawn again. He just told me that I would be charged "pennies" instead of being given a big fee for going overdrawn. I can't find much information on their website regarding what the actual rate is, so I was just wondering if anybody here would be able to give me any idea as to what the charges are for an authorised overdraft with Santander on a basic bank account?

Thanks.

bengal-stripe

You cannot have an overdraft with a ‘basic account’ That is an account without credit facilities, no overdraft, no cheque book.

http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1210607872368&empr=Abbeycom&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom/Page/WC_ACOM_TemplateA1

I don’t know what a account you had so far, whether it was a straight-forward current account (which can have an overdraft)or it was upgraded (check that it was not upgraded to a fee-paying account).

http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&c=Page&canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1237853249818&empr=Abbeycom&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom/Page/WC_ACOM_TemplateG

Rates for authorized overdraft rates do vary between 13 - 20 %., those are calculated daily for every day you are overdrawn. If the rate is 20 % and you are overdrawn by £100, that would cost you just over ½ p per day or 38 p per week. These charges get calculated and shown on your statement and get some three weeks later, on a specified day, deducted from your account.

Check with the bank to see what account you have and what the overdraft rate is.

ses6jwg

Basic and Instant Plus cannot have overdrafts.

You can have either the "PODR" or the "PICR"

The PODR charges 12.9% APR if you pay in £1000 for that month.

Otherwise it is 19.9% APR.

Floofy

bengal-stripe wrote: »

You cannot have an overdraft with a ‘basic account’ That is an account without credit facilities, no overdraft, no cheque book.


I don’t know what a account you had so far, whether it was a straight-forward current account (which can have an overdraft)or it was upgraded (check that it was not upgraded to a fee-paying account).


Rates for authorized overdraft rates do vary between 13 - 20 %., those are calculated daily for every day you are overdrawn. If the rate is 20 % and you are overdrawn by £100, that would cost you just over ½ p per day or 38 p per week. These charges get calculated and shown on your statement and get some three weeks later, on a specified day, deducted from your account.

Check with the bank to see what account you have and what the overdraft rate is.

Ah, thanks!

Yes, I think it was probably just a normal current account, then. I don't pay anything to keep the account open and I don't get any extra features for the account or anything. Just something to get money paid in to and send money via direct debit. I've had a cheque book for a while, so I don't think the account has been upgraded just for the overdraft.

I've never had an overdraft before and I'm not entirely sure what APR is or how you work it out... How would ½ p per day work out at 38 p per week? Wouldn't ½ p*7 equal 3.5 p?

I hope I'm not coming across as stupid or anything, I've never really been told what all these things mean.

ses6jwg wrote: »

Basic and Instant Plus cannot have overdrafts.

You can have either the "PODR" or the "PICR"

The PODR charges 12.9% APR if you pay in £1000 for that month.

Otherwise it is 19.9% APR.

I don't pay in £1,000 a month, so would I be right to assume that for my account it would be 19.9% APR?

bengal-stripe

Floofy wrote: »

... How would ½ p per day work out at 38 p per week? Wouldn't ½ p*7 equal 3.5 p?

Sorry, my mistake.

If you were £ 100 overdrawn for the entire year and the account balance would not fluctuate, at 20 %, that would cost you £20 a year or 38 pence a week or 5.5 pence per day.

In practice your account balance varies from day to day. Now you're overdrawn by £100, three days later your salary arrives and you're no longer overdrawn, but 3 weeks down the road, you slip into your overdraft again etc.

Floofy

bengal-stripe wrote: »

Sorry, my mistake.

If you were £ 100 overdrawn for the entire year and the account balance would not fluctuate, at 20 %, that would cost you £20 a year or 38 pence a week or 5.5 pence per day.

In practice your account balance varies from day to day. Now you're overdrawn by £100, three days later your salary arrives and you're no longer overdrawn, but 3 weeks down the road, you slip into your overdraft again etc.

Oh, so APR is the rate you would be charged per year, not per month?

So, assuming that the APR is 19.9%, if I went say £25 overdrawn for 11 days (when I next get money ) then I would be charged around 15p for it?

bengal-stripe

That’s right - £25 overdrawn would cost you about 10 p a week.

Some banks charge a minimum (let’s say £1.00) during the monthly charging period and one bank (is it Halifax?) charges a flat fee of £1.00 for every day you are overdrawn. As far a I know, Santander doesn’t do that (or maybe not yet). Conditions and charges might change at some point in the future.

Keep an eye out, if things change and costs go up, it is good if you are not dependent on your overdraft.