My wife phoned her brother in the UK tonight. He told her what great deals, that he and her other brother get from the Santander Bank in Spain. Looking at their website, yes it looks good. Has anyone any knowledge of this bank, and could we use it in Australia
Santander Bank
Last edited 04/11/2013 - 19:16 by 1 other user
Comments
Something like their 123 Current Account program in UK that earns you cashback when you pay bills? Or like their extra20 program in US that gives you $20 each month when you deposit $1,500+ and pay 2 bills?
I can't think of any bank that gives you recurring cashbacks / rewards on transaction accounts in Australia. Interestingly many actually have to pay account keeping fees in this country…
Compared to Canada, banking in Australia is bliss! They still use cheques here for petes sake! You get fees up the wazoo unless you use a predominantly online bank. They really only just got visa debt haha
There is this one, but I don't know much about it. http://www.bankwest.com.au/personal/everyday-accounts/everyd…
Northern American consumer banking infrastructure is pretty behind.
Santanda isn't covered by Australia's deposit guarantee.
Santanda is a very large bank, but also holds some very poor loans on it's books. So far, the Spanish government has taken steps to prevent it going broke.
If there is another GFC style crisis, there would be a very high likelihood of some Santanda deposits being lost.
This has happened most recently in Cyprus, and happened/nearly happened with Icelandic banks and UK depositors.
As an international depositor, you can expect to be at the back of the queue if they go broke, with the Spaniards likely to protect their domestic depositors first.
In my opinion, depositing money with them is too risky for the meager returns.Thanks for all of your comments
Couldn't your wife ask her brothers?