Consumer complaint received 2016-10-31
Company: SANTANDER BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: PA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
See attached copy of letter to Santander Bank CEO & President XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
Below is an excerpt of the letter : - XXXX XXXX, 2016 Sent by Fax # XXXX and First Class Mail XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX CEO and President Santander Bank, N. A. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, MA XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX : Re : Checking Account Number XXXX Earlier this year, I was solicited by Santander Bank, N.A. to open a checking account with {$150.00} Bonus. On XXXX XXXX, 2016, I opened the account with XXXX XXXX XXXX at the XXXX, PA XXXX Branch of Santander Bank. 

By deception, XXXX XXXX failed to offer or order an ATM/Debit card for the subject checking account, expecting that Santander Bank will impose fees on this account. 
I had to call Santander Customer Service three times before I received an ATM/Debit card and this caused more inconvenience to me. I am told that some Santander Bank employees engage in such deception to increase fees revenues. 

XXXX XXXX told me that any direct deposit of {$500.00} or more from any business entity made within 90 days of the subject checking account will qualify for {$150.00} Bonus. 
On XXXX XXXX, 2016, a business entity XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX made a direct deposit payment of {$530.00} to the above captioned account fully complying with the {$150.00} Bonus offer that Santander Bank, N.A. made online to solicit checking account customers. 

According to the terms and conditions of the {$150.00} Bonus offer ( copy attached ), it specifically states : - 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 XXXX. 

The direct deposit of {$530.00} was made by a business entity, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX. It certainly was NOT made by an individual. See attached Bank Statement. 

The Santander Bank, XXXX PA XXXX Branch Manager XXXX XXXX XXXX was contacted about this matter and he chose to make misrepresentations about qualifying for the {$150.00} Bonus. He stated that the direct deposit must be from a payroll company like XXXX or XXXX which is grossly false and that kind of condition was never disclosed when the subject account was opened. 

Nowhere in the Terms and Conditions shown above ( copy attached ) does it state a requirement for Direct Deposit to be made exclusively by XXXX or XXXX. This same excuse of Direct Deposit has to be made by a payroll company ( XXXX or XXXX ) was repeated by the Santander Bank Customer Service call center Staff. It is evident that the systemic problem of deceptively soliciting new checking account customers with {$150.00} bonus is further compounded by Santander Employees being trained to mislead the customers that they are not entitled to the {$150.00} bonus unless XXXX or XXXX ( exclusively ) provides the direct deposit of {$500.00} or more. 

See attached copy of email sent by the owner and founder of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to Santander Bank Branch Manager XXXX XXXX XXXX who chose to ignore and refused to respond to several reminders/calls about the lapses. 

As one of the many customers who was solicited and deceived by Santander Bank, I am writing to you XXXX XXXX as the CEO and President of the bank, to get assurance that {$150.00} Bonus owed to me will be credited on the subject account immediately. Despite my repeated requests, this matter has not been corrected. I would greatly appreciate your looking into this matter immediately and straightening it out. 

If Santander Bank fails to credit {$150.00} Bonus to the subject checking account, please close this account immediately and mail the check to my address shown above without any further delays.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed