Consumer complaint received 2026-01-29 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Opening an account — Didn't receive terms that were advertised
Company: SANTANDER HOLDINGS USA, INC.
State: RI

Complaint narrative:
I received an offer in the mail from Santander Bank to receive a {$300.00} bonus if I opened a savings account, deposited {$20000.00} at account opening and kept the {$20000.00} in the account for 90 days. The offer card stated the account could be opened at any branch or at santanderbank.com. The bonus would be paid 30 days after the 90 day balance evaluation period. 

I opened the account on XX/XX/year>2025 at santanderbank.com. As part of the online application, you could add an external bank account to make a transfer for your initial deposit. I used this feature to deposit {$20000.00} into my new savings account. I did not withdraw any funds from my account until XXXX202XX/XX/year>. My account balance exceeded {$20000.00} for closer to 150 days, exceeding the required 90 days. 

When the bonus pay date passed ( early XX/XX/year>2025 ), I visited a local branch to inquire as to why it wasn't paid. The teller who helped me told me that there was a note on my account that I did not achieve the minimum daily balance for the bonus payout, but she said this appeared to be a mistake because my account balance exceeded {$20000.00} for over four months. I was told that this was not a branch issue and I needed to call the national customer service number and it should be easily resolved. 

Later the same day, I called customer service and explained the situation. I was told that they saw the note on my account but that the bonus was not paid because the initial deposit was not made by cash or check, not because of the minimum daily balance requirement. I then pointed out that I read the fine print on the offer and there was no such requirement stated. The customer service rep continued to repeat the same message : the bonus would not be paid. I requested to speak to a manager/supervisor and was told that I could, but they would not authorize the bonus. I then said if the bonus wasn't paid I would be contacting the BBB and my state 's XXXX XXXX. The representative promptly disconnected me from the line. 

I then returned to the same local branch, and spoke to the branch XXXX XXXX XXXX. She told me that it did appear that I completed all of the requirements and agreed that there was no language in the fine print requiring the initial deposit to be in the form of cash or check. However, the fine print did state that the offer could be changed or ended at any time and basically that gave Santander the ability to withhold the bonus for any reason. She then told me she would investigate further and try to get the bonus paid as a one time courtesy. She called me back a few days later and informed me that my initial deposit was posted to my account 5 days after account opening and that exceeded the time limit for the initial deposit requirement. I explained that I scheduled the deposit as part of my application and it was Santander that took 5 days to process the funds. That didn't matter, the bonus would not be paid. 

This feels like a classic bait and switch scheme. They advertise a bonus to get your business and then try every loophole to deny payment. They claimed that I didn't satisfy one requirement and when I illustrated that I had, they tried another and another. Finally they make a claim that I can't dispute, even though the timing of my initial deposit was completely controlled by Santander. I must point out that every other electronic transfer that I made between Santander and my other bank took one day to complete. The initial deposit took 5 days. If their electronic transfer system does not meet the requirements of the bonus offer, why advertise that the bonus offer application can be completed online? The fact that they used the catch all, " offer can change at any time '' appears like their intention is to deny every bonus payment that they can. This feels like very dishonest advertising.

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 with explanation