Santander Bank Integration — Import Transactions to Freenance

Importing Transactions from Santander Bank Polska

Santander Bank Polska offers CSV export of your transaction history through Santander online. Once you have the file, you can upload it to Freenance — the system automatically categorizes spending, detects subscriptions, and shows your Financial Freedom Runway.

Integration status (May 2026): Santander offers several CSV export variants depending on account type. We add support for new variants based on user reports. If your import returns "0 incomes, 0 expenses created", email us with an anonymized sample — we add new format support within 1–3 business days.

Step 1: Export from Santander online

1. Sign in to Santander online (santander.pl).
2. Go to Accounts and Cards and pick the account whose history you want to export.
3. Open Transaction history or Statements.
4. Set the date range. Santander allows up to 3 months per export — for longer periods, run multiple exports.
5. Click Export and choose CSV.
6. Save the file.

Note: Freenance imports CSV and MT940 files only. XLS/Excel is not supported — if Santander only offers XLS for your account, open the file in Excel/LibreOffice and save as CSV (UTF-8) before importing.

Step 2: Rename the file

Freenance expects CSV files to follow this naming convention:

santander-{account-number}.csv

Example: santander-12345678901234567890123456.csv (full IBAN account number, no spaces, no PL prefix).

The account number lets Freenance recognize that future imports refer to the same account (avoiding duplicates) and detect internal transfers between your accounts.

Step 3: Import to Freenance

1. Sign in to Freenance.
2. Open Configuration → Bank import.
3. Drag the CSV onto the upload area or click Choose file.
4. Click Upload.
5. After a few seconds the import job will report how many incomes and expenses were created and the date range covered.

The file is processed on Freenance's server. Freenance does not ask for your Santander online login or password — it works only on the file you provide.

What happens after import

• Automatic categorization — Biedronka → Groceries, Shell → Transport, Netflix → Subscriptions. Categorization learns from your edits.
• Recurring payment detection — subscriptions, loan instalments, rent get flagged as recurring.
• Duplicate detection — overlapping import windows skip transactions already in your database.
• Internal transfer detection — transfers between your own accounts in Freenance aren't counted as income or expense.

If the import fails

The most common causes:

1. Different CSV variant — Santander generates different formats depending on account type. If your variant isn't supported yet, email us with an anonymized sample.
2. XLS file instead of CSV — convert in Excel/LibreOffice to CSV (UTF-8).
3. Polish character encoding — export in UTF-8; if the file is Windows-1250 encoded, Freenance will still handle it, but if you see garbled characters, re-save as UTF-8.
4. Filename doesn't match the schema — rename to santander-{26-digit-IBAN}.csv.

Security

• No bank account access — Freenance never asks for your Santander online login or password.
• Encrypted transmission — all uploads use HTTPS.
• Delete any time — from your Freenance account you can delete individual transactions, an entire account, or all your data (GDPR-compliant).

Other banks in Freenance

Freenance also imports from PKO, ING, Revolut, Credit Agricole, Nest Bank, and Millennium. All accounts live in one dashboard with one categorization model and one budget.

Get started

👉 Sign up for Freenance and import your first Santander Bank Polska file. If something doesn't work — email us at hello@freenance.io, we ship fixes fast.

FAQ

How long a period can I export from Santander online at once?

Santander typically caps a single export at around three months of history. For longer ranges, run several consecutive exports — Freenance's duplicate detection will skip any overlapping transactions on import.

Why did my Santander import return "0 incomes, 0 expenses created"?

This usually means your account uses a CSV variant Freenance hasn't parsed yet, or the file is in XLS rather than CSV. Convert to CSV (UTF-8) if needed, or send an anonymized sample to hello@freenance.io — new format support is typically added within 1–3 business days.

Do I need to give Freenance my Santander online login?

No. Freenance never asks for your banking credentials. The integration works purely on CSV files you download yourself, so login details stay between you and Santander.

What naming convention should the Santander CSV use?

Use santander-{26-digit-IBAN}.csv — full account number, no spaces, no PL prefix. The IBAN in the filename lets Freenance tie subsequent imports to the same account and recognize internal transfers between your own accounts.

Will Polish characters in transaction descriptions display correctly?

UTF-8 encoded exports work out of the box. If you see garbled characters, the file is likely Windows-1250 — re-save as UTF-8 in Excel or LibreOffice before importing for clean diacritics.