Compare Santander Credit Cards

Santander Credit Cards

Santander has become a mainstay of the British banking scene ever since it entered the market in 2004. After taking over Abbey National, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester, Santander positioned itself as a challenger to the big four banks in the UK.

It has done this by offering competitive retail banking deals, including building up a strong credit card portfolio that regularly tops the best buys. While it doesn’t have an extensive offering, the cards it does have on offer all have their own unique selling point. Plus, there are exclusive offers available that are part and parcel of becoming part of the Santander family.

What does Santander do well?

Santander sells itself largely on interest-free promotional periods. Be it for purchases or balance transfers, its cards tend to include some sort of competitive interest-free offer. While for some of its cards this is the main focus, for others it’s an added bonus.

Another feature of Santander cards is the absence of balance transfer or foreign transaction fees. It’s rare to find a long interest-free period with no balance transfer fee attached, but that is what Santander has on offer with two of its cards. Meanwhile, over half of its portfolio doesn’t carry foreign transaction fees, making spending while abroad a lot more affordable.

There are other benefits to becoming part of the Santander family. Its Retailer Offer programme means you can earn up to 15% from a variety of major retailers including Costa, Sky and Just Eat. You also benefit from 24/7 banking across all your devices. So if you want to set up alerts, view your PIN or block certain transactions, you can do it all via the Santander mobile banking app.

Where does Santander fall down?

While Santander may stand out with the absence of some well-known credit card fees, it falls down with the presence of monthly fees. While not attached to every card, they are common enough among Santander credit cards. Monthly fees are usually attached to cards offering higher reward packages; and you may find it worth it for what is on offer. However, you should always weigh up the cost of the fee against the benefits you stand to receive.

Santander is also focused on borrowers who have a good or excellent credit score. If you are someone who has struggled with credit in the past, you are unlikely to find a Santander credit card you will qualify for. The bank has a minimum income requirement of £7,500 or more per year for the majority of its cards. And for its most elite offering, you will need to be a Santander Select or Private Banking customer in order to be eligible.

What will you find in Santander’s card portfolio?

Santander is a card provider that looks to offer competitive interest-free offers. Be it for balance transfers or purchases, every card in its portfolio has a decent length 0% promotional period.

What you will also find is cashback offers. While they are not the highest cashback yield around, they are a definite perk and can build overtime. Plus, you can combine them with the bank’s Retailer Offers, which give you up to 15% at certain retailers.

Travel is also a big theme in Santander’s card portfolio. Be it the lack of foriegn transaction fees, or more specific travel offers such as access to airport lounges or discounts on travel insurance – Santander has positioned itself as a provider to strongly consider for your travel credit card needs.

How to apply for a Santander card?

Applications can only be made online and it should take just 10 minutes. If you are unsure about being accepted, then you can use Santander’s eligibility checker which will even provide you with an indication of your credit limit.

As part of the application you will need to provide information about your income and outgoings, as well as your address history.

Santander also requires applicants to have an income of at least £7,500 a year.

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