Santander Zero Credit Card

jlfrs

I would like to share with anyone whose interested the rather unpleasant experience I had yesterday when I phoned through to activate my new Santander Zero credit card.

Before enabling the card, I was subjected to a very hard sell for the company's insurance policy to cover against fraud, identity theft and income protection. For a premium of £79.95.

I do not believe this was Santander's doing but the company who manages the card services.

It was a pretty unpleasant experience and I was wondering if these policies are legal and whether they're worth having.

As a matter of principal, I never agree to anything like this without seeing the fine print which of course they wouldn't send until I signed up.

Got me off the hook though!

Thoughts anyone?

Eydon

Simplest solution is to tell them that you already have cover with one of your other cards. In my experience they usually give up then.

anna42hmr

Eydon wrote: »

Simplest solution is to tell them that you already have cover with one of your other cards. In my experience they usually give up then.

and mine too, when ever i have advised this they drop it straight away (santander as well when i activated my zero card not long ago)

97trophy

When I had an A&L account, they did the same thing with their debit cards.

I too found their style to be "hard" and although I had no problem telling them to b****er off but I can imagine a lot of people being talked into signing up. I was so disgusted I closed my account.

Overall, I think its a really underhanded way of doing business by Santander.

And I don't think the insurance cover is worth paying for especially at that price.

jlfrs

Yep - I told the woman before she even started her spiel I wouldn't buy anything over the phone and that's when she began to say things like " a lot of people think they have adequate cover but subsequently find out that it is not anywhere near good enough in the event of identity theft. Who do you think is liable for any debts run up on your card as the result of identity theft sir? Without our protection it would be you. We think it is only fair that we explain to you the consequences of not having the right level of protection."

I'm paraphrasing here but I think you get the gist - it was a hard sell and furthermore, she was reading from a script!

Is there anything in this I wonder? Do I need I.D theft and fraud protection or is there already legislation in place to protect individuals? If I were to take out a policy, does anyone know who's is best and/or cheapest?

withnell

97trophy wrote: »

Overall, I think its a really underhanded way of doing business by Santander.

Its not just Santander - every company that issues cards these days will do a hard sell for ID protection, a bit like a year ago it was all about PPI!

97trophy

withnell wrote: »

Its not just Santander - every company that issues cards these days will do a hard sell for ID protection,

I never had that problem from hsbc, NatWest, CapOne, Amex or Citi.