Switching to Santander, problems with card

simrgrs

Sorry for the long post! Hoping someone can give an opinion or information on a bad start to life with Santander

In the middle of switching from Natwest Adavantage Gold to Santander Reward Current Account, have been credit checked by Santander, account is open, have been issued with a cheque book, however, I was suprised when the card arrived as I thought with the Reward account, a full Visa Debit card was issued but the card that arrived was an unembossed printed "Visa Debit" with "ELECTRONIC USE ONLY" on the back.

Ive since been into branch and saw on their screen that they have issued a Visa Electron which I complained about as I have a full Visa Debit with Natwest and in my opinion should have one with the level of Santander account that I have been credit checked for. I am now having to appeal the card type!!

Hoping someone out there might know if Santander can issue an electron card if I have been credit checked and accepted for that level of account, surely they should have told me at the time if there was a problem with my credit record, and if there was, I'd have been declined for that kind of account anyway?! Direct Debits and Salary are all transfered to Santander, if I'd known i'd be getting a limited card, I'd have stopped the switching process, not impressed with them so far!

jen245

Santander are muppets, I switched from them to Natwest and couldnt be happier. If I were you, Id go back to Natwest, or open an account with another proper bank. I also have a Halifax Rewards account, and get paid £5 for the priviledge.

[Deleted User]

check the BIN number of the card when spending

31010 - visa debit
32010 - visa electron

jen245

vinh1000 wrote: »

check the BIN number of the card when spending

31010 - visa debit
32010 - visa electron

Santanders unembossed "visa debit" cards are basically electrons in disguise. Its a full authorisation card. If OP has been given a cheque book, then Santander should have given a proper offline embossed Visa Debit (not sure if they are still doing cheque guarantee cards), but because they are Santander, and nothing thay do makes any sense, they've given OP a full auth, online card and a cheque book :rotfl:

simrgrs

Im 100% that its Visa Electron, saw it on the screen in branch, there wont be any spending going on to enable me to check if they don't start explaining and issue a full Visa Debit! I'm getting a bad feeling already from Santander and will more than likely end up cancelling the whole thing and staying put with Natwest. My question really was around the whole credit checking and being accepted for that account which is advertised with a full Visa Debit and not a crappy Electron as to why they would issue a limited card and if thats all they will issue, why did the credit check go through fine and account opened without problem! Doesnt make sense, its either them being muppets or Ive misunderstood whats going on

simrgrs

Well the cheque book states not for use with guarantee card but my other half who is with Santander and has a full embossed Visa Debit card doesnt have a cheque guarantee hologram or amount anywhere on the card so i'm not worried about that as it appears guarantees on cheques are being phased out by Santander

sweep9

All banks are phasing it out, not just Santander

Link Here

jen245

Cheque guarantee cards are being phased out by most banks now, although I still have it on my Natwest card. It just doesnt make any sense to me, them giving you a cheque book, but not a proper debit card. You are correct to assume they are muppets, they are a useless, incompetent bank, do a search on Santander complaints on here and you'll see.

simrgrs

ah thats fine then, problem solved on that one, still doesnt explain why theyd credit check for a product, have that check come back successful then issue limited facilities for a premium account

simrgrs

same here Jen, ive still got it on my Natwest Card, I cant fathom out whats going on with Santander, Im sure I'll find out soon enough but one thing is for sure, your spot on - theyre muppets and I'll be arguing with them if they dont issue the full Visa Debit!

jen245

Good luck, I hope you manage to get it sorted, but make sure you keep your Natwest account as a back up!