Santander Zero Credit Card

William_Johnston

I got a Zero Credit Card from Santander in September 2011, when it was rated highly as an excellent card for overseas spending. It seems now to have dropped out of the "best travel credit card" lists. Does anyone know why? Have the T&Cs changed?

bbfc

Maybe newer products have been released by other banks that are better. Halifax Clarity is supposed to be a good overseas card.

chris-j

Don't think it is available to new customers now. Replaced with the 1,2,3 card, but existing customers have same T&Cs.

chattychappy

No it's still great. 0% loading, and no fee for ATM withdrawals. (Just interest from date of withdrawal.) I use it extensively overseas. Sometimes gets blocked, but generally OK!

Plus I get good BT offers from them.

I have been rate-hiked to 34%, but I don't mind. For a few days on cash it is still pence.

dakkan

chattychappy wrote: »

No it's still great. 0% loading, and no fee for ATM withdrawals. (Just interest from date of withdrawal.) I use it extensively overseas. Sometimes gets blocked, but generally OK!

Plus I get good BT offers from them.

I have been rate-hiked to 34%, but I don't mind. For a few days on cash it is still pence.

Same here.. received letter last week, that my new APR will be 34.9%...
It started with 18.9% and stayed the same for 12 months... Since then they increased it straight to 28.9%.
I think they are increasing it to discourage the customer using their zero credit card and cancel it due to high APR.

But I am not gonna budge from it cos...there are following advantages :
1> zero fee for cash withdrawal worldwide - If I need to withdraw cash abroad, I would simply withdraw cash from Zero card (to avoid any stupid transactions fees etc) and simply do fast payment from my Bank on the same day as they accept Faster payment (to avoid paying any cash advance interest)
2>You can see all the recent activities on real time from Recent transactions on santander online banking.

Therefore considering above advantages, I would be still happy to keep the card even if they increase my APR to 11000% as always pay back my card in full.. :rotfl:

NiftyDigits

dakkan wrote: »

Same here.. received letter last week, that my new APR will be 34.9%...
It started with 18.9% and stayed the same for 12 months... Since then they increased it straight to 28.9%.
I think they are increasing it to discourage the customer using their zero credit card and cancel it due to high APR.

But I am not gonna budge from it cos...there are following advantages :
1> zero fee for cash withdrawal worldwide - If I need to withdraw cash abroad, I would simply withdraw cash from Zero card (to avoid any stupid transactions fees etc) and simply do fast payment from my Bank on the same day as they accept Faster payment (to avoid paying any cash advance interest)
2>You can see all the recent activities on real time from Recent transactions on santander online banking.

Therefore considering above advantages, I would be still happy to keep the card even if they increase my APR to 11000% as always pay back my card in full.. :rotfl:

The rate for Purchases and ATM withdrawals aren't the same.
The standard is 18.9% for purchases and 27.9% for cash withdrawals.
Have both of yours changed?

cautiousjon

dakkan wrote: »

...
But I am not gonna budge from it cos...there are following advantages :
1> zero fee for cash withdrawal worldwide - If I need to withdraw cash abroad, I would simply withdraw cash from Zero card (to avoid any stupid transactions fees etc) and simply do fast payment from my Bank on the same day as they accept Faster payment (to avoid paying any cash advance interest)
2>You can see all the recent activities on real time from Recent transactions on santander online banking.
...

You get number one with Halifax Clarity. Unfortunately not number two though (takes at least several days). However, Halifax Clarity is still an excellent card for people who don't already have the Zero card.

dakkan

NiftyDigits wrote: »

The rate for Purchases and ATM withdrawals aren't the same.
The standard is 18.9% for purchases and 27.9% for cash withdrawals.
Have both of yours changed?

Yes they are going to change all to 34.9% APR! :mad:

chattychappy

cautiousjon wrote: »

However, Halifax Clarity is still an excellent card for people who don't already have the Zero card.

Yes indeed, and why not have both if you are a regular traveller? (Though I think Zero is no longer available to new applicants.)

Cards are much more prone to being blocked when overseas. So NEVER rely on one card!

(PS phoning in advance is no guarantee that a card won't get blocked. In my experience it makes no difference at all, but no harm in doing it.)

NiftyDigits

dakkan wrote: »

Yes they are going to change all to 34.9% APR! :mad:

You mean on your account, not everyone. So you mean both, not all?
Mine is still at 18.9%/27.9% on my latest statement. No notification as to otherwise.

the.weekender

Guys, I have a Santander Zero C/C and also a Santander D/C.

When I go to Thailand on holiday, rather than use my D/C to withdraw cash from an ATM, would I be better withdrawing cash on my Zero card and then straight away transferring the money from my D/C account to pay off the Zero balance?
TIA