Santander Select

colsten

BigBelly wrote: »

You would have thought that banks would be smart enough to figure out that people are just moving money around rather than having a high income.

Just because they aren't putting a stop to our frolicking doesn't mean each and every bank and BS in the UK doesn't know exactly what we are up to. If nothing else (but there will be something else), they are active members of the MSE forum. Some even post in their official capacity as bank reps (e.g. Lloyds), though most prefer to keep their presence anonymous.

EssexExile

Spoke to my Select Manager today for the first time & asked for the gold debit card. I thought it might be handy on holiday in a couple of months if I need to get some cash out. Evidently the nearest Santander ATM to Denver is New York. Oh well it is pretty, & it's free.

irm

The Select banner appeared in both my wife's and my online accounts a couple of weeks ago, but neither of us have had any letters about it. Maybe it's appeared for everyone, but as these are the only two accounts I can see I wouldn't know...

keiran

Forumites may want to know that "Once a Select customer, always a Select customer" seems to be the rule

I was Selected a few years ago when I had large savings in their fixed ISAs. Nowadays I don't have much with them, but remain Select

Nick_C

Santander are buying market share. They currently pay me 3% interest on money I lend to them, but are prepared to lend money to me at 2.5%.

Take advantage of these deals while you can. They won't last forever.

I have had the 123 credit card for 7 months. Fee waived for the first year. £13.12 cashback confirmed with Top Cashback (not paid yet). £66 cashback on the card (1.33% of total spend), and an additional £6.90 "my offers" cashback (5% at waitrose etc).

Last year, I got £87 cash back on direct debits, less the £24 fee giving a £63 profit on the 123 current account.

I'm looking forward to the fee free overseas spending and withdrawals.

irm

irm wrote: »

The Select banner appeared in both my wife's and my online accounts a couple of weeks ago, but neither of us have had any letters about it. Maybe it's appeared for everyone, but as these are the only two accounts I can see I wouldn't know...

Typically the letters turned up the day after posting this. Gold cards now ordered - might as well.

I also asked them to confirm why we were eligible. I was told the 75K savings had to be sole (we have about 110K with them, but split 50/50 between us), our mortgage is only 100K, so it had to be the £5K pay-in, but we only get just over 4K from salary. As expected, the monthly current-account-tart-money-shuffle-shenanigans was more than enough to push it over the 5K and that's what they've selected us on.

Paul_1977

I thought I might make it, but I don't have enough.

Barclays however did send me a premier account with only 70p in so bank systems don't always choose the right people for these accounts.

Herbalus

I've joined the club also. Apart from December (moving money to buy a house), the last time I met the £5000 income requirement was September, so I found that a bit odd.

As I now have precious little cash left to shuffle around, I won't be meeting the £5k requirement anymore either. I suppose I could if I wanted to (I could transfer funds back and forth until I trigger their fraud checks), but I don't see the point.

enthusiasticsaver

We were made "select" a few months before Christmas and given gold debit cards but beyond being told we could access a helpline manned by someone rather than an automated phone line and being able to access higher cash withdrawal limits I am not sure what we did to deserve this "prestige" or what advantage it gives us. We do have 2 almost fully funded 123 accounts and a cash isa I guess but the cash isa will be going in April. They quoted me for home insurance but even after the 33% discount for being a select customer it was still more expensive than I managed to find online.

Nick_C

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

We were made "select" a few months before Christmas and given gold debit cards but beyond being told we could access a helpline manned by someone rather than an automated phone line and being able to access higher cash withdrawal limits I am not sure what we did to deserve this "prestige" or what advantage it gives us.

As stated in this thread and on the website, you will not be charged a foreign transaction fee for using your debit or credit card abroad, nor will you be charged for withdrawing foreign currency abroad using an ATM.

This will boost your overseas spending power by more than 2.75%