Santander Contactless Card and Security Issues

elzed08

I have been having ongoing security issues with my Santander current account whereby they had been blocking my account when making payments online due to them being deemed suspicious activity. This had become quite frustrating as I had to ring up to get my card unblocked when I was trying to make simple transactions online. This was rectified by the customer services department and they even offered me compensation which I didn't expect.

However, I have now just randomly received a new debit card, and when I phoned up to enquire why I'd been sent this (I only got a new contactless card two months ago), they told me they didn't know why. After explaining that I wanted it to be contactless as well, the advisor put me on hold whilst she spoke to a manager. She then suddenly seemed to know that my new card was for security purposes and must be used immediately and that there was no way I could be issued a contactless card as I had now become 'ineligible'.

I raised this as a complaint with Santander again, as I was quite frustrated about these constant issues with my account, which doesn't seem to ever happen to anyone else. The complaints advisor was useless and also explained that he couldn't say why it had happened, and that it was due to the financial crime team potentially spotting an issue. He said a branch would have to grant me a contactless card and there was nothing he could do. I find this so hard to believe as before, a manager simply approved me one over the phone with no issues. I want to know why I am suddenly ineligible. It's outrageous and makes me feel like changing banks! If they could explain why I would be more understanding but their lack of reasoning behind this. I understand the spotting of security issues is good, that they are keeping me safe, but I somewhat feel like I have been fobbed off with this excuse as a reason not to be granted a contactless card anymore!

Rant over!!

MarkFromCornwall

My own experience with Santander has been great but if I experienced the kind of problems you've described, for which I think there is no easy answer, I'd just switch to another bank - switching is dead easy these days and it might allow you to leave these problems behind.

Kernel_Sanders

This is a very odd situation because I don't want a contactless card yet was given one for the 123 account I applied for recently.