Santander Select

Marchitiello

I have had a Select 123 account for years, but writing this as I have just received my new debit card and was surprised by the design.

Firstly, it is worth clarifying that there were already two versions of “Select” accounts, the legacy one did not have to be attached to one of the fee paying account, and the second/newer one that was bundled to one having to sign up to a full 123 account. The fact that some were able to downgrade to 123 Lite is interesting as at the time it was specifically stated that it was compulsory to have a full 123 to retain the Select status. I am wondering if those customers already had the “Select” account prior to sign up for the 123 account and thus being effectively on the legacy unbundle requirement, thus being able later to downgrade to 123 lite.


In any case, the letter that came with my new card  is headed “Santander Select” and it clearly mention “here is your new Select Debit Card” but the attached card looks to be a standard “Santander Debit Card” with only the word “Debit” on it. I appreciate the comment about the “diamonds” instead of the bubbles, but I would not think that this is the intended design difference.

Now my issue is that I have this account mainly for the “travel benefits” associated with it, which is specifically that you can access free ATM withdrawals at MC exchange rate in any Santander Branch worldwide (have used this in USA east coast, Mexico, Argentina, Spain and Portugal) but also access the “Select” lounge they have in many branches in South America, and doing so but simply showing the Select Debit Card. Those lounges are useful when exploring a city and needing refreshment, quick wi-fi connection or simply a break from the heath. The benefits mentioned in the letter received by the OP clearly refers to access to 12,000 branches as a Specific benefit of being upgraded to Select.

The Select Debit Card used to look like this when it was issued as a Visa (from the web):

Which then was re-issued as a Mastercard like this (the version in other market was MasterCard world elite with the silver MC logo but exactly the same) :


The new UK one received, without raised numerals, is like this (are we sure the diamonds are only for these cards as I have seen example elsewhere on the net that do not specifically mention Select) and not mention of “Select” on it.

But in other markets, Santander Select still retain a different and clearly identifiable design even without raised numerals , which will clearly help getting into the dedicated lounges:



As others have said, since the launch of the Edge accounts, whilst they allegedly retained the “Select” status associated to one account, in practice it does not feel to have the same focus, as the Customer Service phone line seem to go into the normal call centre and you are no longer acknowledge as a “Select Customer” (it used to be answered faster, clearly identifying you as a Select Customer, and the staff seemed to take responsibility in resolving queries, by always personally following up when needed).

But, even having lost the associated service mentioned above, creating issues in trying to access those worldwide branch services is the one thing that would really annoy me the most. Has anyone raised the question about this or just the card design directly with Santander? 

GeoffTF

Marchitiello said:

Firstly, it is worth clarifying that there were already two versions of “Select” accounts, the legacy one did not have to be attached to one of the fee paying account, and the second/newer one that was bundled to one having to sign up to a full 123 account. The fact that some were able to downgrade to 123 Lite is interesting as at the time it was specifically stated that it was compulsory to have a full 123 to retain the Select status. I am wondering if those customers already had the “Select” account prior to sign up for the 123 account and thus being effectively on the legacy unbundle requirement, thus being able later to downgrade to 123 lite.

No. I opened a Standard 123 account, and Santander later upgraded it to Select status without any request from me. When the interest rate fell to below that paid by Marcus, I downgraded the account to a 123 Lite. I expected that my Select status would go, but it did not. I did not ask for my debit card to be upgraded to the Select debit card, and I have always had the standard one.

Santander now appears to be giving Select status to accounts that do not remotely meet their stated criteria, and their website suggests that Everyday Current Accounts (which do not have a monthly fee) can have Select status.

If calls on the Select number are now routed to the standard customer service line, the main benefit of Select status has gone, as far as I am concerned.

As far as your main query is concerned, I suggest that you ask Santander. I expect that others would be interested in their answer.

gt94sss2

Marchitiello said:

The Select Debit Card used to look like this when it was issued as a Visa (from the web):

As others have said, since the launch of the Edge accounts, whilst they allegedly retained the “Select” status associated to one account, in practice it does not feel to have the same focus, as the Customer Service phone line seem to go into the normal call centre and you are no longer acknowledge as a “Select Customer” (it used to be answered faster, clearly identifying you as a Select Customer, and the staff seemed to take responsibility in resolving queries, by always personally following up when needed).

Before the black card, they had  that a gold visa debit card which also didn't use to mention Select on it.

Interesting that the customer phone line seems to go through to their normal CS now. I haven't called them recently but do get regular emails from Santander reminding me that there is a "dedicated support team. They're UK based and just a phone call away, 24/7"

Marchitiello

gt94sss2 said:

Before the black card, they had  that a gold visa debit card which also didn't use to mention Select on it.

…..

Indeed, that was the legacy account, and I had a friend that still had a valid one in about 2020. If I remember correctly it should be this one (from the web):

GeoffTF

The Santander website still says: "UK-based Santander Select telephone team available 24/7":

https://www.santander.co.uk/select/support/join-us

There is no "Join" button. Just a "View all current accounts" button. That does what it says, listing even the student account, children's account and the basic current account. Can they all be Select accounts?

The Santander website also says "We won’t charge you for using your Santander Edge debit card to withdraw cash and make payments outside the UK":

https://www.santander.co.uk/select

That seems to imply that the Select debit card is being discontinued.

They are also trying to sell their "World Elite MasterCard" exclusively to Select and Private Banking customers:

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/santander-world-elite-mastercard

The cost of joining the world elite? £15 a month.

Marchitiello

GeoffTF said:

The Santander website still says: "UK-based Santander Select telephone team available 24/7":

https://www.santander.co.uk/select/support/join-us

There is no "Join" button. Just a "View all current accounts" button. That does what it says, listing even the student account, children's account and the basic current account. Can they all be Select accounts?

The Santander website also says "We won’t charge you for using your Santander Edge debit card to withdraw cash and make payments outside the UK":

https://www.santander.co.uk/select

That seems to imply that the Select debit card is being discontinued.

They are also trying to sell their "World Elite MasterCard" exclusively to Select and Private Banking customers:

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/santander-world-elite-mastercard

The cost of joining the world elite? £15 a month.

The Santander World Elite MasterCard was always only available to Select and Private customers, since launching few years ago. It  is a competitor of the HSBC Premier World Elite MC which cost £195 pa and also only available to HSBC Premier and Private customers (free for the latter).

I am not sure if the child/students accounts are somehow linked to the parents Select status the same way that HSBC does. I have both HSBC Premier and Santander Select status and  helped my first born few years ago to open child accounts with both banks. HSBC clearly extended some of my benefits to my son, and whilst his debit card is the standard HSBC My Money and his account does not mention anything different, he has also been issues with an HSBC Premier Card (no visa/mastercard circuit) that can be used in any HSBC branches world wide to withdraw up to £500 emergency money. 

We have not received any communication about special benefits from Santander.

Uitlander

I've just found this thread after googling Santander select. I operate what was a Santander 123 current account on behalf of my elderly father under Power Of Attorney. This month I've noticed that the branding in the app has changed to Santander Select and was trying to find out what that is and whether they are making any additional charges for it as my Dad most certainly does not meet their £5K monthly deposit criteria and only used this account to wangle some extra interest/cashback by paying some DDs through it. Santander have not told me about any changes at all, and if they have written directly to my Dad then its likely that he didn't understand the letter and threw it away. 

It sounds like Santander have rebranded the old 123 accounts and migrated people onto "select" without asking. ATM he's being charged £4 pcm to maintain the account, but getting more than that back in DD related cashback and interest which is why he took out the account in the first place. He's most definitely not meeting the £5k pcm funding requirement.

Before anyone helpfully says "just call them", I'm always wary of phoning banks about any issue with POA accounts and try to research as much as possible online instead. This is from long experience as most customer service people are not trained to handle this, assume I'm a fraudster and in the worse cases flag it as a security issue which then causes a whole string of account access issues and usually end up with me having to visit a branch with ID, copies of the POA and spend hours untangling the resulting mess. Even this has become harder in recent years due to the closure of local branches. 

wmb194

Uitlander said:

I've just found this thread after googling Santander select. I operate what was a Santander 123 current account on behalf of my elderly father under Power Of Attorney. This month I've noticed that the branding in the app has changed to Santander Select and was trying to find out what that is and whether they are making any additional charges for it as my Dad most certainly does not meet their £5K monthly deposit criteria and only used this account to wangle some extra interest/cashback by paying some DDs through it. Santander have not told me about any changes at all, and if they have written directly to my Dad then its likely that he didn't understand the letter and threw it away. 

It sounds like Santander have rebranded the old 123 accounts and migrated people onto "select" without asking. ATM he's being charged £4 pcm to maintain the account, but getting more than that back in DD related cashback and interest which is why he took out the account in the first place. He's most definitely not meeting the £5k pcm funding requirement.

Before anyone helpfully says "just call them", I'm always wary of phoning banks about any issue with POA accounts and try to research as much as possible online instead. This is from long experience as most customer service people are not trained to handle this, assume I'm a fraudster and in the worse cases flag it as a security issue which then causes a whole string of account access issues and usually end up with me having to visit a branch with ID, copies of the POA and spend hours untangling the resulting mess. Even this has become harder in recent years due to the closure of local branches. 

No, Select is a fee-free add on, don’t worry it. About all it offers is a customer services telephone number that will be answered a little quicker.

GeoffTF

Nothing has changed for the old 123 and 123 Lite accounts. Santander has offered the free Select add on to customers who do not strictly qualify for a long time. More recently, they have been watering down the benefits, and seem to be handing it out more liberally.

APWhiteSavvy

GeoffTF said:

Nothing has changed for the old 123 and 123 Lite accounts. Santander has offered the free Select add on to customers who do not strictly qualify for a long time. More recently, they have been watering down the benefits, and seem to be handing it out more liberally.

Well I called them up and asked if they'd be able to liberally upgrade me based on my current incoming of about £3.6k and they flat out said no