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Join Which? MoneySantander launches Edge cashback credit card – is it worth going for?
You can earn up to £15 a month, but there's a monthly fee to factor in
Santander has launched a new credit card offering up to £180 cashback and fee-free spending abroad.
The Santander Edge credit card offers a market-leading cashback rate of 2% fixed for a year, falling to 1% from year two.
However, the card comes with a £3 monthly fee that will eat into your rewards, and you’ll need to be a Santander current account holder to sign up.
Here, Which? takes a closer look at what the new deal offers, how Santander customers rate its customer service, and how the card compares.
What does the Santander Edge credit card offer?
The key perks available are cashback and fee-free spending abroad.
Cashback
Named after the bank's cashback current account, Santander Edge, it’s no surprise the credit card is geared towards earning cashback on everyday spending.
In your first year, you’ll get a cashback rate of 2% capped at £15 a month, meaning you can earn £180 a year. In the second year, this drops to 1%, but you will still be able to earn up to £15 a month.
The card has a monthly fee of £3, equating to £36 a year. This means your overall profit for the card, if you maxed out your cashback each month, would be £144.
To max out your cashback you can also add up to three additional cardholders, but they must be close family members who live at the same address as you. Just remember you’ll remain responsible for the repayments even if other cardholders do the spending.
The Edge credit card charges 23.9% on purchases, so it's important to pay back what you spend each month to avoid interest eating into your cashback.
Including the monthly fee, the card has an overall representative APR of 29.8% (variable).
Travel perks
The Edge credit card also has no foreign exchange fees on purchases overseas, which means you can earn cashback on your holiday spending.
You won’t be charged any foreign transaction fees on purchases and cash withdrawals, provided you pay in the local currency.
However, you should avoid withdrawing cash from the credit card. If you do, you’ll be charged a cash transaction fee of 3% (minimum £3), including those made abroad, and you’ll be charged 29.9% interest on the cash you take out from the day it’s withdrawn.
- Find out more: best credit cards to use abroad
What's in the small print?
You’ll need to be a Santander current account holder to apply for the Edge credit card.
If you don’t want to pay for one of Santander’s premium accounts, such as the Santander Edge current account, you can apply for a basic everyday account – which is free.
To apply, you’ll need to be over 18, live in the UK and have an income of at least £10,500 per year.
You can do an eligibility check on the Santander website before applying, which will let you know if you’re likely to be accepted for the card without it leaving a mark on your credit file. You will also be told what credit limit you’ll receive.
There are some transactions you won’t earn cashback on. These include balance and money transfers, buying foreign currency, withdrawing cash from an ATM or bank, gambling, direct debits and standing orders.
How to maximise cashback
In the first year of having the Santander Edge credit card, you’d need to spend at least £750 per month to max out the cashback.
In the second year as your rate decreases to 1%, you’d then need to spend £1,500 a month to keep earning £15 a month.
For savvy spenders, if combined with the Santander Edge current account, you could earn £29 a month (after fees) or £348 a year if you max out the cashback on both accounts.
For example, with the Santander Edge current account, you earn up to 1% cashback on your household bills when you pay by direct debit and another 1% on supermarket and transport costs (both capped at £1,000). However, you would need to spend £2,750 a month for this and be organised with how you pay for your purchases.
| Account | Monthly spend | Monthly cashback | Monthly fee | Monthly profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santander Edge current account | £1,000 on household bills and £1,000 on supermarket and transport spending | £20 | £3 | £17 |
| Santander Edge credit card | £750 (first year) | £15 | £3 | £12 |
Is Santander a good credit card provider?
Which? surveyed thousands of credit card customers in October 2023 to find out how satisfied they were with their providers.
We also asked them to rate the companies across a range of customer satisfaction categories, from the application process right through to the ease of banking online and customer service.
Santander achieved an excellent customer score of 75%, coming joint 4th out of 31 providers, alongside Sainsbury’s Bank.
Customers gave it five stars (out of five) for its clarity of statements and four stars for its transparency of charges and customer service in general. It received three stars for its application process.
- Find out more: check out our Santander credit card review and see how Santander compares to the best credit card providers
How does the Edge credit card compare?
If all you need is a credit card that is good for spending abroad, it's worth checking out the Halifax Clarity (representative 23.9% APR variable) and Barclaycard Rewards (representative 28.9% APR variable), rather than Santander Edge. These deals don't come with a monthly fee and you don't need to hold a linked current account to qualify. The Barclaycard Rewards Visa even pays cashback.
But if you're after a new cashback credit card, Santander is competitive, as it pays a consistently high rate of cashback. Its closest rival, American Express, has two cashback credit cards offering a higher rate of 5%, but this falls sharply after the three-month introductory period.
The Amex Platinum Everyday Cashback Credit Card offers 5% cashback (capped at £100) for the first three months, which falls to 0.5% (or 1% if you spend over £10,000). It has no annual fee and a representative APR of 31% (variable).
The Amex Platinum Cashback Credit Card also offers a 5% rate for the first three months (capped at £125) but pays 0.75% (or 1.25% if you spend more than £10,000). The card has an annual fee of £25 and a representative APR of 36.7% (variable).
This means if you were to spend £750 a month (taking into account any fees) you would get more than £138 with the Amex Platinum, nearly £134 with the Amex Platinum Everyday, and £144 with the Santander Edge card in your first year.
In the second year, using the same spending scenarios and fees as above, you would get £42.50 with the Amex Platinum, nearly £45 with the Amex Platinum Everyday, and £54 with the Santander Edge card.
- Find out more: best cashback and reward credit cards
