The Santander World Elite Mastercard has some generous benefits that make it an ideal travel companion, but they come at a price.
Only available to existing Santander Select or Private Banking customers, and going head-to-head with the slightly-more-expensive HSBC World Elite, this card offers interest-free periods on both balance transfers and purchases, as well as significant rewards and travel perks.
Cardholders can travel in style with free LoungeKey membership – one of the most popular programmes going – allowing unlimited access to airport lounges in over 120 countries. Plus when you use your card overseas, you won't have to worry about pesky non-sterling transaction fees.
Other benefits include ongoing cashback, 24/7 Mastercard Concierge and World Elite Privileges discounts and offers.
The obvious downside here is the fairly hefty monthly account fee, but if you take advantage of the 3 additional cards available, you could get more out of the rewards and benefits schemes – potentially making that fee worth swallowing.
The Santander World Elite Mastercard has some generous benefits that make it an ideal travel companion, but they come at a price.
Issuer | Santander |
Network | Mastercard |
Representative APR | 49.8% |
Annual/monthly fees | £15 per month |
Balance transfers | 0% for 18 months reverting to 18.9% |
Balance transfer fee | 0% for 18 months reverting to 3% (min. £5) |
Purchases | 0% for 18 months reverting to 18.9% |
Purchases interest-free period | Up to 56 days |
Cash advances | 29.9% |
Minimum credit limit | £500 |
Maximum credit limit | Subject to status |
Additional cards available | 3 |
Incentive | 0.5% on £1 to £3000 of monthly spend. Maximum of £15 cashback paid per month. Cashback paid Monthly into Card Account. Maximum spend for cashback purposes is limited to credit limit.0.5% cashback on monthly spend of up to £3,000. Access to over 1 million Wi-Fi hotspots, no foreign transaction fees, discount on travel insurance. |
Lounge access | Membership to LoungeKey, complimentary access to over 1400 airport lounges worldwide. |
Additional Rewards Info | Access to Mastercard Airport Security Fast Track. Access to Priceless.com from Mastercard. Global Data Roaming access in over 150 countries with Flexiroam. |
Potential costs | 4.1 ★★★★★ |
Doing its job | 4.8 ★★★★★ |
Extras | 3.8 ★★★★★ |
Overall Finder Score | 4.4 ★★★★★ |
Minimum monthly payment | 1% or £5 (whichever is greater) or the total of any interest, default fees and charges, monthly fee plus 1% of the outstanding balance plus any arrears. |
Annual/monthly fees | £15 per month |
Balance transfer fee | 0% for 18 months reverting to 3% (min. £5) |
Foreign usage charge (EU) | 0% |
Foreign usage charge (rest of world) | 0% |
Cash advance fee | 3% (min. £3) |
Late payment fee | £12 |
Duplicate statement fee | £0 |
Exceeding limit fee | £12 |
Additional card fee | £0 |
Dormancy fee | £0 |
Minimum Age | 18 |
Minimum income | £10,500 |
Residency | UK Resident |
Availability | Available to existing customers |
The Santander World Elite Mastercard is issued on the Mastercard network, so it's accepted at more than 50 million merchant locations across more than 210 countries and territories.
Approval for any credit card depends on your status. The representative APRs shown represent the interest rate offered to most successful applicants. Depending on your personal circumstances, the APR you're offered may be higher, or you may not be offered credit at all. Fees and rates are subject to change without notice. It's always wise to check the terms of any deal before you borrow. Most of the data in Finder's comparison tables is provided by Moneyfacts.
You can make manual repayments through Santander's app by logging in to your online banking or over the phone (0800 912 3123). Alternatively, you may wish to set up a direct debit.
A direct debit protects you from forgetting to make a repayment and either damaging your credit score, getting hit with a penalty fee (£12) or losing any promotional rates as a result.
You can arrange a direct debit for repayments when you apply for the credit card. The table below shows the options available.
Minimum amount | Fixed amount | Fixed percentage | Full amount |
---|---|---|---|
If you're an existing Santander customer and you've compared cards and settled on the Santander World Elite Mastercard, completing the secure online application form takes about 15 minutes. Before you apply, check that you meet the eligibility requirements and have the information and documents you'll need to make the process as straightforward as possible.
If Santander offers you this deal, it will specify a personalised credit limit based on Santander's assessment of your situation. The minimum limit offered on this card is £500, and Santander does not specify a maximum. Once you've had the card for a while and shown Santander you're reliable, you may wish to apply for a credit limit increase.
Although it's possible, withdrawing cash from a credit card account is generally not a good idea, as "cash-like transactions" (such as withdrawing cash at an ATM, getting cashback at the till, spending at a casino or buying currency) often incur steep fees and/or higher rates of interest.
The cash advance fee on the Santander World Elite Mastercard is 3% (min. £3). For example, if you withdraw £50, you'll incur a fee of £3.00. Withdraw £250 and you'll incur a fee of £7.50.
The interest rate on this part of your balance will be 29.9% (chargeable from the day of the transaction – the card's usual "up to 56 days interest-free" grace period won't apply).
Non-sterling transactions are subject to a 0% charge. For example, if you spend 200 euros (£167.49), it'll cost you around £0.00 in fees.
Each month, you must pay at least 1% of your balance at that point or £5.00 – whichever of the 2 figures is greater. So if you had, say, £450.00 outstanding, you'd pay £5.00, and if you had £2,000.00 outstanding, you'd pay £20.00.
Paying only the minimum required amount each month is generally not advisable as it makes it much harder to get debt-free before that introductory 0% period expires.
Yes, in fact, you can request up to 3 more. There's no fee for additional cards. Plus, with additional cards, you could earn cashback at a faster rate. Bear in mind that card debt accrued by additional cardholders is the sole responsibility of the account holder – not the additional cardholder.
Our experts score rewards credit cards to determine their value against similar products on the market. We look at a number of important factors, like welcome bonuses, introductory and ongoing earn-rates, any caps or restrictions on the points you can earn, plus the potential costs involved with running the card both in the short and longer term.
You can read more about our scoring criteria on our credit card methodology page.