Withdraw cash free of charge and get the foreign fees refunded through the:

Santander 1Plus Credit Card

That you can read this tip here, we owe to our dedicated readers and fans.

The Spanish Banco Santander operates in Germany the Santander Bank and the Santander Consumer Bank. Through the latter, a free credit card is offered online with the following terms and conditions:

Santander 1Plus Card / Kreditkarte

  • withdraw cash free of charge around the globe
  • worldwide 1 % fuel discount
    up to Euros 400 fuel transaction per month
  • true credit card with partial repayment option
    please note that interest applies to payments by instalments
  • simple online application for ordering the card.

What else should you know about the Santander credit card?

  • Credit line of Euros 2,000

    Who applies for the credit card and is granted one, can be glad to use a credit line of Euros 2,000. This is the default at the Santander Consumer Bank for the 1Plus Card.

  • Increase the overdraft facility

    If one needs more money, e.g. for a trip to the USA or Thailand, then one can make a transfer to the credit card account. With the deposited balance, the overdraft facility increases. If e.g. Euros 5,000 are needed, one can transfer Euros 3,000, as one does already have a credit line of Euros 2,000.

  • Creditworthiness check

    Since it is a true credit card with credit line, the bank makes a creditworthiness check, in which, among others, the income and Schufa-ranking is decisively.

  • Refund of foreign fees

    One can apply for the refund of the withdrawal fees by phone, calling 02161.90 60120. The service hours are Monday to Friday from 8 am to 7 pm.

  • Previous current account can be maintained

    Although the Santander Consumer Bank also offers its own current accounts, you can keep all your existing accounts and only add the 1Plus Card as a single credit card.

    Tip: Arrange with the bank that the entire loan balance should be paid by direct debit from your current account (reference account) at the due date. Therefore, you will not be charged expensive loan interest, if you do not settle the amount via bank transfer on time.

  • [/hide]

Will you get this additional card?

I am pleased, if you could support this special portal being a smart bank customer, e.g. by posting your experience with the Santander 1Plus Card via the comments feature of this page.

Especially helpful are, of course, experiences and tips on a successful application and use of the card. Thank you very much!

Santander 1 Plus Card

Further pages about credit cards for journeys

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Who writes here?

Someone who gained experience with more than 100 banks in more than 20 countries during the past 15 years. My name is Gregor and if you click to continue you can find out why I am here and what this site is for ⇒ continue.

51 Responses to “Santander 1Plus Credit Card”

  1. sakib says:

    Is it possible to withdraw foreign cash without any extra fees with this card?

  2. Joao says:

    Dear Gregor,

    I’m about to submit my application for this card.

    Will I have any costs with the santander account of which this credit card will be related with?

    Regads,
    Joao

    • Gregor says:

      Dear Joao,

      As far as I know, it is a free-of-charge credit card. I have not heard from other readers regarding any fees, either – at least not, if one uses it in smart ways 😉

      Good luck for your online application!

  3. MAAR says:

    Hi,

    So is it possible that I link this card with my current account (let say from deutshe bank) and use this card as a debit card where the transaction would be debited immediately from my current account?
    Is it also possible that the default credit line of 2000 euros be reduced to zero like Number26? meaning I dont want to use their credit line (even accidently). Is it possible to set it to 0 through an app or something?

    • Susanne (editorial staff) says:

      Hi,

      The concept of this credit card does not quite work the way you described your wishes, but I daresay they can be approximated:

      First of all, yes, you can linke this card with a giro account from a different bank, but the account will be debited not directly but once a month in one amount with the sum of your current credit card transactions.

      You cannot reduce the credit card to 0 EUR either, but you can idividually arrange with your customer service representative to individually have the 2000 EUR credit line reduced to a smaller amount. You can then deposit money onto your credit card and then almost use it the way you would use a prepaid card.

      I hope this helps?

  4. Joao Lavado says:

    Hi Susanne,

    Thank you very much for your feedback. You´ve stated above:

    “Refund of foreign fees

    One can apply for the refund of the withdrawal fees by phone, calling 02161.90 60120. The service hours are Monday to Friday from 8 am to 7 pm.”

    My question is, is there any other way of retrieving the fees?

    The rational for that question is that once abroad, this phone call would cost more than the fees returned.

    Thanks,
    Joao

    • Susanne (editorial staff) says:

      Hi Joao,

      I have phoned the Sandander bank in order to check this – and to my surprise they told me that you cannot do the application for reimbursement process via phone anyway, since they require a proof/receipt of the fees incurred in order to reimburse them.

      Which means you can completely forego the telephone call from abroad and simply scan the receipts and send them via email, or use the fax or regular mail, together with a written message.

  5. Ringo says:

    Thank you, Susanne, for taking the time to write all this in English. It’s of great help to the international students and workers living in Germany 🙂

  6. sakib says:

    I applied for the credit card but they rejected me! I don’t really know why 🙁 I am a PhD student, earning a decent salary, paying my tax every month, but still I cannot get this credit card! Wish I could have known why they rejected me…

  7. Bobby G says:

    Hi,

    Ive applied and seemingly been approved as I received a paper with the access number and a pin. However I still havent received the card nor can I log onto the online banking. Am I missing something or is this the process?

  8. Babak Golriz says:

    Hi,

    I just took your recommendation and successfully applied to this card.

    I have two questions though.

    1) How would I link this credit card to my sparkasse account so that it automatically debits the outstanding amount at the end of the month so I dont pay any interest? (as every month my usage could be different so a standing order doesnt seem logical)

    2) So the card does incur foreign transaction fees on spending and withdrawal but you need to retain receipts which you then scan back? Or is this just on withdrawals on foreign machines? Its a bit unclear to me.

    Thank you,

  9. Babak Golriz says:

    Hi,

    How would one proactively make a full payment of the outstanding via online banking of Sparkasse? It doesnt seem possible.

    Regards,

  10. Nemanja says:

    Dear readers and dear Gregory,

    I find this site extremely useful and unique.
    It helped me a lot to learn about German consumer banks. All I needed was at one place. And it offers all texts in English. There are no other comparable sites – absolutely fantastic job has been done!

    Being inspired with all DKB related articles, I recently applied for an DKB account and Visa card. As expected, I got a letter from DKB after some days, thus with no Visa card in the envelope – I was rejected. What a surprise!
    Need to mention that I reside in Germany for more than 3 years, have indefinite working contract, above average salary and SHUFA score above 98%.

    I decided to visit Santander bank (again thanks to one of articles at this site) and got the account immediately with their 1plus Visa card. I definitely now find this card a better product than DKB Visa card.
    As far as I have seen, it offers same features as DKB Visa card + 1% fuel cost refund + 5% discount on travel booking + better possibilities for setting up the monthly limit with the bank + no minimum amount that could be withdrawn from ATMs.
    What was even better – I was immediately offered Santander Select status with all benefits coupled to it. I am so pleased about that and am actually happy now that DKB did refuse my application – I would miss such a nice service and products that Santander offers.

    Having said that, I do not want to discourage anyone from applying for DKB account. Thus wanted to share my very positive experience with Santander bank.
    Hope this will be of the help to anyone considering new bank.

  11. Chris says:

    I went to a Santander Consumer Bank office to try to open their free Girokonto that comes with the free 1plus Credit Card. They said the bank only deals with salaried employees – not self-employed persons. Even freelancers with a high income and long-term client contracts are not qualified. This was quite surprising! I asked if I could apply for only the credit card apart from the Girokonto, and they said the same policy holds.

    • Editorial Team says:

      When Gregor read the post he said: “Sometimes one simply does not meet the right person.” Maybe you simply apply for account and card online and see what happens?

  12. Zhao Chenyu says:

    I have already gotten a Santander one plus card.
    But I am still studying how to use it.
    I have some booked payment from this card now, and I want to pay off the debt. Should I transfer money from my current account? How can I pay off the booked payment?

    And how can I use the instalment function?

    • Editorial Team says:

      If you don’t have an agreement that the bank can debit your giro account with the debt amount, then you are going to need to transfer the money yourself. You can find the details re. which account to transfer to on your statement, below on the right. The “Verwendungszweck” (reference) is the 16-figure number of your credit card.

      If you want to pay in installments, the minimum rate is 5% of the owed amount, but 25 EUR minimum.

  13. Prashanth says:

    I hold a foreign passport (with a blue card) and have moved to Germany from the UK recently. I applied for the 1Plus card (within 6 months of my arrival in Germany) and I was rejected since I apparently did not meet the minimum automated requirements.

    Any idea what what the minimum requirements could be? I want to apply again but do would like to make sure that I am not automatically filtered out again by their system.

    • Editorial Team says:

      The answer is easy: Overall, you have not accumulated enough points for a good credit standing to get a card. Maybe it looks differently in half a year, or you apply for a card at another bank. The requirements differ from bank to bank, but are of course not communicated publicly.

  14. Rodrigo says:

    Hi everyone,

    do you know how long we must wait to know if your application was accepted or not?

    because two weeks ago I applied for the 1Plus credit card and I download and printed all the documents that they told me to send them and I did it, I sent all the documents to the Santander bank, but still I don’t receive an email or letter with the answer and I will like to know if I got it or not?

    Thanks

    • Gregor says:

      Yes, two weeks without a message is too long. Please call the customer services and inquire. If the application cannot be found, please simply apply again. A pity that you need to wait longer for the card than is desirable.

  15. Soumya says:

    Hello! I recently got this card and started using it, as well as the online banking service. There are fields called “Saldo” and “gebuchte Umsaetze”, both of which have some amount listed under them. My available credit shows only the Credit minus the “Saldo” amount. Does “Saldo” mean that this amount has already been transferred out of my credit balance? Can I request a refund of the same? Can it also be an amount that is blocked for say a car/hotel reservation – which I normally should get back? Thank you for your help!

  16. Mandy says:

    Hello Gregor, I possess this card and very happy to have it. Can you recommend other credit cards and share their credit limits and no withdrawal charges.

  17. Max says:

    Hello there,

    Concerning this “Santander 1plus visa card” specifically the line of credit! I understood that if I receive it, I’d benefit from a 2000 euros of credit! But the question is, how long can I use it before I start receiving interest rate upon it?

    Thank you in advance!

    • Gregor says:

      Once a month you get a statement from Santander. If you pay back everything until the due date, the credit period was interest-free. That’s a maximum of 7 weeks.

      If you do not transfer, only 5 percent of the outstanding balance will be automatically collected. This means the automatic conversion into a revolving loan and this currently incurs interest at 13.98 percent.

      My recommendation is: Smartly take advantage of the benefits of the Santander 1 Plus Visa and always balance the credit card account on time for the due date. Then every-thing has been for free!

  18. Elliot Herman says:

    I love love love this card… I stopped carrying my regular bank card around with me, because I realised I never use it. I only veer use this card for cash withdrawals, worldwide.

    Make sure you keep receipts for any machine which says it’ll charge you, or better, take a photo of the screen (then you can’t lose it, or maybe the machine has run out of paper). Save them and email or fax them to Santander and they’ll refund. Last time I returned from a trip to Asia, I got about 60€ refunded.

    You can also request to make automatically full payment each month – this doesn’t happen unless you ask for it.

    • Steve Clarke says:

      Thanks for sharing! I am just wondering that do you get ATM pin separately? I just got online name and pin + iTAN list.

      Thanks!
      -Steve

      • Alexander Baytchev says:

        Yes, you do have a separate pin from the internet pin. POS and ATM devices have one pin, it is the usual 4 digit pin.

  19. Sushant says:

    Hi,

    I am about to order the card, but In the card contract there is one sheet called as “Beratungsprotokoll zur Ratenschutzversicherung”, I am unable to get my around it on why this sheet is provided to me along with Postident and credit card contract.

    While ordering the card, I have not chosen any option in “Rückzahlungsoptionen” or in “Bequemer Überweisungsservice”. In “Rückzahlungsoptionen”, the Ratenschutzversicherung is mentioned. I have not selected this option but still I got the “Beratungsprotokoll zur Ratenschutzversicherung” sheet in the card contract, I am not sure why?

    Can you guide me what it is for?

    Thanks in advance

    • Gregor says:

      Insurances are there to make money from them – from the perspective of the bank. I would not take this insurance, either. The bank bears the risk, and if the bank sells a risk-taking insurance, that’s smart for the bank, but not for me.

      Why it is there despite the deselection, I do not know. Maybe a mistake or because they want to point out the insurance once more to the prospect? You do not need it, so get rid of it :). Have fun with the card, it’s a good one.

  20. Luca says:

    Hello,
    First of all, thank you for the very nice and informative article.

    I was wondering if the Santander Bank offers any sort of support in English language.

    If that’s the case, I would apply right away for the Santander credit card.

    Thank you

  21. Luca says:

    Hello,

    I was doing the online application for the card, and It seems that you cannot apply for the card if you haven’t lived in Germany for at least 36 months.

    The application would force me to specify a previous German address once I typed in for how long I am living in Germany.

    Can someone confirm if that’s exactly the case, or maybe they allow salaried employees to still apply for the card even if they are in Germany since less than 36 months?

    Thanks

    • Gregor says:

      Yes, that’s correct. In Germany, it is not customary to offer banking services in several languages. Only a few banks do that. So far, Santander Germany is not one of them. However, you can be lucky – or try to specifically ask for telephone or e-mail support to communicate in English

  22. Paul says:

    Hello Gregor and the Team,
    I am a German citizen retired in Canada, thanks for the insight of how the German Banking works and I was able to open an account with DKB in 2016 and got the credit card as well.
    Now that DKB is not free anymore for money withdrawals and I think its about time to apply for Santander 1Plus Credit Card. Also, if I understand it right, I can link the Santander 1Plus Credit card to my DKB account to pay off automatically.
    Is it possible for me, as a German retiree living in Canada to apply this card? If yes, can I apply online? Or do I need to have and address in Germany?
    Please keep up the good work and thank you all.
    Paul

    • Gregor says:

      Personally, I cannot say much about the Santander because I’m not a customer there myself. We have created this page with the help of our community, because some DKB customers have additionally opened the account at Santander because of the refund of ATM fees. As far as I can remember, Santander (Germany) requires a place of residence in Germany. That’s the case with most banks.

  23. Priscilla says:

    Hi!

    I’ve applied to the credit card and receive the contract, then went to the post to confirm my ID.

    Anyone knows how long I will wait to receive my card?

    There is any app to see my credit card overview – how much I’ve spent etc., or I will see this only by the Online Banking?

    And a third question is what day will they debit from my account the value of the card’s invoice?

    Thanks!

  24. Suchita says:

    Hi,

    I am applying for the Santander 1plus card, with an additional card.
    I have question: In the monthly regular income should I put the income of both people or just the main cardholder.

    Thanks!

    • Gregor says:

      The online application only refers to the applicant’s income (= 1 person).

      • Suchita says:

        Thanks Gregor! May be another question: I received the online banking credentials but not the itan list.

        I can’t use the online banking as when I try to login it doesn’t work. Do I need to wait for the Itan List first

  25. Karpa says:

    Hi Gregor,

    I am confused about one thing. If I withdraw cash while being in a foreign country, there are no withdrawl fees but is the cash withdrawn also interest free for the said period of 7 weeks?

    Or the high interest rate starts adding from the day of the cash withdrawal?

    Looking forward to your response.

    Best Regards

    • Gregor says:

      As far as I know, Santander doesn’t make a difference re. what kind of transaction has been made. All transactions have interest-free payment deferrals.

  26. Martyn says:

    Hi.
    Does the card automatically come with the option to repay in installments (Ratenzahlung) or do you have to apply for that? And if yes, then how?

    Great site BTW.

    • Richard Banks says:

      Installment payments are automatic. If someone wants to pay punctually or with full direct debit, they have to agree/arrange this with the bank. Here, the bank is flexible. That’s comfortable.

    • elliot says:

      It automatically pays in instalments, unless you request full payment each time.

  27. Nemanja says:

    Dear all,
    Sadly, I have come to realise that as of April 1st Santander Bank started charging 1,5% on payments outside of the EURO zone.
    Also, the number of free of charge cash withdrawals outside of the EURO zone is now limited to four.
    New conditions: https://www.santander.de/privatkunden/konten-karten/karten/1plus-visa/.

  28. Michael Chegwin says:

    I tried to arrange with the Santander Bank for direct debit payment of the full balance as soon as it is due and they told me this is no longer possible. You either have to check your account monthly and bay the balance or accept their minimum deduction from your account with all the interest implications if you are slow with checking outstanding amount. Only option now is the Debit Card, which can be coupled with your current account.

    • Elliot says:

      wow, that’s quite a policy change! I recommend calling them again and speaking to someone else, who might be able to do what you want. This worked for me when I had a query about another direct debit on another card – one person said I had to write a letter, on a second call they changed it over the phone.

  29. Amir says:

    I have applied best card basic is that same cand which is mentioned here and one more think when i applied they wrote that repayments are in installments. But they didnt mention how much they take as repayment through dirct debit

    Can you please explain how much is minimum repayment and how can we change amount on direct debit

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