Santander 123 Cashback credit card

Available to those who are:

- Aged 18 or over
- Have a permanent UK address for at least the last 3 years
- Do not have have a history of bad credit (CCJ's or bankruptcy)
- Have an income of at least £7,500 p.a.

Please ensure you meet the above criteria before applying, or it could adversely affect your credit rating.

About this card

Further details and how this deal compares

The Santander 123 Cashback credit card has claimed to be the UK's best value cash back deal for everyday spending - a point even closest rival American Express has succumb to acknowledging.

Cash back is earned on spending at supermarkets, department stores and petrol stations - all of which certainly are everyday spending - and with included retailers being those categorised by MasterCard the remit is broad.

Cash back rewards

Cash back is earned at the following rates:

• 1% cash back on supermarket shopping.
• 2% cash back at department stores.
• 3% cash back on petrol (on spend up to £300 a month).

The petrol spend, as noted above, will only be earned on monthly spending up to £300 (or £9 worth of cash back), which will probably allow most people to earn cash back on about 5 or 6 tanks a month.

The classification of which retailers are eligible depends on the categorisation by MasterCard - so there is no opt in, or opt out, here, and Santander say that most major supermarkets, department stores and petrol stations are included.

For some named examples though:

Supermarkets:
Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, The Co-operative, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Budgens, including all their online stores.

Department Stores:
BHS, Debenhams, House of Fraser, John Lewis, Fenwick, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, plus others and including their online shops.

Petrol stations:
BP, Shell, Esso, Texaco, Tesco, ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and others.

Santander do point out however that the classifications may be a little blurred - for example, Marks & Spencer is defined as a supermarket and not a department store, additionally some petrol stations could be classified as supermarkets.

Annual fee

The Santander 123 cashback credit card has a £24 annual fee which sets a slight effective minimum spend threshold in terms of benefiting from the rewards.

Considering how much everyday spending is done everyday - most typical household budgets are likely to earn over the cost of the annual fee though.

For example, here's a table of monthly spending amounts and yearly cash back earned:

Additionally though, for cardholders to benefit from rewards credit cards, its not just the annual fee to watch out for though.

Paying interest on spending will eat into earnings much quicker than annual fees and so setting up a direct debit to clear the full balance each month is a sensible option.

All in all

Santander seems to be taking steps towards making a name for themselves for offering deals that stand out from the crowd.

The since removed, Zero card for example, was a new movement in the market for "cards without fees" - and while this isn't the first time we've seen a "supermarket/department/petrol" rewards credit card, it certainly makes for a market leading version.

Visit the Santander website for more »

Interest rates

Fees and charges

Repayment details

Rewards and discounts

Cardholder services

	Offered	Additional
Online account management		-
Fraud Guarantee		Online banking guarantee.
Fraud Monitoring		Santander will keep track of your account and let you know of any suspicious spending.
Identity Protection		-
Credit Report Access		-
3D Secure		MasterCard SecureCode An extra layer of security when shopping online. Register and set up a password-protected identity-check when you shop online with participating online retailers.
Contactless Payments		-
Purchase Protection Insurance		-
Purchase Delivery Insurance		-
Travel Insurance		-
Travel Accident Insurance		-
Travel Inconvenience Insurance		-
Assistance Abroad		-
Emergency Card Replacement		-