With the free Girocard it goes downhill. After the ING, another well-known bank will say goodbye to the German special route and add the Girocard to the account free of charge. Instead, Santander will use a different system.
It’s not as big a name in Germany as Deutsche Bank, Sparkasse or Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken, but Santander Bank is still one of the big banks for private customers in this country. After ING had recently announced the end of their free giro cards, Santander is now also taking this step.
Girocard at Santander will soon cost 12 euros a year
Santander customers who insist on a Girocard in the future will have to pay for it 12 euros per year. The Handelsblatt had first reported about the imminent withdrawal from the Girocard, Santander specified to GIGA that it was the free version. New customers will be the Girocard no longer actively offer, an exact reference date for the pricing of the Girocard has not yet been given.
However, customers can continue to receive a free current account without any additional costs being charged to the card. According to the current status, you want a free Visa debit card in the second half of 2022 offer, explains Santander.
This should be more customer-friendly than previous solutions: The Visa debit card at Santander will be “Be e-commerce capable” and can be used worldwide will. If the plan works like this, switching to Visa will create added value for customers.
In the future, Santander customers will be able to pay online with the Visa debit card – here we reveal how you can save too:
Maestro-Aus is forcing banks to act
A few months ago, Visa competitor Mastercard announced that it would have an international payment system To hire Maestro. No new Maestro cards will be issued from mid-2023. It is certain that Visa will follow the move and discontinue its counterpart V-Pay. The timing is still unclear, however.
However, the German Girocard is dependent on one of the services for payments abroad. The German special solution is clearly curtailed in its functions. So it’s no wonder that Banks like Santander are looking for alternatives for their customers. It remains to be seen whether these will remain free of charge in the long term or whether German account holders will incur additional costs instead.