Santander Bravo MasterCard Review (2026)

Saving money on santander bravo mastercard review does not have to be complicated. We rounded up the essentials so you can spend less and skip the guesswork.

Key Takeaways

• Contents1 Overview1.1 APRs:1.2 Fees:1.3 Card Benefits1.4 Card Negatives2 Application Information2.1 What Credit Score Is Required2.2 What Cr...
• Introductory APR: 0% for first 18 billing cycles (for transactions made within the first 90 days of account opening) Cash advance APR: 24.99...
• Fees: Annual fee: $49, waived first year and year two onwards if you have a select checking account Balance transfer fee: $10 or 3%, whichev...

Contents

• 1 Overview
  • 1.1 APRs:
  • 1.2 Fees:
  • 1.3 Card Benefits
  • 1.4 Card Negatives
• 2 Application Information
  • 2.1 What Credit Score Is Required
  • 2.2 What Credit Bureau Does Santander Pull For The Arrival Card?
  • 2.3 What Credit Limit Will I Receive?
• 3 Rewards Program
  • 3.1 Earning Rewards
    • 3.1.1 Sign Up Bonus
      • 3.1.1.1 Current Sign Up Bonus
      • 3.1.1.2 Sign Up Bonus History
  • 3.2 Redeeming Your Rewards
• 4 Our Verdict
• 5

Overview

APRs:

• APR: 15.99% to 24.99% based on your credit worthiness.
• Introductory APR: 0% for first 18 billing cycles (for transactions made within the first 90 days of account opening)
• Cash advance APR: 24.99%
• Penalty APRs: 29.99%
  • Applies if you make a late payment
  • Can apply indefinitely
• Grace Period: 21 days
• Minimum interest charge: $1.5 per billing cycle

Note all APRs may vary based on the prime market rate.

Fees:

• Annual fee: $49, waived first year and year two onwards if you have a select checking account
• Balance transfer fee: $10 or 3%, whichever is greater
• Cash advance fee: 5% or $10, whichever is greater
• Foreign transaction fee: 3%
• Late payment fee: Up to $35
• Over the credit line: None
• Returned payment: Up to $35 ($25 for balance transfers)
• Expedited card or PIN delivery: $35 (view which card issuers charge for this and which offer it for free)

Card Benefits

• Standard World MasterCard Benefits (click for a full list), such as:
  • Room upgrades
  • Airport Concierge service
  • Expedited Airport Security
• Full list of Bravo benefits can be found by clicking here

Card Negatives

• Annual fee of $49
• Earnings at capped at 15,000 points per quarter on 3% categories

Application Information

This is a new card and as such there isn’t a lot of information for this card. This section will be updated as more information comes to hand.

What Credit Score Is Required

Credit Boards Credit Karma Lowest approved score ? ? Average approved score ? ?

 

Common Reasons For Denial:

What Credit Bureau Does Santander Pull For The Arrival Card?

Santander seems to always pull Experian for new accounts

What Credit Limit Will I Receive?

Minimum Credit Limit Highest Reported Credit Limit Average Credit Limit $5,000 (this is the minimum limit on World MasterCard’s) Unknown Unknown

Rewards Program

Earning Rewards

The only way to currently earn rewards with the Bravo card is by making purchases. You earn at the following rates:

• 3 points per $1 spent on the following purchases: Gas, Grocery & Restaurant. You can earn a maximum of 15,000 points per quarter ($5,000 in spend), after this you earn 1 point per $1 spent on those purchases.
• 1 point per $1 spent for all other purchases

Sign Up Bonus Current Sign Up Bonus

• April 22, 2015 - ???: None
• February 22, 17 - Current: $100

Sign Up Bonus History

• Current sign up bonus has been the only sign up bonus ever offered

Redeeming Your Rewards

All Santander points can be redeemed at a ratio of 1¢ per point. They can be redeemed for the following at that rate:

• Prepaid MasterCard (available in denominations of $25, $50, $100, $200, $300, $400. Inactivity fee of $3 charged if no activity for a period of 12 months)
• Airline tickets (no blackout dates)
• Merchant gift cards (hundreds to choose from, starting at $25)
• Products from their online mall

You can view a full list of rewards by clicking here.

Our Verdict

For most people this card isn’t going to be very attractive, it comes with an annual fee but no sign up bonus. It has decent earnings on grocery, gas & restaurant spend but it’s capped at $5,000 per quarter which means it won’t be suitable for manufactured spending.

Because points are only worth 1 cent each, you’re going to get a maximum of 3% cash back on those categories. There are cards on the market that offer 2%+ on all purchases, so you’d need to make $4,900+ in purchases at gas, grocery & restaurant locations to offset the annual fee. There are also other cards which earn at a higher rate at both grocery & gas stations (up to 5% for gas stations & 6% for grocery stores). It’s also annoying that you need a minimum of 2,500 points to be able to cash out your points. It’d be better if you could apply the points as statement credit at any interval you wanted. We don’t recommend signing up for this card at the moment, hopefully Santander makes some changes to this card to make it more attractive.

We Recommend This Card For:

• Those who spend a lot at restaurants

We Don’t Recommend This Card For:

• Everybody who doesn’t fall into the above category

Final Thoughts

Before you check out, double-check santander bravo mastercard review against current offers and any coupons you can stack. Small habits like this add up to real savings over a year.

Originally published at doctorofcredit.com.