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
Customer service on this card is awful. I got locked out several times which requires a pin to unlock which can only be reset by a 7-10 business day mailing. I ended up missing over a month of spending all together because of login issues. Rewards can’t be redeemed for cash too, which is a bummer.
Please update this post:
Bravo CC does have sign up bonus, source: https://www.santanderbank.com/us/personal/credit-cards/bravo
“Earn $100 cash back via statement credit after you spend $1,000 on new net retail purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account.”
Updated, thanks
MY ERROR. Simply Right Checking DOES NOT qualify to keep the Bravo MC free of the annual fee. IMO, the checking accounts that do keep the Bravo MC account AF free require too much minimum balance to too high.
From the DoC review
Introductory APR: 0% for first 18 billing cycles (for transactions made within the first 90 days of account opening)
The APR of 0% for 18 bill cycles only applies to Balance Transfers …. NOT purchases.
I did the checking bonus sign up first.
Bravo MC application processed and approved in less than a week. Experian hard pull.
$100.00 signup bonus and 3% in my most common categories – I seldom go over the cap.
Plan is to meet required spend $1,000 on new net retail purchases mostly in the 3% categories.
.
https://www.santanderbank.com/us/personal/credit-cards/bravo
Purchased $500.00 GVC plus a few real groceries at my usual grocery inside. Initially Bravo card was denied. Cell phone text message asked me if I made the attempt. When I replied YES, the next card swipe went thru ok.
Next got gas at same business but outside. No problem.
Next day went to Walmart. Charge went thru ok, but cell phone alert asked if I made the charge. I text back YES to avoid problem next time.
I got the same offer, 30K for $1000 in 90 days, first year fees waived. Applied and said, decision pending. Called up CC and they told me if I have just applied, it goes to a certain department who then take 2-3 weeks to decide. No way to follow up until informed by them about approval or denial. This is stupid!
I received the same offer as Evan. Offer is good through November 30. Definitely enticing. Any idea what merchant gift cards I can acquire with points? It is not easy to find. Would like to see that list before deciding one way or the other.
Just received an offer in the mail for 30,000 points for $1000 spend for signing up for this card
Good offer, I’d probably nab it.