Banco Santander: what happens if you change or lose your phone
Santander, for customers with accounts in Spain, ties confirmation of your transactions to a "secure device": every new phone has to be registered with your electronic signature and an SMS code. If your phone is stolen, there's a free 24-hour line to block cards.
Short version: with a new phone you have to register it as a "secure device" (active electronic signature + SMS code) to keep getting transaction confirmations as a notification instead of by SMS. If your phone is stolen, call toll-free 900 811 381 to block cards, 24 hours a day.
What does Santander ask for when you log in from a new phone?
To log in to the app or online banking you need your usual access password. What changes with the phone is how you confirm transactions: Santander uses a system called secure device, which sends transaction confirmations as a push notification to the phone you've registered, instead of by SMS.
To register your new phone as a secure device: go to your personal area > Security settings > Secure device > "Update secure device." To finish the process you need your electronic signature active and to receive a one-time code by SMS. It also helps to have push notifications turned on and battery saving turned off, because if the system can't send the notification in the background, the confirmation fails.
Santander also has an option called Santander Key: signing transactions with your fingerprint or face, without typing passwords. It's activated from Security settings > Santander Key, on the phone where you want to use it.
What if your electronic signature isn't active?
If you have an electronic signature pending activation, when you log in to the app or online banking you'll see a screen to activate it directly: you have to enter four positions of the temporary signature you received (by SMS you have 24 hours to activate it; by letter, 30 days) and choose your new operating key, 6 to 8 alphanumeric characters.
What to check today
- Do you know where "Secure device" is in your Santander app, without having to search for it under pressure?
- Is your electronic signature active, or does it depend on a letter or an SMS that's already expired?
- Do you keep the blocking phone number (900 811 381) somewhere outside your phone?
- Do you know the difference between a temporary block (reversible) and a full block of a card?
If it's already happened to you
If your phone is stolen: call toll-free 900 811 381 (24 hours) to block your cards from the bank, or do it yourself from the app or online banking if you still have access from another device. To report fraud, the number is 915 123 123, also available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Call your carrier too, to block the SIM.
Official sources (Spanish-language, except the "urgent help" page which Santander also publishes in English): Santander — Secure device · Santander — Urgent help