Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

MONEY

Which Spanish bank accounts are free of charges?

Finding a bank in Spain that doesn’t charge you some sort of maintenance cost or extra fee for simply having an account open is becoming increasingly difficult. So which Spanish bank accounts are free of charges in 2021?

Published: 21 January 2021 15:30 CET
Updated: 6 March 2021 10:04 CET
Which Spanish bank accounts are free of charges?
BBVA allegedly offers a commission-free online account, but is it as good as it used to be? Photo: AFP

Spanish banks have always had a reputation among locals and foreigners alike for charging extra fees or comisiones for no clearly justifiable reason.

Unfortunately, most of Spain’s biggest financial entities seem to have put their heads together and decided that 2021 will be the year they tighten the noose further.

Thousands of branches (mainly Santander and Caixabank/Bankia) will close this year and in 2020 most big Spanish banks started requiring more commitment from their customers in the form of financial products if they want to avoid extra fees.

READ MORE: The new Spanish bank account fees you need to know about (and how to avoid them)

The new Spanish bank account fees you need to know about (and how to avoid them)

There’s a sense that if every bank applies these more demanding conditions, account holders will be left with no option but to put up with it or pay the extra fees.

Are there any commission-free bank accounts left in Spain in 2021?

The short answer is yes, although there are certain limitations such as having to operate 100 percent online or a lack of financial services at your disposal.

The following list is based on the latest information available in 2021 in a number of Spanish comparison sites and news sources.

Nevertheless it’s imperative that you read the small print carefully with any account you may opt for, as Spanish banks can be quick to change conditions that make the accounts no longer technically-free.

Openbank – Cuenta Corriente Open

Santander’s digital bank offers a commission-free account with no opening or maintenance fees, as long as your dealings with the bank remain 100 percent online or on the phone (there’s only one office in the whole of Spain).

You don’t have to pay your salary or pension into the account, but you won’t be able to make use of advanced pay checks from the bank or similar credit services.

Openbank also gives you a free debit card for the first account user that allows you to withdraw money at no cost in Santander ATMs, as well as leisure and restaurant discounts.

Bankia – Cuenta On

This commission-free account doesn’t require you to have your salary (nómina) or pension set up as a direct deposit (domiciliado).

It’s 100 percent online so going into a bank branch in person isn’t an option unless you’re prepared to pay extra fees and maintenance costs. It also comes with a free debit card, as well as a free credit card which you have to use at least once a year.

However, there are reports in bank comparison sites which suggest that as a result of Bankia’s merging with CaixaBank, this account is no longer as commission-free as it once was.

Cajamar – Wefferent

Here’s an account that gets mentioned a lot in forums and other groups run by foreigners living in Spain. It’s free to open, use and close as long as all bank affairs are carried out online or at ATMs.

The first four monthly withdrawals are free at Cajamar ATMs, after which 60 cents is charged per transaction. 

N26 – Cuenta Estándar

This German neobank is gaining customers all over Europe with its favourable conditions and its offering of commission-free withdrawals and payments in any currency.

Even though they’re based in Berlin, N26 offers Spanish residents a Spanish IBAN for their accounts.

You can only do three free withdrawals a month with your debit card, however. 

Caixabank – Cuenta imagin

This fully digital bank account is aimed primarily at young people.

It doesn’t require a salary to be paid in (although it can be done), it offers free cash withdrawals at 9,600 CaixaBank ATMS, there are no maintenance or admin fees and it gives 15 percent discount on booking.com and 6 percent on rentalcars.com.

The only catches are that it doesn’t offer any free financial services and it can’t be a shared account.

BBVA – Cuenta online de BBVA

This account offers free withdrawals in the whole BBVA ATM network in Spain but charges 4.5 percent of the amount that you withdraw overseas.

It offers free transfers within the EU and there are no maintenance costs as long as everything is done online.

You get a free debit or credit card when you open the account but again this commission-free account doesn’t come with any additional financial service such as loans.

The overdraft penalty is also high: 4.5 percent with a minimum of €15 and you will be charged 7.25 percent interest on top of that.

There are also an increasing number of negative opinions online about this account which state that it’s not truly without commissions and that they’re finding ways to charge hidden fees. 

Abanca – Cuenta Clara

To keep this account commission-free, it has to be 100 percent online as with all the other accounts on this list.

Apart from that, you don’t need to deposit a minimum amount of money on a monthly basis, it comes with five free monthly withdrawals from ATMs other than Abanca’s and it offers a free debit card (and a free credit card for over-35s).

Abanca’s Cuenta Clara also transfers anything above €3,000 in your current account to a savings account to generate interest. Transfers to other EU countries with the euro as their currency are free.

EVO – Cuenta Inteligente

This 2-in-1 (current and savings) account doesn’t charge fees for national and EU transfers or withdrawals, or for depositing cheques (which isn’t the case with many of these accounts).

Even though it hardly has any offices, you can use the ATMS of a lot of other Spanish banks free of charge. You have to choose between a debit or credit card.

However, in order to avoid extra fees, you do need to deposit a minimum amount of €600 a month, or have your salary or pension directly deposited in the account.

BNext

The Spanish financial entity is technically not a bank, but rather an app connected to a card with which you can pay and take out/receive money.

It’s similar to Revolut and Monzo Bank in the UK. Their account is commission-free, the first three withdrawals at any ATM in Spain and anywhere overseas are free. They also don’t charge for payments made in other currencies.

However, the fact that BNext doesn’t have a banking licence means that you can’t have your salary directly paid into the account, you can’t use it for anything relating to tax matters in Spain and they don’t offer any credit services. 

READ ALSO:

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

PROPERTY

Is buying a property to rent out to tourists in Spain too risky now?

The quick return on investment for buying a holiday let in popular Spanish cities and towns can be very appealing, but there are increasing signs that the money-making scheme could come to an end soon. 

Published: 10 September 2024 10:32 CEST
Is buying a property to rent out to tourists in Spain too risky now?

Regardless of what you think are the causes of Spain’s housing crisis, one thing is clear: short-term holiday lets are up to four times more profitable than long-term rentals. 

Just how remunerative they are can depend on many factors (occupancy rate, location etc), but according to Spanish property portal Housfy, a tourist let provides an average net profit of 15 percent a year.

With this in mind, it’s no surprise that tourist apartments have proliferated across the country: 9.2 percent alone in the last year, which adds up to around 60,000 new ones.

As Spain welcomes more and more tourists (84 million in 2023, a record that looks set to be beaten in 2024), you’d expect the goose that laid the golden eggs to continue plugging away.

However, the simmering resentment from disgruntled residents who blame mass tourism and holiday lets for their spiralling rents does appear to be having an impact. 

OPINION: Spaniards should blame landlords, not tourists

There is currently no outright nationwide ban in Spain on Airbnb-style lets, but a growing number of small towns and big cities have taken action in recent weeks and months. 

From Dénia on the Costa Blanca to Pamplona in the north, municipalities across Spain are introducing temporary moratoriums on new licences for tourism apartments, which should in theory prevent new ones from popping up (there are tens of thousands of unlicensed holiday lets, especially in Madrid). 

READ ALSO: Which cities in Spain have new restrictions on tourist rentals?

Barcelona authorities have perhaps taken the toughest approach so far, as their mayor Jaume Collboni actually said there will be no more tourist rental flats in the Catalan city by 2028. 

READ ALSO: Can Barcelona really ban all Airbnbs?

So is it possible to envision a future where holiday lets are not allowed in Spain? And if so, would it be better for small and big investors to ditch plans to buy a Spanish property if the primary purpose of it is to let it out to tourists?

Hatred of holiday lets is on the up in Spain, the world’s second most visited country, prompting authorities to try and reconcile the interests of locals and those invested in this lucrative sector. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

Spain’ Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez has on several occasions hinted at the need to “regulate tourist flats” rather than banning them entirely, although in July she did say “if we need to ban tourist flats, we will; if limiting them is enough, we’ll limit them”.

There’s been talk of legislation to ban holiday lets in residential apartment blocks, as well as putting a stop to temporary accommodation (longer than short-term lets but shorter than long-term rents). 

But in truth, things are moving slowly and the Spanish government appears to be somewhat sitting on the fence regarding restrictive measures, all too happy to pass the buck to the regions and individual town halls. 

There is clearly an awareness of all the vested interests in the holiday let industry, that not all landlords own a dozen properties, and even the legal implications of banning citizens from doing as they please with their assets.

What does seem clear is that city centre properties and those in the popular old quarters of Spanish cities and towns are most likely to be limited by local regulations, at least temporarily.

The same applies to tourist flats in residential buildings, as there is currently an amendment in the pipeline which would give communities of neighbours the power to veto new holiday lets in their blocks. 

Therefore, investors should consider whether properties that fall in these categories are future-proof in terms of short-term letting, and whether they’ll have to swap over to long-term letting at some point.

Spain’s latest Housing Law, which came into force in 2023 and sought to stop long-term rents from increasing, has actually led many landlords to either find loopholes or take their properties off the market. 

READ MORE: Why landlords in Spain leave their flats empt rather than rent long-term

With more demand and less stock, rents have logically continued to increase in 2024.

The legislation has clearly backfired, and with a boost in social housing a very long-term solution, Sánchez’s government may be forced into a corner and have to act vis-à-vis holiday lets if the situation becomes more untenable. 

READ MORE: Has Spain’s Housing Law completely failed to control rents?

A blanket ban is unlikely, as short-term rentals in more rural locations with fewer inhabitants have less of an impact on rents.

But buying a property in Spain in a central or sought-after residential area in Spain (especially in an apartment block) with the sole purpose of letting it out to tourists, now appears to have its risks as a long-term investment.

READ ALSO: VUT, AT or VV? Why Spain’s holiday let categories matter to owners

SHOW COMMENTS