Not all banks charge commissions by beads and also some entities apply more expenses than others for their maintenance. In general, digital banking offers this product without commissions or links, while large banks usually ask for compliance with certain requirements, such as direct debit of payroll or investment products, to avoid penalties. Customers can pay up to 240 euros a year.
The online accounts they are usually free. They are not only offered by neobanks but also by some traditional banks or their online subsidiaries. Currently, Openbank, Liberbank, Abanca, imagin, N26, BBVA, Banco Santander or EVO bank, for example, allow you to contract accounts online without commissions or connection requirements.
open bank has the Open Current Account 0% commissions, 100% digital. It does not ask to domicile the payroll or receipts and does not charge anything for opening, maintenance or cancellation. In addition, it offers a free debit card and the possibility of adding it to the mobile or smart watch and being able to pay at any reader contactless. There are also discounts when making purchases at major brands.
Bank offers the Clara Online Account Without Commissions for the day to day for new clients, 100% online. It is commission-free and offers a free debit card. In the event that the client directly directs assets greater than 1,200 euros per month before December 31, it gives 300 euros. It is necessary for the client to be digital, that is, to carry out the usual operations through the app or electronic banking. If the offices are used for two months in a row, the account would have the conditions of the normal checking account, which does have administration and maintenance fees, as well as for the cards.
BBVA has the Online Account Without Commissions, which includes the Aqua Debit Card without issuance or maintenance commission. It does not require payroll, receipts or a minimum balance. In addition, the entity now has a promotion by which it returns the amount (up to 9.90 euros per month) of the first subscription paid with the Aqua Debit Card for six months, to Netflix, Spotify, HBO, Max, Disney Plus , PlayStation Plus or DAZN.
Santander Bank sells the 100% digital Online Account free of maintenance fees and without any conditions, and with the possibility that the client will take 100 euros if he directs his salary amounting to at least 600 euros per month before June 30. It offers the Santander One Debit Card with no issue or maintenance fee. It does not charge for online or ATM transfers, except urgent and immediate ones. The account is exclusively for new customers. It allows Avios to be accumulated for normal operations or for contracting new products and exchange them for flights or experiences of the Iberia Plus Program.
freebank has the Online Account Without, with zero commissions and zero conditions. There is no need to pay for maintenance, administration or ordinary transfers. In case of direct debiting the payroll equal to or greater than 600 euros, the entity gives away 150 euros in cash. It should be noted that on May 23 Liberbank will disappear definitively and its clients will become fully integrated into Unicaja Banco. Both entities approved their merger at the end of 2020 and the technological migration is about to be completed. “On May 23 you will have your new Digital Banking at Unicaja Banco Due to the integration with Unicaja Banco, Liberbank’s Digital Banking will no longer be available,” they warn on the Liberbank website. Unicaja must inform its customers if the conditions of their accounts change, given that the Malaga-based entity currently charges up to 120 euros a year for account maintenance and another 36 euros for cards.
Evo Bank, Bankinter’s 100 digital bank, stores the Smart Account without requirements or commissions and with a free smart card. It consists of a current account for daily operations up to 3,000 euros and a term account remunerated at 0.01% for the balance that exceeds 3,000 euros and up to 30,000 euros.
The Wefferent account of Cajamar It is without administration and maintenance fees with a free debit card. The operation is completely online from any device or the app.
In image, CaixaBank’s 100% digital platform, the account is free, just like imaginBank cards, which have no issue or maintenance cost and allow you to withdraw money at any of the ATMs in the CaixaBank network. It offers national and international transfers at no cost. It does not require any connection.
N26 allows you to open a standard online account without 100% digital commissions to carry out all basic operations and withdraw cash. It is possible to use a free virtual Mastercar card associated with the account to pay online and in stores with the mobile. Likewise, the financial application Revolut has the standard account with no fees or opening requirements.
MyInvestor offer the 1% Account, which in addition to being totally free, has a return of 1% for 12 months and 0.10% thereafter for the first 15,000 euros. Payroll or contracting more products is not necessary, although the client who wishes can do so.
“Accounts without commissions or linkage conditions are ideal for all those who cannot meet the requirements of their entity because, for example, they do not have a payroll. They can also be very useful for those who want to open a second account in another entity, but they do not want to change their bank payroll or for those who simply do not want ties. Another profile that can be useful is for customers who want an account without commissions to share expenses”, they point out from HelpMyCash.
For their part, the large Spanish banks have raised account commissions in recent years in the event that the client does not meet any connection requirement. In most cases it is not difficult to avoid these commissions, although there are entities that are more demanding than others. Those who pay the most are the least linked.
CaixaBank charges a quarterly fee of 60 euros (240 euros per year) to those who do not meet the conditions of the Day-to-Day plan. In order not to pay anything, it is enough to meet two of the following conditions: direct debit a salary of at least 600 euros per month or a pension of at least 300 euros or have more than 20,000 euros in investment products. Or have three direct debits per quarter or make three credit card purchases every three months.
Banco Santander users adhering to the Santander One program who do not meet the conditions pay 20 euros per month (240 euros per year). It is possible to avoid this expense if the payroll of more than 800 euros or pension of more than 300 euros is paid by direct debit and with an additional requirement: direct debit three bills a quarter or pay by debit or credit card at least six times a quarter.
BBVA charges up to 160 euros per year without linkage and Unicaja Banco, KutxaBank, Ibercaja and Sabadell apply up to 120 euros per year to less linked customers. Sabadell It gives several options to not pay any euro in the Expansión Account and the Expansión Plus Account. Unicaja Banco releases the customer adhered to the Zero Fees Plan from payments by fulfilling the conditions. For its part, ING charges from April 1, 2021 a commission of 10 euros per month (120 euros per year) for balances of more than 30,000 euros. Abanca charges 50 euros per semester (100 euros per year).
Y Bankinter charges 22.5 euros per semester (45 euros per year) for his checking account. Of course, the entity has the popular remunerated payroll account for the first two years (up to 5% APR the first and up to 2% APR the second up to a maximum of 5,000 euros) without commissions and that now allows you to have two other additional accounts free.
“The easiest way to stop paying maintenance fees is to review the small print of the account that we have contracted and verify what requirements must be met,” they advise from HelpMyCash, where they maintain that “if the requirements are not affordable, you can change of bank”. They explain that “banks want to increase their customer base, so those who decide to change are the ones who have the easiest time to stop paying commissions, since several banks sell accounts without commissions or conditions only for new customers.”
Another option to avoid commissions is to ask the bank if they have another account that is better suited to the client’s needs, that is, one that does not have commissions or has fewer requirements.
Bank commissions rank third in claims to the Bank of Spain, which processed 34,341 claims from users of financial services in 2021, 61.1% more than the previous year.
