Does the Banco de España authorise bank charges?

31/03/2022

At some point you've probably wondered about this, or you might even think that it does, but actually this isn’t one of the functions the law confers on the Banco de España.

In reality, bank fees are, broadly speaking,unregulated. In some exceptional cases there is a regulatory limit, such as in the case of the settlement and early repayment of a mortgage loan and consumer credit, and the charges for a  basic payment accounts.

Therefore, as a general rule the legislation establishes that banks are free to set charges, but it also ensures that the general public has the information it needs to compare bank charges for each service. The legislation also requires that banks inform their customers of any change two months in advance so that they can agree to it. If they disagree, the current legislation on accounts switching makes it easy to change banks.

You can find information about charges on the bank’s noticeboard and on its website, and banks always need to provide you with it before arranging any product. Charges are only applicable for services actually rendered and costs incurred.

The Bank Customer Portal has a comparison tool which allows you to compare the fees banks charge for typical services.