Money and gifts. Offers to attract customers
04/12/2025
Banks are constantly campaigning to attract new customers. Advertisements offering money and gifts if you open an account, get your salary or pension paid directly into it and keep the account over a specific period of time have surely not gone unnoticed.
These campaigns not only seek to attract you as a customer, they also want your loyalty. Thus, during a minimum tie-in period (which will vary depending on how long you have been a customer), you won’t be able to move your salary payments to a different bank unless you pay a penalty.
The terms and conditions of the new account will be governed by what you have signed. Therefore, you should revise them in detail and as a whole. Do not base your decision solely on the price offered. This is only part of the full offer and you should review it in its entirety, including, for instance, any fees and commissions envisaged. Although one bank may offer you more than another for having your salary paid directly into your account, this does not necessarily mean that its offer is better overall.
Make sure the conditions are perfectly clear to you before you take a decision. The Banco de España is not competent to value the requirements agreed, but it does remind banks that they have obligations regarding sound banking practices.
- They must provide clear information in the account agreement on the requirements for benefitting from the offer. What is offered in advertisements is considered insufficient.
- Banks will make sure customers do not develop unrealistic expectations. If the bank knows that you do not meet the requirements to benefit from the offer, it should dissuade you from the outset. It should also clearly inform you of any deadlines so that you have enough time to benefit from the promotion.
- If the offer includes a gift and the bank tells you that there are no more gifts left, it should explain the criterion used to distribute the gifts.
- Banks must honour the terms and conditions agreed.
Remember that if you accept the offer you can transfer your accountAbre en ventana nueva to another bank free of charge once the tie-in period has elapsed.
