Cross-selling or marketing of related products

09/06/2020

It is common that, when we go to the bank to ask for a loan, as well as the product we need, the bank offers us other complementary products, such as insurance or a credit card. This is called cross-selling.

Financial institutions offer these related products or services in exchange for a reduction in the price of the product that the customer wants to take out or as a necessary condition for obtaining it. 

In most cases, this is a legal practice, although in some cases it is not:

• In general, the bank cannot make you take out other products or services without previously informing you of issues such as the possibility or not of signing up to each service independently, their contracting conditions, the total cost or the effects of not taking out the product or service or early termination.
• In the case of mortgage loans, subject to the recent law regulating real estate credit agreements, the bank cannot oblige you to take out house insurance or loan repayment insurance with a certain insurance company if you wish to do so with another insurance company with equivalent benefits and conditions.

Finally, it should be noted that institutions must avoid cross-selling products when applying the financial aid measures adopted following the outbreak of the COVID-19 health crisis.