Getting a Spanish Credit Card as a Resident (2026): Which Banks, What to Bring, and the Revolving Trap

Readers ask us this. One, who keeps a UK credit card only for the deposit that hire desks demand, wanted to know how easy a Spanish credit card is to get and which banks are the easiest. Most Spanish banks will consider a resident with regular income, a pension paid in from abroad included, but every one of them runs its own risk check, and the paperwork and the default payment setting differ enough between banks to matter.

This guide names the banks whose published terms we read on 28 September 2026, what each asks for, which two cards can never slip into revolving credit, what to bring, how a Spanish credit check works when your history was built somewhere else, and the one design choice, a card with no number printed on it, that can undo the reason you wanted the card. Terms are as published at the time of writing, and banks change them.

Last verified: 28 September 2026.

Start with the bank your money already lands in

A credit card is a loan, and a Spanish bank prices the risk on what it can see. The bank that already receives your pension or salary each month sees the most, and most of the published fee waivers are tied to exactly that. The Spanish pages use the verb domiciliar — to have income paid directly into the account, and the waivers hang on it. Cajamar charges nothing for its Crédeti card when a pension of more than 600 euros a month or a salary of more than 900 euros is paid in, and 45 euros a year otherwise. Bankinter drops its 50-euro annual fee from the second year when the card is linked to a Pension Account, among other account types. Openbank’s free renewal depends on the same thing, or on regular transfers of at least 900 euros arriving from any bank.

Whether a pension arriving by transfer from the UK, the US or another EU country counts as paid in for these waivers is something no bank page we read settles. Openbank’s second route, regular transfers of at least 900 euros from any bank, reads as though it would cover a foreign pension, but the page does not say so in those words. Ask the bank in writing before you rely on a waiver.

So the first stop is the branch or the app of the bank you already use, and the first question is whether it will issue a card at all, before you go shopping for a better one. We found no bank page saying the income has to come from a Spanish payer. CaixaBank, for one, asks for residence in Spain and regular income, with nothing about where the income originates.

The online route: Openbank and ING

Openbank lets any holder of its current account apply for the Open Credit Visa, with no salary deposit required and a limit of up to 6,000 euros, subject to a risk analysis. Its card page says that issue, maintenance and renewal cost nothing, and a footnote on the same page says renewal is subject to conditions or a cost. The help page sets out the conditions. Issue and renewal are free for every holder who has a salary, pension or unemployment benefit paid into the account, or who receives regular transfers of at least 900 euros from any bank, or who chooses the deferred-payment option. Renewal is also free if the card is used once a month. Neither page publishes the fee charged when none of those apply. The deferred-payment route is the revolving-style credit this guide warns about below, so it is a poor way to earn a fee waiver. To bank with Openbank at all you must be tax resident in Spain with a Spanish mobile number, and non-EU nationals need a TIE — Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero, the physical residence card for non-EU nationals.

ING issues its credit card to holders of its Cuenta Nómina — salary account, which also accepts a pension, unemployment benefit or monthly income of at least 700 euros, and to holders of its Cuenta NoCuenta. It charges no fee for issue, renewal or maintenance, and says a copy of a payslip may be requested during the application, adding three or four days. Two things set ING apart. The card is always issued in month-end mode, and revolving or instalment plans, at 17.48% TIN — nominal annual interest rate for revolving, switch on only if you ask. And the card carries no printed data at all, which ING presents as a fraud measure and which matters at a hire desk, as we come to below.

Cards that cannot go revolving: Bankinter and Cajamar

If what you want is a card that can never turn into an open-ended, interest-bearing loan, two issuers publish exactly that.

Bankinter’s credit card allows only the end-of-month payment option, and the bank offers it to people who do not hold a salary or pension account with it. The first year is free and later years cost 50 euros, waived when the card is linked to one of Bankinter’s Salary, Business, Pension, Youth Salary, Non-salary or Tú y Yo accounts, or when you split one purchase in the year, or when you spend 9,000 euros. Single purchases of 90 euros or more can be split over 3 to 36 months at 17.52% TIN, which is a fixed instalment plan on one purchase rather than revolving credit on the whole balance. The limit is set after a solvency assessment.

Cajamar’s Crédeti Visa page asks itself whether the card is revolving and answers no. It is pay-in-full and the mode cannot be changed. You choose between paying each purchase day by day or paying everything on the first of the month, and purchases over 30 euros can be spread over up to 24 months at 14.50% TIN. The annual fee is zero with a salary over 900 euros or a pension over 600 euros paid in, a Cuenta 360, or 3,000 euros of card spending a year, and 45 euros otherwise.

The high-street banks, at the time of writing

• CaixaBank MyCard. Requirements are being over 18, resident in Spain, with regular income, and passing a solvency check. Free the first year, then 48 euros a year unless you spend over 3,000 euros a year, are under 26, split or defer purchases, or belong to the Día a Día programme. The limit runs from 50 to 12,000 euros. The trap is the default payment mode, next-day, covered below.
• Santander Tarjeta Crédito. No issue or maintenance fee. Issued with month-end full payment at 0% TAE — annual percentage rate, the APR, changeable at any time; revolving from 3% of the balance with a 25-euro minimum at 18% TIN. Approval and the limit depend on the customer’s profile and credit history.
• BBVA Aqua Más. No issue or maintenance fee for new customers and those who joined within the last six months; the page does not say what longer-standing customers pay. No printed numbers on the card, with a dynamic CVV. The month-end statement is charged on the 5th of the following month; revolving runs at 19.80% TIN. To join online, BBVA asks for a DNI or TIE. Our comparison of BBVA’s premium tiers covers the accounts behind the card.
• Sabadell Classic. Free with a Sabadell account, which you must hold; no salary deposit needed, subject to the bank’s risk assessment. Month-end by default; revolving optional at 18% TIN. We compare Sabadell and Santander for residents separately.
• Unicaja Mastercard Crédito. First year free, then 44 euros, waived at 60 purchases or top-ups a year. Weekly or month-end payment; revolving at 19% nominal, 20.74% APR as the bank’s English page gives it.
• Revolut and N26. Revolut offers credit cards to Spanish residents, subject to approval by Revolut Bank UAB, with no admin fee and the full balance paid at month-end by default. Its eligibility list asks for employment with a regular income, no missed payments on your credit file and a local mobile number. As written, that excludes a retiree living on a pension. N26 issues debit cards only in Spain. Our Wise, Revolut and N26 comparison covers the accounts.

Month-end versus revolving, and where the defaults trip you

The Banco de España’s consumer guide describes the two modes plainly. With pago a fin de mes — payment in full at month end, everything you spent in the month is charged on the first day of the next month and, as the bank puts it, interest is not usually charged. With pago aplazado — deferred payment, the revolving mode, you repay a percentage of what you owe or a fixed sum each month, at the card’s interest rate. The Banco de España’s warning is that once spending passes a certain level the instalment may not even cover the interest, and the debt grows with each payment instead of shrinking. Its advice is to check which payment method is set before you use the card at all.

The revolving rates on the pages we read run from 17.48% TIN at ING to 19.80% at BBVA, with 18% at Openbank, Santander and Sabadell. The Tribunal Supremo held in 2020 that 27.24% TAE on a revolving card was usurious, ruled in 2023 that a rate more than six points above the Banco de España’s average for card credit crosses that line, and in January 2025 required banks to explain before signing how the capital rebuilds as you repay. A draft consumer-credit law approved by the cabinet in January 2026 proposes an interim cap of 22% TAE. At the time of writing the government still described it as a draft, and we had not seen it pass.

Three defaults are worth knowing before you sign.

• CaixaBank MyCard defaults to next-day payment. Each purchase is charged to your account the following day unless you select another mode. That is safe, and in practice it behaves like a debit card, which is a surprise if you wanted month-end credit.
• Revolving is an app setting at ING, Santander and BBVA. ING issues every card in month-end mode and moves to revolving only from the card’s settings screen. Santander issues in month-end mode with the option to change whenever you like. That cuts both ways. Nobody can switch you without your action, and one tap on the wrong option does.
• The Banco de España warns about the sales call. Its consumer blog notes that many cards work as interest-free month-end credit by default but can operate as revolving in some situations, and that salespeople may ring to encourage you to draw on the credit line. A rule in force since January 2021 requires statements on revolving credit at least quarterly, and aims the bank’s affordability check at repaying at least a quarter of the limit each year.

What to bring

The banks that publish a document list agree on the shape. ING wants EU citizens to show a valid passport plus the certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión — EU citizen registration certificate, and non-EU citizens, which since Brexit includes UK nationals, to show their residence card in force. It says in terms that the paper assigning your NIE — foreigner’s identification number, the one the police hand you, is not valid. Openbank asks that you be tax resident in Spain, hold a mobile number with the +34 prefix and, if you are from outside the EU, hold a residence permit or TIE. BBVA’s online onboarding photographs your physical DNI or TIE.

For the credit card itself, ING may ask for a payslip and CaixaBank requires regular income. No bank page we read names a pension statement, so our read is to bring whatever shows the money arriving each month: the pension award letter or annual statement, and the bank statements that show it landing. ING’s own explainer adds that some banks ask for proof of residence, such as a rental contract or a certificado de empadronamiento — town-hall registration certificate, and proof of income such as an employment contract, payslips or tax returns.

If the process stalls at the branch appointment, or on a document the bank asks for by a Spanish name that has no exact equivalent at home, that is the kind of step a bilingual navigator handles.

Credit history when yours was built somewhere else

Spanish banks check two things that newcomers confuse. The CIRBE — the Banco de España’s central credit register records loans, credit lines and guarantees, good and bad, and shares a person’s record with the banks that report to it once that person’s accumulated exposure passes 1,000 euros. A bank may consult it when you apply for credit. The Banco de España’s own page says in so many words that CIRBE is not a register of defaulters. The default lists are private files, and under the data protection authority’s rules they may hold only a debt that is certain, due and unpaid, above 50 euros in principal, for up to five years.

Neither knows anything about you if you arrived recently. Ley 16/2011 obliges a lender to assess your solvency before the contract, on the basis of sufficient information including what you provide yourself, and to tell you immediately and free of charge when a database check was the reason for a refusal. Its cross-border provision gives lenders in other EU states access to Spanish files. We found no official source saying that a UK or US credit history is available to a Spanish bank, or that it carries over in any form. Our reading is that a bank assesses a new resident on income, assets and debts as shown, plus CIRBE as consulted, which is why the bank that already sees your pension arrive is the easiest yes. The Banco de España’s March 2026 explainer on what happens when you ask for a loan lists exactly that: your job, income, assets and debts, then CIRBE and other credit databases.

The card with no number on it

ING’s card and BBVA’s Aqua Más carry no printed card data; the details live in the app. That is a real fraud defence, and it is the one feature that can defeat the reason many residents want a credit card in the first place, the hire-car deposit. Drivalia’s UK terms refuse cards without a visible card number outright. In Spain, Drivalia refuses initials-only cards, and Record Go accepts a card with no number only if you can prove the number and expiry date at the desk. If deposits at hire desks are your main use, choose an issuer whose card shows its number, or carry a second card that does. Our guide to the rules hire desks apply to residents goes through the card, licence and address rules firm by firm.

What a Spanish card changes with Hacienda

A Spanish card brings one reporting duty that a UK or US card does not. From 2026 the issuer files a yearly return to Hacienda, Modelo 174, on any card whose total charges or total credits reach 25,000 euros in the year, with the first return due in January 2027. It carries yearly totals and the linked IBAN, with no merchants, dates or places. Spending is not income, so the return taxes nothing by itself; our guide to what Hacienda sees about your cards and accounts sets out where the exposure actually sits.

The five-minute version

• Start with the bank your pension or salary already lands in. Cajamar, Bankinter and Openbank tie their fee waivers to income paid in, and every bank runs its own risk check.
• Online, Openbank’s Open Credit needs only a current account, with a limit of up to 6,000 euros; renewal is free only on conditions, and the deferred-payment condition is revolving credit. ING needs a Cuenta Nómina, where a pension or 700 euros a month qualifies, or a NoCuenta, charges no fees and issues in month-end mode.
• Two cards can never go revolving. Bankinter allows month-end only, and Cajamar’s Crédeti is pay-in-full with a mode that cannot be changed.
• Check the default before the first purchase. CaixaBank MyCard charges next-day unless you choose otherwise. ING, Santander and BBVA let you switch to revolving in the app, at 17.48% to 19.80% TIN.
• Documents are a passport plus the EU registration certificate, or a TIE for non-EU nationals, and proof of the income arriving each month. The NIE assignment paper is not accepted at ING.
• CIRBE lists credit over 1,000 euros, not defaults. Private files hold unpaid debts over 50 euros for up to five years. A foreign credit history reaches a Spanish bank by no route we could find. And ING and BBVA Aqua cards have no printed number, which some hire desks refuse.

Related guides

• Living in Spain on a foreign credit card: the hub for this series
• What Hacienda Sees About Your Cards and Bank Accounts (2026): Modelo 174, 196 and Foreign Cards
• Keeping and using a foreign credit card after you move to Spain
• The rules hire desks apply to residents, in Spain and back home
• Banking in Spain: Your Complete Guide Hub
• Spanish Banking Fees (2026): What Residents Pay and How to Get Each Fee Waived
• CaixaBank vs Sabadell: Which Spanish Bank for Your Situation? (2026)
• Wise vs Revolut vs N26 in Spain: Which One Works for Expats?

General information, not legal advice, current as of 28 September 2026. Primary sources: the published card terms and help pages of Openbank, ING, CaixaBank, Santander, BBVA, Banco Sabadell, Unicaja, Bankinter, Cajamar, Revolut and N26, read on 28 September 2026; the Banco de España’s Portal del Cliente Bancario pages on card payment modes, revolving credit and the CIRBE; Orden ETD/699/2020; Ley 16/2011 de contratos de crédito al consumo; the Tribunal Supremo press notes of 4 March 2020, 21 February 2023 and 3 February 2025; the AEPD’s FAQ on solvency files; the Consejo de Ministros note of 7 January 2026 on the draft consumer-credit law; Drivalia UK, Drivalia Spain and Record Go rental terms; and Real Decreto 253/2025 with Orden HAC/747/2025.