The preferred payment method for Spaniards is still cash, although its use has fallen, it is still the most widely used. However, ‘plastic money’ is no longer a rarity, and what is rarer is the Spaniard who does not have a card in his wallet. In fact, you no longer even need to have it physically, as with the instruments you can make payments without any problems. Data from the Bank of Spain always shows two types of cards, credit and debit. The former keep on rising strongly, while the debit ones do nothing but fall.
There were 41.02 million credit cards in circulation in the third quarter of 2022, which is 6.72% higher than the same period last year. A credit card allows you to borrow money to make purchases. The bank gives you a credit limit, which is the maximum amount that the lender will allow you to spend with your card and the customer has to pay some interest for its usage.
Others, Debit cards in circulation stood at 47.12 million between July and September, which shows a decline of 6.72%. On debit cards, payment is taken directly from the cardholder’s checking account. Thus, they allow collection only to the extent of funds in the account.
But why do credit cards rise and debit cards fall? The answer is because banks give to the former and charge the debited one. In fact, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find organizations that give you a debit card for free. Six entities offer this product, but the customer must have some sort of relationship.
Santander Bank Offers a debit card linked to a Santander account, with exclusive offers with the Santander Zone and no issuance or maintenance fees. open bankWhich is Santander’s digital bank, offers Open Debit debit card with which you can withdraw money from 7,500 Santander ATMs for free and which is linked to Open Current Account.
One of the big banks BBVA, also provides this product for free. The institution has an Aqua Debit Card at no cost with an online account with no commission. Also, it is more secure as the numbers are not printed on the physical card and the CVV changes every five minutes. Edge One of the institutions that have the Tú NX Debit Card free of charge with Clara Account with conditions.
Debit Card Eng It’s also free, it’s linked to a payroll account or an account with no unit fees and they say it’s “always free without conditions”. Finally, N26 It also has a free debit card: N26 Business, although this time it’s exclusively for freelancers, it’s free and linked to N26 Business accounts.
In addition, high inflation, which although eased to 5.8% in December, has reached double digits over the year, meaning households have less purchasing power and have to call on credit several times to meet daily needs. have to “pull”. Payment. In fact, this situation has led to an increase in the use of revolving cards. The volume of credit granted through these cards stood at 11,374 million euros last July (the last month for which data is available), up 18% compared to 9,673 million euros in the same month of 2021. Remember that the interest on these cards is above that of traditional consumer loans, as they sometimes double and even triple.
However, data shows that Spaniards use debit cards more than credit cards. According to a Mastercard study, 81% of Spaniards regularly use debit cards, while 53% of Spaniards use credit cards., With regard to Spaniards’ satisfaction with each type of card, they are more satisfied with debit cards (78%), credit cards (72%) and deferred debit cards (64%).
