According to the Bank of Spain, there are 37 million credit cards in circulation in our country and most are not exactly cheap. Every time a Spaniard uses them to pay in installments for a purchase pays an interest of 18% on average. A price that almost triples that of financing with a consumer credit.
An example: paying a purchase of 2,500 euros in a period of two years would cost, on average, 505 euros in interest if a credit card were used, while if a consumer credit were used , the average cost would be 179 euros, according to the calculations made by the financial comparator HelpMyCash.com.
However, there are exceptions. Those who want to pay for a purchase in installments, but are not willing to do so at 18% interest, do not have to give up the convenience of this means of payment. Some credit cards allow you to pay in installments without interest. Does that mean that using them for this purpose is free? No, because you will have to pay a formalization fee of a few euros, but in many cases it will be cheaper than paying interest of 18% or more.
Usually, this type of reduced interest is applied on specific purchases that exceed a certain amount. “When the customer makes an eligible purchase, they can select it through the app or from your bank’s website and divide your payment into a series of specific months, for example three or nine, “explain sources from the HelpMyCash comparator. The holder can have the payment activated at the end of the month without interest by default and, at his time, postpone specific purchases with this system with a competitive price.
The best interest-free cards
The WiZink Plus credit card allows you to defer payment of purchases of between 80 and 1,000 euros in three months without interest. Depending on the amount of the transaction, a commission of between 2.5 and 25 euros will have to be paid. Thus, for example, if we decide to finance a purchase of 350 euros in three months, we will only have to pay 2.5 euros, equivalent to a TAE of 4.40%, much lower than the market average. It has no issuance or annual renewal commission and, moreover, returns 3% of the amount of purchases made in certain sectors, such as food or fashion, and give 30 euros to new customers that they spend at least 300 during the first three months.
With the credit card Visa Tade Abanca One-off expenses can be paid in three, six, nine, 10 or 12 months without interest with an opening commission of between 1% and 4% depending on the term chosen. If we recover the previous example, the cost in this case would be 3.5 euros (APR of 6.22%). The card is free for the first year and also the following years if more than 3,000 euros are spent per year on purchases
Laboral Kutxa offers a similar card with no issuance fee. Purchases between 100 and 2,000 euros paid with the Classic Visa can be paid in three, six, nine or 12 months without interest, with a commission of between five and 40 euros depending on the term. In this case, financing a purchase of 350 euros in three months would have a cost of five euros (9.03% APR).
The Sabadell Sin Card works in a particular way: all purchases paid with it are paid in three months without interest with a fixed commission of four euros per month. In this case, taking into account that for a purchase of 350 euros the cost of paying it in three months would be 12 euros, the APR is 22.48%.
Cards with interest below 18%
Some cards, although they do not allow payment in installments without interest, apply a lower than average cost when financing specific purchases. If the amount of the purchase and the term is reduced, it can pay even more to pay a low interest than an initial commission, detail sources of HelpMyCash.
The ING credit card usually charges 18.95% APR for deferred purchases, but allows pay specific purchases of more than 90 euros in three, six, 12 or 18 months at 14.06% NIR (15% APR). ING also allows deferring the payment of taxes, insurance or receipts under this modality. The ING credit card, free year after year, is available to Payroll Account holders from the orange bank.
Something similar happens with the Openbank credit card, also without annual fees. The bank online allows you to pay in monthly installments at 19.56% APR; However, it also offers the possibility of postponing specific purchases or even expenses that are charged to the account associated with the card for an amount of 60 euros or more within a period of between two and 36 months at 14% TIN ( 14.93% APR). Holders of the Open Payroll Account without commissions can request the credit card for free.
If we go back to the initial example, paying a purchase of 350 euros in three months would cost just over eight euros with both the ING card and the Openbank card.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
