Question
How do you build financial credit in Spain?
Answers
These are the answers of Spainguru’s Facebook group members:
“Am I understanding correctly that one’s US credit score and report would not matter in Spain then?” – “Absolutely.”
“It does when purchasing a house. We had to provide our credit reports to the bank. I’m not sure if every bank is the same way.” – “Not every bank… 30% down was enough for many.”
“Ours did, but because we were requesting a 90% mortgage. We got it at the end, but the process was super long and required a lot of paperwork. Only one bank at the end was willing to give us 90%. It was all very crazy, but we got a great interest rate and now are in our home.”
“When we bought a house, they did look at our US credit.”
“I have a very high credit score in America, with over 20 documented years of never missing a payment. I tried applying for a Vueling credit card—not because I needed the credit but because it had some perks we would like.
CaixaBank is the administrator of the card. They turned me down twice. So I went to my local Caixa branch and opened up an account with a big initial deposit plus a large enough monthly deposit to ensure I didn’t have to pay any fees.
After several months, I applied for the card again and got turned down again. I took my credit history directly to the branch manager and explained it to her. Bottom line was, there was nothing she could do. I told her that since they didn’t think I was a good risk, I would take them at their word, closed my account, and took my money elsewhere.”
“It’s not necessary like in the US where everything, including your car and health insurance rates, can be affected by your credit score. When someone rates your financial worthiness in Spain (like to rent an apartment or to buy a car), they look at your regular income vs. your living expenses. There’s no credit score system to check (though there is a centralized system that reports bad debts).
That said, it is helpful to have a credit card based in a Spanish bank. We have run into numerous situations over the years where any of our US credit cards simply get rejected (especially with some online processors), so having that backup card has been helpful. It always works.
We got a Visa credit card through BBVA here in Madrid where we have our regular bank account. They gave us a €7,500 limit, which we’ve never even come remotely close to needing.”
“There is nothing in Spain comparable to the American credit system. This is both good and bad. The negatives are that it’s almost impossible to prove someone’s creditworthiness.
It’s hard to tell if someone has ditched on a debt, so this can make it challenging for landlords to determine the creditworthiness of a tenant or banks to determine whether you will pay back a debt or not.
That’s why there’s the dependence on an employment contract as evidence of potential repayment of a loan. In my years living in Spain, I have seen where this is really painful because a lot is on trust, and sometimes people take advantage of that. The positive is that if you have an employment contract and some money in the bank, you are on equal standing with everyone else.”
“You don’t need to build financial credit in Spain in the way you do in the US. Credit cards are widely used, but you can’t get a credit card from a bank where you don’t have a regular bank account as well. Since ‘you’ don’t pay your balance from the credit card, it is the bank that takes the money directly and monthly from your account to pay whatever balance you have.”
“What they care about is your monthly income.”
“If you have some debts you haven’t paid, you’ll go on a ‘lista de morosos,’ which is the equivalent of bad credit. Your ability to get a loan probably depends on your income and type of work contract.”
“Yeah, ‘credit’ and ‘credit rating’ are not as big of a thing here. We just bought an apartment, and it was much more about assets, income, and liabilities. Credit cards aren’t nearly as big of a thing here—a lot of the people I know don’t even have one.
It’s not like in the US where people have 7 credit cards and the credit score is king. I gather that your credit history is important (CIR), but it’s not the same.”
“You don’t, at least not as you would in the US. For all intents and purposes, one starts out with ‘good’ credit in that there are no derogatory marks on the credit history.”
“Debit cards are way more common than credit cards. I haven’t seen a lot of advertising for store-based credit or point-of-sale credit, although I imagine that such options are available. Given the relatively poor terms of credit cards in Spain, I don’t see myself ever requesting one. I would just stick with whatever cards I have from the US, e.g., Capital One, Chase.”
“There is an alternative to a credit score system in Spain called ASNEF. It is Spain’s biggest credit bureau. If you have unpaid debt—such as mortgages, credit card debt, etc.—you will most likely be registered in ASNEF.
As a consequence, you would not be able to get any credit elsewhere until your debt is cleared and your data are taken off the list again. Banks and credit card issuers in Spain consult this database to check for bad debt when you apply for credit.”
Conclusion
According to Spainguru’s Facebook group members, credit in Spain functions very differently from the US system.
There is no universal credit score used to assess financial trustworthiness. Instead, banks and lenders look at income, employment contracts, and existing financial obligations when determining eligibility for loans or credit.
Some banks may request a US credit report when approving mortgages, but it is not a universal requirement. Instead, stability and employment contracts play a bigger role. Spain does have a credit bureau called ASNEF, but it mainly tracks individuals with unpaid debts rather than providing a positive credit score like in the US.
Credit cards are less common, and getting one in Spain usually requires having a Spanish bank account with regular deposits. Many expats recommend keeping US credit cards for international transactions, as Spanish cards often lack reward programs and have lower limits.
For mortgages, income and job security are the key factors banks evaluate, rather than a standardized credit score. Those with stable, indefinite work contracts will have the easiest time securing financing, whereas freelancers and temporary workers may struggle unless they have significant savings or assets.
Here are Spainguru’s recommended mortgage brokers.
