The FEIN: binding mortgage offer
The FEIN is the only document that forces the bank to honor what it promised you. Everything before it — the calls, the meetings, the "I'll get you 2.3%" — has no legal weight. The FEIN does. If you don't understand the FEIN, don't sign anything else.
What it contains
The FEIN includes all essential mortgage conditions:
- Loan amount
- Interest rate (fixed, variable, or mixed) and the TIN (nominal interest rate)
- Repayment term
- Estimated monthly payment
- Fees (arrangement fee, partial and full early repayment charges)
- Product tie-ins (vinculaciones) that affect the interest rate — salary deposits, insurance, etc.
- Total cost of the mortgage (TAE — equivalent to APR)
What's in the FEIN is legally binding for the bank. They cannot change the conditions afterward unless you explicitly agree. Before the FEIN, the bank can tell you anything. After it, they're locked in.
The three documents you'll receive
The bank must provide three documents before signing:
- FIPRE (Ficha de Informacion Precontractual): generic information about their mortgage products. Not personalized.
- FEIN: your personalized, binding offer. This is the key document.
- FIAE (Ficha de Advertencias Estandarizadas): standardized risk warnings — for example, what happens if Euribor rises on a variable-rate mortgage.
Some banks (like BBVA) don't use these exact names on the PDFs they send. The confusion is real, but the content must be equivalent.
The cooling-off period: 10 days
From the moment you electronically sign the FEIN (through the bank's website or app), a minimum of 10 calendar days must pass before you can sign the notarial deeds. In Catalonia, it's 14 days. This period exists because, without it, banks would have you signing the same day.
Key points:
- Receiving the FEIN by email is not enough. The clock starts when you sign it electronically and the bank uploads it to the notarial platform.
- You can request FEINs from multiple banks simultaneously. Signing the FEIN does not commit you to taking that mortgage.
- The FEIN is valid for 30 days from issuance. But to fit everything within those 30 days, you need to sign it by day 20 at the latest, leaving room for the 10-day cooling-off period.
Real users have signed 2 or 3 FEINs from different banks and even completed the transparency acts at multiple notaries before making their final decision. Banks hate this. Do it anyway.
The transparency act (acta de transparencia)
During the cooling-off period, you must visit a notary for the acta de transparencia. The notary explains the mortgage conditions and gives you a brief test to verify you understand them. This visit must happen at least 24 hours before the deed signing, though most buyers schedule it several days earlier.
The transparency act doesn't bind you to anything. It only certifies that the conditions were explained to you.
What to check in the FEIN
Before signing, verify:
- The interest rate matches what was verbally negotiated
- The product tie-ins (salary deposit, insurance) match the agreement and that promised discounts appear
- The early repayment fees are what you agreed (many users negotiate 0% for both partial and full repayment)
- The TAE makes sense — if mandatory insurance is included, it will be higher than the TIN
One detail the bank won't explain: the life and home insurance the bank "requires" sometimes doesn't appear in the FEIN. This is legal — the tie-in is reflected as an interest rate differential (e.g., -0.10% for home insurance), but the actual insurance cost isn't in the FEIN. They show you the discount but hide the price. Check the insurance prices separately.
How long does the bank take to issue the FEIN
Once the bank has all documentation and the appraisal, the FEIN typically takes 1-3 weeks. It depends on the bank and how busy they are. Users report that Ibercaja and BBVA sometimes take over 2 weeks from appraisal to FEIN, while EVO and online CaixaBank tend to be faster.
If your arras contract has a deadline, push the bank from day one. The tightest timeline that works: appraisal in week 1, FEIN in week 3, signing in week 5.
Note: the legal timelines (10-day cooling-off period, 30-day validity) are established by Law 5/2019 on real estate credit contracts. This guide reflects real experiences reported in online mortgage communities, 2024-2026.