Opening fee (comisión de apertura): what banks charge and how to avoid it
The opening fee is money the bank takes for doing its job: processing your mortgage. A percentage of the loan amount, paid at signing. The bank is not providing an extra service. It is charging you for saying yes.
How much banks typically charge
Opening fees range from 0% to 1% of the loan amount. On a 200,000-euro mortgage, a 0.5% fee is 1,000 euros paid upfront. Not trivial.
The trend in 2025-2026 is clear: more and more banks offer zero opening fees. In the online mortgage communities, the majority of recent offers shared by users come with no opening fee. Cajamar, BBVA, CaixaBank, Ibercaja, and many others have dropped it from their competitive offers. They did not drop it out of generosity — competition forced their hand.
One user summarised their offers: "CaixaBank: salary deposit + home insurance for 1 year only, 2.2% with no amortisation fee. Caja Rural: 1.8% with salary, life insurance, home insurance." In both cases, the opening fee was zero. Another shared a Cajamar offer: "Amount 157,500 euros, term 27 years, fixed rate 2.10%, opening fee 0."
The legal debate
The EU Court of Justice ruled in 2020 that the opening fee could be considered abusive if the bank has not demonstrated it corresponds to a service actually provided. The ruling did not ban the fee, but it opened the door to individual claims. Translation: banks spent decades charging for a service they cannot justify.
In practice, many consumers have claimed refunds for opening fees charged in the past, with mixed results depending on the court. The case law is not as uniform as it is for floor clauses (cláusulas suelo).
Opening fee vs. product bundling (vinculaciones)
Here is the trap. Some banks eliminate the opening fee but compensate with aggressive bundling requirements: expensive life insurance (seguro de vida), mandatory home insurance (seguro de hogar) for the full life of the loan, pension plans with minimum contributions. The total cost can exceed that of a mortgage with an opening fee but no bundling. The bank recovers its margin through a different door.
Several forum users make this calculation explicitly. One compared: "BBVA offers me 2.25% with no bundling. Ibercaja gives me 1.95% but with salary deposit, life insurance at 400 euros/year, and home insurance at 484 euros/year." The opening fee in both cases was zero, but the real cost of Ibercaja's bundling amounted to nearly 900 euros per year.
How to negotiate it away
If a bank presents an offer with an opening fee, these arguments work:
- Show competing offers with no fee: competition between banks is your best tool. If you have an offer from another bank at 0%, put it on the table.
- Ask directly: sometimes simply requesting removal works. The bank officer (comercial) has margin to adjust, and the opening fee is usually the first thing to go.
- Negotiate the whole package: do not negotiate the opening fee in isolation. Negotiate the full bundle — TIN, fees, linked products. Sometimes the bank prefers to keep the fee but lower the rate.
Key takeaway
The opening fee is a dying charge for new mortgages. Most competitive offers already come at 0%. If a bank tries to charge one, negotiate — it is almost always removable. What you should watch for is that the absence of the fee is not compensated by bundled products that cost you more over time.