The Bank of Spain has warned consumers that interest-free financing (TIN equal to 0%) does not imply that the cost to be paid for said financing is zero, since the entity that grants the credit can charge, in addition to interest, commissions and other expenses .
In a publication on the banking client portal on the occasion of the celebration of Black Friday , the Bank of Spain has advised consumers to have a responsible debt and consumption in the period of offers that now opens.
On the one hand, he has called on customers to do “a reflection exercise” and think about what products are necessary, comparing different offers and setting a spending limit, as recommendations to promote responsible consumption.
As for responsible borrowing, the agency has advised paying attention to advertising and not getting carried away by flashy phrases such as “interest-free financing”, if you decide to finance a purchase.
In this sense, he highlighted that interest-free financing (TIN equal to 0%) does not imply that the cost to be paid for said financing is zero, since the entity that grants the credit for the purchase of a good may charge commissions and other expenses, amounts that are taken into account for the calculation of the APR, an indicator in which it is recommended to look to really know the cost of financing.
In addition, the Bank of Spain has pointed out that, if the option offered to finance a purchase consists of hiring a card with a revolving payment method, the customer must “carefully assess” whether this type of financing suits their needs .
“The form of payment of these cards can lead consumers to indefinitely go into debt. To make proper use of it, and avoid going into excess debt, it is very important to know the characteristics of this payment method,” he warned.
Another recommendation of the agency is that customers make sure they make purchases on secure web pages when they use their cards to pay online, as cybercriminals take advantage of these dates to steal personal data and bank information.
“It is very important to know the characteristics of the payment to avoid borrowing excessively”
Regarding the returns of products purchased through a card, it has indicated that, normally, they result in the return of the amount to the account in which their payments are domiciled.
If it is the case of wanting to request the refund of a product paid with a card that has been canceled after the purchase, the Bank of Spain has informed that, if nothing is said about it in the card contract, the most common is that the entity pays the amount in the account associated with the card.
