Sabadell offers €100 for online account, hides debit card fee

Sabadell: €100 for account opening and the hidden €30 fee

Opening an account at Banco Sabadell was free, and for a few days it actually paid you. The bank offered €100 net to those who signed up online without commissions and used their debit card once. The hook worked: the promotion circulated as something not seen in years. The fine print took longer to spread.

First, a €30 annual commission appeared for issuing and maintaining the debit card, exactly the product advertised as free. Then came a change in conditions that left the campaign halfway through: €50 and a 2% yield. In between, sign-ups failed, cards didn't arrive, and one question remained unanswered: can you collect the money and close the account without cost?

What were the requirements for Sabadell's €100 promotion?

The premise was simple. Online account with no fees, aimed at new clients—those with existing accounts were excluded—a free debit card with no issuance or maintenance fees, and a single mandatory action: any purchase with the card. A loaf of bread costing 45 cents counted, as did a two-cent order on an Asian e-commerce platform.

The promotional payment was expected by late July, with the 22nd as the key date and the 25th mentioned in various discussions. The figure, €100 net, compared favorably with competitors offering only fee-free accounts and little else. A direct payment for signing up was, in this context, an anomaly.

The €30 debit card fee that emerged

This is where things went wrong. Account documentation mentioned €30 per year for issuing and maintaining a debit card, precisely the product the campaign presented as free. The immediate reading was clear: if that fee applied, it ate nearly a third of the bonus.

The suspicion was confirmed in some cases. Several clients were charged the €30, triggering cancellations and protest calls. The resolution came via refunds: the bank returned the fee to affected users. Refunding the charge doesn't erase it; clients who don't check statements are left frustrated. Some never reached the €100 mark, settling for €50.

What did the fine print say about changing the payment date?

The most delicate point lay in a loose clause. The bank reserved the right to determine and modify the promotional payment date by up to 10 days from the scheduled time, cancel the promotion for justified cause, and exclude from payment anyone deemed ineligible or acting in bad faith.

Read coldly, this wording leaves the client without temporal guarantee and subject to the entity's discretionary criteria. It’s not a trap, but standard practice for such campaigns: the designer of the fine print pays the hook. The difference here is that the prize was collected, yet uncertainty over the calendar persisted until the last day.

Can you cancel the account for free after collecting the €100?

The most repeated argument was that the account has no lock-in period, so the strategy was open, comply, collect, and close. There are reports of clients who collected and closed, some by phone without penalty. There are also less friendly reports: sign-up failures during verification, obligations to visit branches to digitize ID documents, and accounts still not active days later.

The bottleneck wasn’t closing, it was opening. A mass acquisition campaign forcing branch visits to complete digital procedures has a design flaw, and the client pays for it in time.

From initial €100 to €50 and 2%: the campaign shift

Over time, conditions changed. The offer shifted to €50 plus a 2% yield on up to €30,000 for one year, and an additional 1% for direct debiting three bills. Less upfront cash, more linkage: yields require keeping balances and bills with the entity, which is what banks really seek.

Comparisons with other entities entered the conversation. A historical campaign paying 3% on direct debits and giving away cards was recalled; when it ended, many acquired clients returned to their previous banks. The pattern repeats: acquire with price, retain with inertia.

With these numbers, it’s reasonable to expect new rounds of promotions and clients entering and leaving at the pace of each payment. As long as the payment date can move by up to 10 days and exclusion remains at the entity's discretion, those coming just for the €100 play against the fine print. Collecting happens. Closing usually does too. What isn’t recovered is time spent in the branch.