CaixaBank Charges 60 Euros Every Quarter - Are You One of the 30% Still Paying?

Every January, April, July, and October, CaixaBank quietly charges up to 60 euros to customers who don't meet their "Dia a Dia" program requirements.

If you have a CaixaBank account in Spain and haven't been paying close attention to your statements around these dates, you might be losing 240 euros every year without even knowing it.

CaixaBank is one of the largest banks in Spain, formed from the merger of La Caixa and Bankia. With over 13 million customers, it's the bank many Spaniards grew up with.

CaixaBank publicly states that 70% of their customers are exempt from these fees. But do the math: that still means approximately 3.9 million people are paying, quarter after quarter.

You might be one of them.

How the "Dia a Dia" program actually works

The "Dia a Dia" program is how CaixaBank structures their fee exemptions. Unlike some banks that require you to meet all conditions, CaixaBank only requires you to meet 2 out of 3 conditions.

This sounds more generous. But the devil is in the details.

The trap is subtle. You need to consistently meet any two of these three conditions, every single quarter.

Life changes. Jobs change. Spending habits change. And when they do, the 60 euro fee appears on your statement without any warning.

Why quarterly fees are psychologically worse

There's something particularly insidious about quarterly fees compared to monthly ones.

A 20 euro monthly charge appearing twelve times a year is more likely to catch your attention than a 60 euro charge appearing only four times.

The fee typically hits around the 10th of January, April, July, and October:

• In January, it gets lost in post-holiday spending confusion
• In April and July, it might coincide with vacation planning
• By October, you've probably forgotten about the previous charges

Over a decade, that's 2,400 euros paid in maintenance fees alone. Money that could have been invested, spent on experiences, or simply kept earning interest.

The free alternative CaixaBank keeps quiet about

Here's something CaixaBank doesn't prominently advertise: they offer a completely free digital account called Cuenta Online CaixaBank.

No maintenance fees. No conditions to meet. No quarterly charges.

Those 3.9 million customers paying quarterly fees represent nearly a billion euros in annual revenue. Why would CaixaBank encourage people to switch to free accounts?

How to find out if you're being charged

Search your bank statements for charges labeled "comision trimestral" or references to "Dia a Dia."

Look specifically at transactions around the 10th of January, April, July, and October.

If you find these charges, you have options:

1. Review your Dia a Dia status in the CaixaBank app
2. See which conditions you're meeting and which you're missing
3. Sometimes a small adjustment (like setting up one more direct debit) can eliminate the fee entirely

Your bank counts on you not checking. We check for you.

Sources:
- CaixaBank - Official Fees
- Infobae - CaixaBank Fees