A high-cost lender license in Spain will mean €300,000 of minimum capital, Bank of Spain authorization and a capped cost regime, once the consumer credit draft bill (anteproyecto) turns expensive credit into a reserved activity. We explain what it requires and how the application is prepared.
Page reviewed and updated: August 2026
Does your product fall under the high-cost regime?
Tell us what credit you grant and we will tell you which license type applies to you and what you need.
The Draft Consumer Credit Agreements Bill (anteproyecto) was given first-round approval by the Council of Ministers on January 7, 2026, and its public consultation closed on January 30, 2026. It is not yet law in force: Law 16/2011 still applies. Neither the high-cost lender type nor the cost limits are enforceable today.
All figures on this page come from the text put out to public consultation and from the official notes of the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business. They may change during the parliamentary process. We update this page whenever there is a milestone. Last reviewed: August 2026.
The authorized high-cost lender is a new type of entity created by the draft bill on consumer credit agreements. Once the law is in force, it will be the only route for granting consumer credit above the ordinary cost limits: a capital company, authorized and registered by the Bank of Spain, with its activity restricted to high-cost credit and subject to a capped cost regime.
The logic of the reform is simple, and it is worth understanding before looking at the requirements: expensive credit stops being an unlicensed space and becomes a reserved activity. In the words of the official note from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business, “only financial institutions registered with and supervised by the Bank of Spain will be able to grant consumer loans.”
If you grant microloans, quick loans, small-amount financing or any product whose cost exceeds what the new general regime will allow, this is the license type that will apply to you. And it is not a registry formality: it is an authorization application involving capital, good repute and suitability.
Minimum share capital, fully paid up and represented by registered shares.
Authorizes, registers in a special register and supervises the activity.
To decide, from a complete application. Silence means rejection: if the Bank does not decide in time, the application is deemed rejected.
High-cost credit is not free credit: it is expensive credit within a capped framework. These are the figures reflected in the Council of Ministers reference and the Ministry of Economy note.
Maximum monthly interest rate for high-cost credit.
Maximum fee of 5%, subject to an absolute cap of €30.
Minimum repayment period of at least three monthly installments: the end of credit repaid in a single payment.
That last point is the one that will change the product most. A business model built on 30-day loans with a single repayment is no longer viable as it stands: it has to be redesigned with a minimum of three installments. In addition, the text put out to consultation provides for a limited maturity period and a limit on total cost by reference to an equivalent credit in the same segment.
An important nuance that hardly anyone is mentioning: the 4% monthly rate and the €30 cap are most likely set in the draft royal decree implementing the law, not in the text of the law itself. They are therefore the figures most exposed to change during the legislative process.
The requirements set out in the text put out to public consultation. They are cumulative: failing one sinks the whole application.
| Requirement | What the draft bill requires |
|---|---|
| Legal form | Capital company, incorporated by simultaneous formation and with an indefinite term. |
| Share capital | €300,000 Fully paid up and represented by registered shares. |
| Registered office | Registered office and effective management and administration in Spain. A shell company is not enough. |
| Directors and senior managers | Good repute and adequate knowledge and experience of the directors and of those who effectively run the business, taking into account criminal records, financial-sector sanctions and insolvency status. |
| Shareholders | Good repute of the holders of qualifying holdings. |
| Organization | Internal procedures for creditworthiness assessment, complaint handling and a remuneration policy that does not encourage irresponsible lending. |
| Registration | Entry in the Bank of Spain’s special register. The authorization lapses if the company is not registered within one year. |
Data taken from the text of the draft bill put out to public consultation on January 8, 2026. The penalty regime and the details of the transitional period for those already operating are not settled in the available text: we do not publish figures we cannot stand behind.
Authorization is the entry point. What really changes day-to-day business are the conduct obligations.
A pre-contractual document specific to this type of entity, distinct from the standard European consumer credit information. You have to design it, build it into the contracting flow and keep evidence that it was delivered.
The draft bill provides for a binding offer made available to the consumer at least 24 hours in advance. It is incompatible with a model that approves and disburses within minutes.
Obligation to check the credit history and to include verification of whether the consumer has other outstanding high-cost loans with other lenders. It requires a connection to the databases and a traceable record of each query.
Restrictions on granting a new high-cost loan while another is pending repayment, and on refinancing the existing one. This directly affects the business’s repeat-borrowing metrics.
With an express prohibition worth underlining: social media data and special categories of personal data cannot be used to assess creditworthiness. If your scoring model uses them, it has to be rebuilt.
The draft bill separates lending from intermediation at the root. Its Article 8(3) provides that lenders “may not carry out credit intermediation for authorized high-cost lenders, nor may they put a consumer in contact, directly or indirectly, with an authorized high-cost lender.”
For many current operators this forces a structural decision: you are either a lender or an intermediary. Groups that today combine a lead-generation platform with their own finance company will have to separate companies, contracts and data flows, and decide where the margin sits.
This is the part of the draft bill with the most severe financial effect, and it is required reading for anyone considering “wait and see.” A contract entered into by an unauthorized lender would be null and void. And the consequences do not stop at nullity:
In other words: operating without authorization not only exposes you to the administrative penalty regime, it also turns every contract in the portfolio into a quantifiable financial loss and a claim that each customer can bring. In a portfolio of thousands of transactions, the calculation stops being a theoretical risk.
The draft bill does not create one type of entity, it creates a map. Choosing the wrong entry point costs months of application work.
| High-cost lender | EFCAL | EFC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Credit above the ordinary cost limits: microloans and quick loans. | Lending within the general regime, with a light structure. | Specialized credit institution with a broad range of activities. |
| Minimum capital | €300,000 | To be confirmed in the final text | Regime of Law 5/2015 |
| Prudential requirements | The prudential regime of credit institutions does not apply | No prudential requirements (simplified regime) | Full prudential regime |
| Cost limits | Own capped regime: 4% per month, 5% fee capped at €30, minimum of 3 installments | General regime of APR (TAE) limits by tiers | General regime of APR (TAE) limits by tiers |
| Can intermediate | No | — | — |
| Supervisor | Bank of Spain | Bank of Spain | Bank of Spain |
The EFCAL’s minimum capital is circulating in some alerts as €5 million, but that figure does not appear in the official notes of the Council of Ministers or the Ministry of Economy and may correspond to a different type of entity. We do not take it as correct until we see the final text. You can follow the details on our EFCAL page.
Directive (EU) 2023/2225, which repeals Directive 2008/48/EC. Its Article 31 is what enables Member States to set cost limits.
Spain did not adopt the transposition provisions on time.
Draft Consumer Credit Agreements Bill, accompanied by a draft implementing royal decree. Public consultation closed on January 30, 2026.
This is the date on which the CCD2 must apply. It is not the date on which the Spanish law enters into force, which will depend on its publication in the BOE.
Setting up or adapting the company, funding the capital, documenting good repute and suitability, and redesigning the product, scoring and contracting flow takes months. Whoever starts when the law is published will arrive late to their own market.
We determine whether your product falls under the general regime or the high-cost regime, and whether the type of entity that applies to you is a high-cost lender, an EFCAL or an EFC. It is the decision that conditions everything else.
Articles of association, corporate and shareholding structure, capital funding, program of operations, organizational report, internal policies and documentation on good repute and suitability.
Adapting pricing to the capped limits, redesigning the installment schedule, FICAC, binding offer, creditworthiness assessment policy and financing agreements.
The second consumer credit directive. It replaces the 2008 one, extends the scope to BNPL and microloans, and enables national cost limits.
Pre-contractual document specific to this type of entity, distinct from the standard European consumer credit information.
Only those who are authorized and supervised can carry it out. Doing so without authorization is not a mere formal breach: it makes the contract null and void.
A holding that, because of its percentage or because it allows significant influence, requires its holder to prove good repute to the supervisor.
If the Bank of Spain does not decide within the deadline, the application is deemed rejected. It is never wise to rely on the deadline simply passing.
Measures the lender must offer before enforcing against a consumer who is struggling to pay.
It is a new type of entity envisaged in the draft bill on consumer credit agreements: a capital company authorized and registered by the Bank of Spain whose activity is limited to granting high-cost credit, that is, consumer credit above the cost limits of the general regime.
It does not exist yet: the law that creates it is still going through the legislative process.
The draft bill sets a minimum share capital of €300,000, which must be fully paid up and represented by registered shares.
It is noticeably lower than for other financial licenses, but it comes with good repute and suitability requirements equivalent to those of a supervised entity.
Yes. The draft bill makes consumer lending a reserved activity: according to the Ministry of Economy’s official note, “only financial institutions registered with and supervised by the Bank of Spain will be able to grant consumer loans.”
The Bank of Spain authorizes, registers in a special register and supervises. The deadline to decide is three months from a complete application, and silence means rejection.
For high-cost credit, the Council of Ministers reference and the Ministry of Economy note cite a maximum interest rate of 4% per month and a maximum fee of 5% with an absolute cap of €30.
These figures are expected to be set in the draft implementing royal decree, not in the text of the law, so they are among the most exposed to change during the legislative process.
Not in their current format. The draft bill provides for a minimum repayment period of at least three monthly installments, which makes the 30-day loan with a single repayment unviable.
It is probably the change with the greatest impact on the business model of quick-loan operators.
No. Article 8(3) of the draft bill expressly prohibits carrying out credit intermediation for authorized high-cost lenders and putting a consumer in contact, directly or indirectly, with one of them.
Groups that today combine lead generation and intermediation with their own finance company will have to separate companies, contracts and data flows.
Yes. The draft bill requires a registered office and effective management and administration in Spain. A merely instrumental company would not meet the requirement.
The company must also be incorporated by simultaneous formation and with an indefinite term.
The contract would be null and void. In addition, everything paid by the consumer —principal, interest, fees and expenses— is deducted from the total amount of the credit to be repaid, and the remainder is repaid in monthly installments of no less than 3% of the outstanding amount.
If the amount paid exceeds the total amount of the credit, the creditor must return the difference plus the legal interest rate on money increased by two points.
No. The type requires a capital company with minimum paid-up capital, management bodies subject to good repute and suitability requirements, and Bank of Spain authorization.
Lending between individuals falls outside the scope of consumer credit when it is not done on a professional basis, but granting credit habitually without authorization would fall within the reserved activity.
A high-cost lender can only grant high-cost credit, with a capped cost regime and capital of €300,000. The EFCAL is a simplified-regime type of entity, with no prudential requirements, for granting credit within the general regime. The EFC is a specialized credit institution with a full prudential regime and a broader range of activities.
Choosing the wrong entry type often costs months of application work.
There is no fixed date. The draft bill was given first-round approval on January 7, 2026 and its public consultation closed on January 30, 2026; entry into force will depend on its final approval and publication in the BOE.
November 20, 2026 is the date on which Directive (EU) 2023/2225 must apply, not the date on which the Spanish law enters into force.
The authorization regime applies to future activity, and the draft bill provides for transitional provisions for those already operating. The specific period they will have to apply for authorization is not settled in the available text.
On cost limits there is a relevant rule: they would also reach existing contracts that are novated and those with an indefinite term or automatic renewal.
Preparing the application takes months: company, capital, good repute, program of operations and product redesign. Starting when the law is published in the BOE is arriving late.
Tell us what credit you grant today and we will explain which type of entity will apply to you and what needs to be prepared.
Consumer credit in Spain is currently governed by Law 16/2011 of June 24 on Consumer Credit Agreements, which transposed Directive 2008/48/EC. That framework is set to be replaced: Directive (EU) 2023/2225, known as the CCD2, repealed the 2008 directive and set November 20, 2026 as the date of application, after a transposition period that expired on November 20, 2025.
The Spanish transposition is set out in the Draft Consumer Credit Agreements Bill, given first-round approval by the Council of Ministers on January 7, 2026 and put out to public consultation until January 30, 2026, accompanied by a draft royal decree that implements the law and amends the legal regime of financial credit establishments.
The material scope widens considerably compared with Law 16/2011: it now covers deferred payment and BNPL schemes, microloans under €200, overdrafts, leasing with a purchase option and crowdlending transactions. Products that for years were marketed outside the consumer credit regime are now fully within it.
The structural change is the reserved activity. The Bank of Spain takes on the authorization, registration and supervision of consumer credit lenders and intermediaries, an area that until now fell outside its perimeter except for entities already regulated. Alongside this, two new types of entity appear: the authorized high-cost lender and the limited-activity financial credit establishment (EFCAL).
The draft bill makes use of the enabling power in Article 31 of the CCD2 and introduces a system of maximum APR (TAE) caps by amount and term tiers, with a transitional cap of 22% until the royal decree setting those tiers enters into force. High-cost credit is subject to a separate and more restrictive regime.
An entity authorized by the Bank of Spain to grant credit is also an obliged entity under Law 10/2010. The authorization application is not settled by capital and articles of association alone: it requires an AML/CFT manual, a risk assessment and an internal control body (OCI) that are operational from day one. It is one of the most frequent grounds for a request for information in license applications.