What the law says
No life insurance is legally required to sign a mortgage in Spain. Ley 5/2019 on real estate credit allows the bank to require property damage insurance for the home (fire), but life insurance can only be offered as an interest-rate discount — never imposed.
And there is more: even if you accept the discount, the bank is obliged to accept policies from other insurers with equivalent conditions. It cannot force you to buy its own.
Why the bank pushes so hard
Because tied insurance is one of its big businesses: the bank's life insurance usually costs considerably more than an equivalent policy bought elsewhere, with the same sum insured and the same cover.
The interest-rate discount offered for taking it rarely offsets the premium markup. You have to run the numbers case by case — and we run them with you.
How much you can save
Comparing the same sum insured across more than 20 insurers, the annual saving versus the bank's policy is usually significant — and it repeats year after year for the life of the mortgage.
Watch out especially for the financed single premium (PUF): paying several years of insurance up front, financed inside the mortgage itself, makes the whole package more expensive and ties you down. If they offer it to you, always ask for the annual-premium alternative.
How to switch away from the bank's life insurance
You can switch at any time, normally with effect at the annual renewal and giving the notice your policy requires. We prepare the new policy with equivalent cover, handle the communication and check that the bank correctly applies the agreed conditions.
Life insurance without a medical exam
The vast majority of life insurance is taken out without seeing a doctor: answering a health questionnaire is enough. Insurers only ask for a medical exam — blood tests, an electrocardiogram — above high sums insured or a certain age; below those thresholds, which at many insurers sit around €150,000-300,000 of cover, the questionnaire suffices. For the typical mortgage sum insured, you will almost never need a needle.
Beware the fine print on honesty: the questionnaire replaces the exam, it does not eliminate it. Ley 50/1980 on insurance contracts obliges you to tell the truth, and hiding a known illness can leave your family without a payout just when they need it. If you have a pre-existing condition, the right move is not to hide it but to find the insurer that accepts it — and they exist, with a surcharge or a specific exclusion.
It makes particular sense for anyone signing a mortgage in a hurry, for anyone who simply wants to avoid tests and travel, and for people with some medical history: comparing across more than 20 insurers, we find which one accepts your case with just a questionnaire and at what price.