Month 1
Time
5 min
Cost
Free
Difficulty
Easy
What to bring
A Spanish bank account
A Spanish mobile number
Not needed: A separate app. Bizum lives inside your bank's app
Your options
Your Spanish bank's app
Activate it where your account lives
Free
CaixaBank, BBVA, Santander, Sabadell, ING. All have Bizum built in. Two minutes, link your number, done.
Foreign neobanks
Revolut, N26 and friends
Free
Support is patchy. Some now offer Bizum, many don't. Check before assuming your neobank covers you; this is the main reason expats keep a Spanish account.
Skipping it
Living on card and cash
Free
You'll survive, but flatmates, dinner groups, second-hand sellers, and half the gym trainers in Palma settle by Bizum. "No tengo Bizum" gets old fast.
Prices checked June 2026
Do it
- 1
Activate in your banking app
Find Bizum in the menu, link your Spanish mobile number, confirm with your bank's usual authentication.
- 2
Test it with a euro
Send €1 to a friend by phone number, instant, free, no IBAN exchanged.
- 3
Know the limits
Per-payment limits run €500 to 1,000 depending on the bank, with monthly ceilings. Plenty for daily life; rent itself usually goes by transfer.
- 4
Watch for the request scam
A Bizum "request" makes money leave your account when you approve it. Marketplace scammers send requests dressed as payments, read the screen before confirming, always.
Words you'll hear
Bizum
Pay-by-phone-number from your bank's own app. 'Te hago un Bizum' = I'll send it to your number now.
Full checklist tracking and task completion live in the Settli app for Mallorca.