MobileNov 3, 2026, 7:32 PM UTC·2 min read

Bizum Pay lets Spanish shoppers pay in stores without a card

Bizum now supports in-person payments in Spain: tap your phone on the card terminal and the money leaves your bank account directly, with no Visa or Mastercard involved.

A customer holds a smartphone against a card terminal at a shop checkout to pay with Bizum. — Image: genbeta.com

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Bizum has extended its payments in Spain to physical shops. Users can now hold their phone against the card terminal, and the amount is charged directly to their bank account, with no card needed. The catch is that the service must be enabled both by the customer's bank and by the retailer.

Having Bizum to send money to friends is not enough to pay at any checkout. The in-store rollout began last May and was followed by the launch of Bizum Pay in the Android and iPhone app stores.

How it works

The payment is an instant transfer between accounts, so it does not go through Visa or Mastercard. It uses NFC, the short-range technology behind other contactless mobile payments. The difference is that the funds come from the account linked to Bizum. Users can pay from their bank's app or from the Bizum wallet.

To get started, install the Bizum Pay app and activate it. One route is to enter the phone number registered with Bizum in the new app, which then redirects to the user's bank to complete sign-up. The other is to activate it from the Bizum Pay section of the bank's own app. During activation, the app asks whether it should become the default payment app, and this can be changed later in the phone's settings on Android and iOS.

Costs, limits and fallbacks

The service is free for consumers. Merchants may face fees agreed with their own bank, and a terminal being ready does not mean the customer's bank has activated the service.

As CaixaBank explains in its in-store payment terms, where account-based payment is not available, users can fall back on cards added to the app, provided at least one compatible card is registered. Anyone who wants to pay only with Bizum should check that the shop accepts it.

Bizum's documentation sets no limits on payments in shops. Banks, however, can set limits on Bizum and on the cards used from the wallet, so the maximum amount must be checked with each bank.