How to read a Portuguese FINE (ESIS)

For home loans in Portugal only — offers from Portuguese banks, under Portuguese taxes and fees. The banks’ documents will still be in Portuguese; this page explains them in English.

The FINE (Ficha de Informação Normalizada Europeia) is the Portuguese version of the European Standardised Information Sheet (ESIS): the document a bank in Portugal must hand over with every mortgage offer, always with the same numbered sections. To compare banks, the lines that matter are the amount and term, the interest rate with its index and spread, the TAEG (APR), the MTIC (total payable), the fees, the insurance and products required, and the early repayment terms.

Updated 20 October 2026

What it is and when you get it

It is required by Portuguese Decree-Law 74-A/2017, which brought the EU Mortgage Credit Directive into Portuguese law. The bank hands it over before you are bound by any contract, and it is the only document laid out the same way at every bank — which makes it the only basis for comparing them without relying on each bank’s own simulation.

A simulation on a bank’s website is not a FINE. The FINE carries the terms the bank is actually offering you, for your case, and that is where to start. It will be in Portuguese; the section numbers are the same as in the ESIS anywhere in the EU.

The sections, in order

1. Mutuante — the lender.
2. Intermediário de crédito — the credit intermediary, if any.
3. Principais características — main features: amount, term, rate type, property value and LTV.
4. Taxa de juro e outros custos — interest rate and other costs: the rate (TAN), the index and spread, the TAEG and the costs included in it.
5. Periodicidade e número de prestações — frequency and number of payments.
6. Montante de cada prestação — the amount of each payment.
7. Quadro de reembolso ilustrativo — the illustrative repayment table.
8. Obrigações adicionais — additional obligations: current account, insurance, salary domiciliation and other products.
9. Reembolso antecipado — early repayment: on what terms and at what fee.
10 to 15. Flexible features, other rights, complaints, default, additional information and the supervisor (the Banco de Portugal).

What to check in each

The index and its date: which Euribor (3, 6 or 12 months) and from which day. Two banks using Euribor from different dates no longer compare.
The spread with and without discounts, and which product buys each part of the discount.
On a mixed rate, the fixed rate and how many years it lasts, and the spread that applies afterwards.
The TAEG and the MTIC, bearing in mind they are worked out on the bank’s assumptions.
Upfront fees (valuation, dossier, formalisation, registration) and recurring ones (payment processing, account maintenance).
Insurance: whether the premium shown is the bank’s insurer’s, what cover it assumes (100% per borrower or shared) and whether you can buy it elsewhere.
The early repayment fee: Portuguese law caps it at 0.5% on a variable rate and 2% on a fixed rate.

Where FINEs tend to mislead

The MTIC assumes Euribor never moves and that you keep the loan to the end. Over 40 years it is usually more than twice what you borrowed, and it is almost never what you actually pay.

Insurance goes into the TAEG at the bank’s premium, which rises with age. A cheaper outside policy can cut the cost by more than half a point of spread — but it may cost a discount, and that sum has to be done.

Upfront fees are split differently: one bank puts everything under formalisation, another spreads it over three lines. Only the total on completion day is comparable.

Reading a FINE automatically

On qualcredito.com, drop in the FINE PDF and its fields are recognised in your browser, next to the document, for you to check. With two or more, the offers sit side by side on the same scenario, explained in English.