Which credit card to choose in Chile: we compare maintenance fees, rates and how to avoid paying them
Which credit card to choose in Chile: annual fees range from CLP 12,399 to 118,038 on basic cards, and buying in installments costs about 3.5% a month.
· 9 min read
Which credit card to choose in Chile? It depends on how you use it. If you pay everything off at the end of the month, your only cost is the maintenance fee, and on basic cards it ranges from CLP 12,399 a year (BancoEstado Visa Universal) to CLP 118,038 (Ripley Mastercard), according to each issuer's official fee schedule. If you buy in installments, what matters is the interest rate: at retail chains it is around 3.5% a month, very close to the legal maximum. We compared the cards currently offered by eight issuers, including Banco de Chile and Santander.
~17 million
Active cards
14% from non-bank issuers
~3.5% a month
Installment purchases at retailers
close to the legal maximum
December 4
Minimum payment change
what you must pay each month goes up
Source: CMF, 2025 Annual Report, each issuer's fee schedule and CMF, minimum payment
View the data as a table
| Active cards | ~17 million | 14% from non-bank issuers |
| Installment purchases at retailers | ~3.5% a month | close to the legal maximum |
| Minimum payment change | December 4 | what you must pay each month goes up |
According to the CMF, Chile's financial regulator, in December 2025 there were 2.4 million cards from non-bank issuers (retail chains and fintechs), 14% of the national total: in other words, about 17 million cards. With so many options, the question is not which is "the best", but which costs least for the way you use it.
Which credit card to choose if you pay everything at the end of the month
If you never carry a balance, you pay no interest. Your cost is the maintenance or administration fee, charged in UF (Chile's inflation-indexed unit). These are each issuer's entry-level cards, converted to pesos with the UF of November 14, 2026 (CLP 41,329.80, SII):
| Card | Fee | In pesos per year | When it can drop to zero | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BancoEstado Visa Universal | UF 0.025 a month | CLP 12,399 | No waiver stated | BancoEstado fee schedule (January 2025) |
| BciPlus+ Visa Classic | UF 0.14 a month | CLP 69,434 | Taken out with a Bci plan: check whether the plan includes it | Bci website |
| CMR Falabella Mastercard | UF 0.135 a month | CLP 66,954 | Discount based on usage | Banco Falabella website |
| Hites | UF 0.1092 a month per statement | CLP 54,159 | Not charged if you have no balance | Hites customer information (May 2026) |
| Líder BCI | UF 0.209 a month | CLP 103,655 | With 10 or more purchases a month (promotion until Dec 31, 2026) | Líder BCI cost of credit (July 2026) |
| Santander Life | UF 0.12 a month without a plan | CLP 59,515 | Zero with the Life Multiproduct Plan | Santander website (valid July-December 2026) |
| Banco de Chile Visa Fan | UF 0.132 a month | CLP 65,466 | No waiver stated | Banco de Chile website |
| Ripley Mastercard | UF 2.856 a year | CLP 118,038 | No waiver stated in the summary sheet | Banco Ripley summary sheet (March 2026) |
The Líder BCI fee is for cards issued since December 2022. Older ones pay less (from UF 0.083). Banks can change their fees: always check your card's summary sheet (hoja resumen).
We only included cards each issuer currently offers on its website. Fees can change: check the current fee directly with each bank before signing up.
The key takeaway: the highest fee is not what you pay most if you meet the condition to waive it. A Líder BCI card used 10 times a month costs nothing, while a card with no waiver charges every month, even if you do not use it. So which credit card to choose depends as much on the fee as on your shopping habits.
Which credit card to choose if you buy in installments
Here everything changes. Retail chains publish their interest rate, and it is very close to the maximum conventional rate, the cap the CMF sets every month, which is around 41% a year for debts up to UF 50 (see how it works in our article on consumer loans).
What does that mean for your wallet? If you buy something for CLP 500,000 in 12 installments at 3.455% a month, each installment is about CLP 51,600 and you end up paying CLP 119,260 in interest: almost 24% more than the price. The maintenance fee comes on top. That is why the CAE (annual equivalent cost) is the best figure to compare: it includes interest, fees and charges. On Ripley's summary sheet, the CAE for installment purchases is 41.69%. At Hites, for a CLP 800,000 purchase, it is 57.05%.
Banks, on the other hand, do not publish a single rate: they set it for each customer based on their profile and state it on the summary sheet. If you have a good credit history, ask for yours and compare. And use interest-free installments: Líder BCI, for example, offers 3 installments at 0% interest at its supermarkets until the end of the year.
Brand weight: how much more a premium card costs
Platinum, Signature, Black or Infinite cards charge higher fees in exchange for benefits like air miles, airport VIP lounge access or travel insurance. The gap can be large:
- Basic
- Premium
Source: Each issuer's official website and fee schedule, with the UF of Nov 14, 2026
View the data as a table
| Basic | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Santander (Life / WorldMember LATAM Pass) | 59,515 | 168,626 |
| CMR Falabella (Mastercard / Mastercard Elite) | 66,954 | 173,585 |
| BCI (BciPlus+ Visa Classic / Visa Infinite) | 69,434 | 148,787 |
| Banco de Chile (Visa Fan / Visa Infinite) | 65,466 | 178,545 |
| Ripley (Mastercard / Black) | 118,038 | 241,978 |
At CMR Falabella, the Mastercard Elite costs 2.6 times the basic card, and at Santander the WorldMember LATAM Pass costs 2.8 times the Life if you have no plan. At BCI, the BciPlus Visa Infinite (UF 0.30 a month) costs 2.1 times the BciPlus+ Visa Classic, and at Banco de Chile the Visa Infinite (UF 0.36 a month) costs 2.7 times the Visa Fan. The question to decide is simple: will you use the benefits for more than the extra you pay? If you travel once a year, probably not. If you travel often and spend a lot on the card, the miles may make up for it.
What changes in the minimum payment from December 4
Since June 2026, the CMF's new minimum payment formula has been in force (NCG 537): you must pay 100% of the month's interest, fees and charges, plus at least 5% of the rest of the debt. Interest-free installments will be added to the minimum payment gradually:
In practice, from December 4 your minimum payment may go up if you have interest-free installment purchases. The CMF's goal is to reduce over-indebtedness: so that debt does not grow month after month while paying only the minimum.
Complaints: fraud is the most frequent problem
In 2025, SERNAC received 20,880 fraud complaints involving banks and retail cards, and banks accounted for 67% (13,990), according to data published by 24 Horas. BancoEstado, Banco Falabella and BCI led among banks, and Líder BCI and CMR Falabella among retailers. Read this with care: they are also the issuers with the most customers. Banco Falabella, for example, said its 2,188 complaints equal 0.05% of its customers.
What is useful for you: turn on purchase alerts in the app, use the virtual card for online shopping and block it from your phone if you lose it. Chile's Fraud Law requires the issuer to respond within set deadlines if you dispute a purchase.
Decision guide: which credit card to choose by how you use it
| How you use the card | What to look at | What makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| You pay it all off and use it little | Fee with no conditions | A low-fee card, like BancoEstado Visa Universal or Santander Life |
| You make many small supermarket purchases | Waiver for usage | Líder BCI (free with 10 purchases a month) |
| You often buy in installments | CAE and interest-free installments | Compare the CAE on the summary sheet, not just the installment |
| You travel often | Benefit versus extra cost | A premium card, only if the miles are worth more than the difference |
| You have a checking account | Card included in the plan | The same bank's card: often no separate fee |
Frequently asked questions
Which credit card is best in Chile? If you pay it all off each month, the one with the lowest fee or the one you can bring to zero with your usage. If you buy in installments, the one with the lowest CAE for your profile.
Which card has no maintenance fee? Several drop to zero if you meet conditions: Líder BCI with 10 purchases a month and Hites if you carry no balance. Cards included in a checking account plan usually have no separate fee.
What is the CAE? It is the total cost of credit expressed as an annual percentage: it includes interest, fees and charges. It is used to compare cards with each other.
What is the most interest they can charge me? The maximum conventional rate the CMF publishes every month. For debts up to UF 50 it is around 41% a year.
Methodology and limitations
- Sources: fee schedules, summary sheets and cost-of-credit tables published by each issuer, checked on November 14, 2026; CMF 2025 Annual Report and regulations; UF value from the SII.
- What we compared: each issuer's basic card, because it is the most widely held. UF values were converted to pesos with the UF of Nov 14, 2026.
- Dates: some fee schedules are from 2025 (BancoEstado), because they are the current ones published by each bank. They may have changed: check the summary sheet before signing up.
- Banco de Chile: its website does not allow automated downloads, so its fees were checked directly on the bank's website on November 14, 2026.
- Current cards only: we only included cards each issuer currently offers on its website.
- What is missing: we did not compare benefits (discounts, miles, cashback), because they change every month.
- Bank rates: they are individual; we only compared the rates published by retail chains.
- which credit card to choose
- credit card
- maintenance fee
- CAE
- minimum payment
- maximum interest rate
- CMF