Best bank for expats

Justin, you don't mention Banco Andalucia!!??  Is that a "no go" then?  Or just one you haven't had any experience of?

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Hi,

I bank with Banco de valencia, when we first transferred money over for our house purchase 4 years ago, we were charged 0.5% commission, this was reduced to 0.2% after complaining and convincing them wewere going to bank with them.

Then when we sent money over for the deposit on our new house, no charges. however when we went to take the money out again they tried to charge us 0.5%, again this was negotiated down to 0.2% and this was for my neighbour picking up a counter check in the branch..

I checked this out with another bank, Caja Murcia and was told that any transaction above 12000 euros was classed as an international money movement so the charge was correct.

Think I've been ripped off twice now.

Ian

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Hi - Message for Smiley

Hi Smiley bit of advice pleasey weasy!! I noticed at the bottom of each of your post you have an email motgages.com address. Do you work for a bank? We are in the process of looking for mortgage agreements in prinicple. Bankinter seems to be a good one so far, do you know of this bank & are they good? One bank offered us a 30year interest free mortgage.... whats the point of that?

Thanks Smiley

Tina x

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Does anyone know if there is a Halifax in or around Elviria?

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This message was last edited by JeansSis on 5/17/2007.

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Hi Janice,  Like everyone else - nice to read you again!!

You know the Costa Blanca area well??   We are purchasing property in a village - not too far from La Morada, close to Orihuela - is the Torrevieja branch of Halifax Espana the closest for us, or maybe even Guadamar. 

Cheers

 

This message was last edited by ellemum on 3/13/2007.

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This message was last edited by JeansSis on 5/17/2007.

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Thanks Janice,

Looks like Almoraldi will be our nearest ATM.  Wil try and do most stuff via internet banking.   If we get in a long queue in Guadamar - can we get a cuppa from your place!!!!

Cheers and thanks again

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This message was last edited by JeansSis on 5/17/2007.

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Thanks Janice. Guess Marbella, Fuengirola and (soon) Calahonda are near enough for me. I think the advantages of being able to manage my UK and Spanish accounts together outweighs (and negates?) the need for a different bank on my doorstep. i find the halifax online service excellent.

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I cant recommend Cam Bank highly enough. They stayed open after hours to help me out with doumentation needed for the notary. They set up my online bank account which is in ENGLISH and can be accessed like any UK bank account. No problems,no hassle and they even respond to branch emails almost by return.

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I have to say that my experience of Caja Murcia has been exactly the same.

I have worked for a major high st bank in the Uk for almost 30 years & I think thatthe Spanish Banks well & truly put us to shame.

Noreen

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We were with Cambank 2005-6 but their charges were unacceptable to us so we changed to Halifax ES http://www.halifax.es/halifaxing/halifax/halifax.asp?sec=halifax  for these reasons....

NON RESIDENCY CERTIFICATE

Cambank charged us 17.43€ every two years (but as soon as we took a/c ) per person named on current a/c. Halifax ES do not make any charge.

MAINTENANCE CHARGES PER QUARTER

Cambank charged us 5.75€ a quarter. Halifax do not make any charge

DEBIT CARD CHARGE PER ANNUM

Cambank charged us 6€ Halifax charge 3€

We used to keep around 1,000€ in our Cambank a/c at any time so we thought the charges were unacceptable to us. Halifax only stipulate we keep 600€ generally in our basic current a/c.Going below this 600€ will incur a 18€ fee each 6 months.

We take cash out free of charge from SERVIRED ATMs.

We bank online with them & check anything we want & they also send us slips with details on when money's taken out.

We can email our Guardamar branch.

 We can transfer money to our Halifax ES a/c from our UK Halifax a/c free of charge for any amount.

We opened Spanish Halifax ES a/c through the Halifax's European Dept in Halifax. Easy to do.

Just read all banks small print which people rarely do & you won't go too far wrong with Halifax ES. 

 

This message was last edited by morerosado on 1/16/2008.

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We have an account with Sol Bank  but it is not cheap - I think it is bout 20 +Euros every quarter but will check with my husband tonight.   We had no choice as it was our vendors bank and it was the cheapest option  as we were charged from transferring the purchase price from our account into the vendors account at the same branch  ( about 70 Euros which I understand is good ) .   Sol bank issue you with a statement every time there is a transaction and this month there have been loads so from that point of view they are excellent.   You have to Email them if you wish to carry out a transaction other than the standing orders.    If you have a deposit  account they will ' feed' monies from that account if there is not enough cash in your current account . The bank manager said that he would not dream of charging you money for an overdraft if there was money in  a deposit account ( a bit like my Mum's bank mananger used to manage her account years ago ).  So Spanish accounts have some advantages but so many disadvantages but what option do you have unless you bank in Gib and pay your bills by cash but Gib banks have hidden charges too.  My sister- in - law does not have a Spanish bank account but she lives in GIb.

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I am with Solbank in Roquetas but I need to change the account as I am going to live near los Gallardos. I have some concerns with Solbnk charges, especially re internet banking which I am currently discussing with them. Unless rerolved to my satisfaction I would wish to go elsewhere. Can anyone recommend good banks re:
1. Charges 2 On-line facilities in english.  So far I tend to feel spanish banks seem to rip off their customers much more than those in England. Information and suggestions gratefully received.

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We should all try and do a comparison of charges. 

I think I read on one of these forums that someone opened a Spanish bank account with 50 Euros and it had disappeared after a year yet no transactions took place.  Trouble is you have to barter with the bank manager and how do  you barter when you don't live there.  I cannot fault SOLbank but they charge for everything . I am sure if my hubs, who speaks fluent Spanish,  discussed these charges with the bank manager  they would be reduced but he won't  haggle over a few Euros. He tells me to go and do it but how can I when I don't spead the language?

I am interested in the charges for a British bank based inSpain.

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I used to bank with Solbank and probably would have stayed with them but last year they increased my charges for 9e a quarter to 19e?.  When I querried why the charges had increased I was told that they had changed my account to one that offered free cards and other incentives.  I only use my Spanish account to pay direct debits and my annual declaration of non residency.  As a non-resident I use my English credit and debit cards.

I decided to change my Bank to Banco Halifax and also open an account with the Halifax here in UK should we ever need to transfer money over.

I took the latest copies of all the bills I pay by D/D with me when I went to open the account and everything was dealt with by them and the changeover was successful.

There are two types of accounts you can open up, the first you have to keep an average balance of 600e over 6 months and charges are free.  The second you pay an annual charge of 25e and do not have to leave a minimum balance in.  Also it gives you access to a help line with English speaking staff.

On line internet access works ok but I have one gripe in that the statements you look at on-line don't show you who has submitted the direct debit, you have to click on individual payments to find out which company you've just paid.

Maybe Scampi you could elaborate on the internet banking charges and then others can say how their banks compare, that way you can decide which bank would suit your purposes.

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Hey thanx. For info I have this regular quarterly charge of €19.50 just for having theaccount. They then have charged me over €40 I think because I moved some deposit money before it was in my account [their explanation] even though my on-line statement said the money was there for me to move. I am arguing with them about it and I think i will win but the principle is irritating me. I would be interested in more info on the best Halifax account - although I don't think there are any branches in the Mojacar area. I just wonder how important that actually is?

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If you scroll further down Morerosada has posted a blue link for Halifax, maybe that will answer any questions you have.

She also opened up their account in UK so maybe you could ring and talk to someone about any concerns you have.

I was given a leaflet regarding bank charges when I opened the account.  Certain transactions do incurr charges so depending on how you intend to operate your account it might be better to find out in advance.

As I said previously I use mine to pay utility bills and as long as I leave 600e in account there is no quarterly maintenance charge for doing this, Solbank charged me 19.50e for doing the same thing.

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Hi all

I've written so much about Banco Halifax as have others such as Semi. (I'm all Halifaxed out these days). 

YES, Banco Halifax does have internet banking & the a/c can be opened in the UK. All wll be revealed if you read their website & my posts ! I wrote in this thread a few posts ago too on it at great length. You are correct saying there aren't any branches in the Mojacar area, Scampi.

HALIFAX ES

Also search "Halifax", been discussed endless times. 

(Does anyone read these threads or just the last post ?)

Semi, their terms now say there's a 5€ half yrly charge see my previous post.  You need to open basic current a/c with min 600€ & leave min 600€ in too or pay 18€ per 6 months. (As they don't charge me 5€ half yrly I assume it's for new customers). Check out http://www.halifax.es/halifaxing/pdf/Commission_Rates.pdf 

Don't rely on other members info, check terms out in case they change for new customers.

This message was last edited by morerosado on 7/8/2008.

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