Best bank for expats

tteedd

Have a look at:-  http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/EVO_Banco

You have to look at both res and non-res accounts.  Virtually all the banks will charge for a non-res account although some waive the fees if you keep a quite high balance with them, anything from 1 to 2 thousand euros.  You will still have to pay for the certificate of non-residency every two years, though.  For a residents account, they all seem the same and don't charge for the account if you have a fixed amount paid in each month, some ask for a minimum of 700 euros.  Some banks give a discount on standing orders, usually 1 or 2 percent whilst others don't.  Some charge for a debit card whilst others don't.  Bankia gives free banking for residents including free debit card (1 only) but no discount on standing orders.  Of course, it isn''t really free as they are getting your 700 a month with no interest.  You can accrue the balances between a current account and a savings account and you get (currently) 2% (taxable) on the savings part. Santander does the free banking with a fixed amount plus 2% discount on standing orders.  Not sure about the free debit card but would imagine it would be similar.  They require a balance of 2,000 euros (averaged out over the year) to waive the bank charges on a non-res account but I have been told (not sure) that the non-res certificate cost is over 30 euros whereas other banks can be as low as 20 euros.

We closed our account with Cam (now Sabadell) due to quite high maintenance charges and non-res certs some years ago but I don't know what Sabadell now charges.

I would be very reluctant to keep a large sum of money in a Spanish bank at this moment in time.  

You can also pay standing orders etc through your UK bank and only need the IBAN and BIC codes.  You'd have to check with your bank if any charges are made for this (probably as banks in most countries generally don't do anything for free) and rely on the current exchange rates (and most banks are pretty poor). 

I would recommend you to have a look at INGDIRECT. I had a rather bad experience with Santander and changed to INGDIRECT.

I reckon the exact opposite of what I want of a UK bank, that being good telephone banking. I would want a good 'walk in' branch with English speaking staff.

Hello all, first time here, so if I'm doing something wrong please let me know. I see that the last time spanish banks was discussed was back in 2015. We are looking at buying in Spain soon I was wondering has there been any improvement with the banks. Can anyone recommend a bank, that we can use to transfer our purcahse funds into and set up utility bills, pay property tax etc from.

Regards Fhanrah

Most banks charge quite hefty charges for everything including your cards and just operating the account.

It depends on how much you want to bring out, if you intend to become a resident and if you are a pensioner what sort of account you can get.

I am not resident but Sabadell allow me a pensioner's account (no charges exept the non residents check charge) because I have my state pension paid in. (Any pension will do as long as they beleive it is a pension).

If you are purchasing a property it may pay to open an account at the branch the seller uses. If you are lucky and all parties are using the same branch you can save a lot in transfer fees. Also, if the seller is re-patriating the money a BS cheque or UK Bank cheque can be handed over in the notaries office saving two lot of transfer and exchange charges. You will have to agree the exchange rate.

The non residents charge should not be charged because under EU rules all residents should be charged the same. The banks say the police force them to do it! (The police do not force tham to charge for the service do they?) And complaints to Bruxells have never got anyone anywhere. Still as we are leaving the EU it will soon become academic for British expats.

Thanks, for the info, I should have added I'll be remaining in the EU {Irish} and I'm also about 20years from retirement. But the bank web site is all in english which is great.

Don't use a bank to transfer funds, use one of the many UK companies who offer the service such as FX or the one Eye On Spain advertises ( but it's not the best available). That means opening a Spanish account first but it will save a lot of money.

Which bank to use for an ordinary account is a problem. All charge hefty fees, unlike the U.K. But Santander have introduced a123 Account  like U.K. However you have to be a Spanish resident (which I am not). I currently use Solbank organised by my uk bank HSBC but will take the advice of an earlier post and talk to them about waiving the exorbitant fees as I have a healthy balance.

Id be interested in changing to another if people can recommend an alternative.

Good luck.

Do not think you will know what the bank, any bank, will charge for any of it’s services they do not use the ‘UK  Norms’  so ask what the costs will be for everything you might need .  That even includes charges to pay assets into you account.  The managers can adjust all their charges.

Some years ago I had a sterling saving account with Sol Bank, now absorbed by Sabadell.  They charged me over £600 to transfer funds to another bank and that would have been the same charge no matter which bank the transfer had been to.  In the UK at that time it would have been about £25  max.

@ Fhanrah - I would recommend a Sabadell Expansion account. As long as you transfer €700 per month into the account there are no charges. I have a number of friends who have this account and have not been charged for anything. However, they may want you to take your fist year's house insurance with them but it is no more than many insurance companies charge and you can cancel it after the forst year - provided you give them TWO months notice before renewal is due.

Regarding transfer of funds - If you are transferring € to € then ask your Irish bank what they will charge to transfer to Spain as it may actually be cheaper than using an FX company. I use Transferwise to transfer £ to € and have found that they consistently offer the best rate.

@ tteedd - I complained to Brusells some years ago about being forced to insurance my property with my bank. The EU commission wrote me a letter to take to my bank supporting my complaint about non-conformance with EU law about tie-in products and mirraculously my bank backed down.

SEPA (Euro) transfers are probably without charge. 

 It seems that  up to 1,200,000€ may be transferred with that MO.

See here http://transferwise.com/help/article/1663573/euro-transfers/eur-transfers

I think many Spanish banks waive charges if you pay in pension etc on a monthly basis.

As a UK resident I don't want to do that, so options appear very limited. Anyone tell me of a good facility without having to do that?

Trotty   Anyone tell me of a good facility without having to do that?

Our joint account with Cajamar incurs no charged as my OAP is paid into that account.  However, my wife with an account at the same branch was paying charges.  We asked the manager and as a result my wife purchased some shares in the bank.   She now has free banking and interest on her shares. 

Thanks johnzx

Im going to Spain in three weeks so will look into that.

somebody asked about online banking in  English. The   Solbank system is very good and allows payments to be made nationally as well as within the Sol branches. Their local offices have always had reasonable English speakers too, but I'm not impressed with their email/online messages as they always pass the buck to other people and seem to have little coordination between branches and their head office. They do have a branch in London too.

Trotty,   I would think all banks offer online banking in English

As for Solbank, as I said ,  they were great until I made a substantial transfer and then they  really screwed me.

PS I just checked. I see my wife bought 6,000 euros worth of shares in order to get the free banking.

She gets paid around 88 euros pa. So a return on the shares of around 1.4% and it was sitting in the interest free account anyway,  and of course she also saves the maintenance fees too

This message was last edited by johnzx on 13/11/2016.