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Very much appreciated John, Tamara & Eggcup for very helpful responses.
From your comments, it appears that Cajamar may arguably be the best bank to go with subject to clearly agreeing/documenting transaction costs etc with them in advance ! Is anyone familiar with their " i.account" & the pros/cons ?? I assume its a relatively quick/ pain free process opening an account in person (we already have NIE).
Thanks again,
Harry
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Hi Harry - Yes, opening the Cajamar account in person was very simple. Lots of paperwork generated from their side, most of which was almost certainly unnecessary. Just let them do it, and try not to think that half a rainforest was dug up so you could have a Cajamar account! Their online banking is straightforward too. I use it to check my balance, check bills have been paid etc. I haven't yet set it up for me to make transfers for bill payments. Most utility-type companies try to insist that foreigners pay by direct debit, but l resisted that with Endesa (the electric company) because l know their "estimates" are a joke and l wanted control over how much l pay them. But l do need to set it up so l can pay them online, to avoid paying that vast 50c charge my bank makes for going in there to pay! You have spurred me on to see if l can do that today. :-)
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Blog about settling into a village house in the Axarquía. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/tamara.aspx
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Eggcup
............. It is of course, a complete con. They were able to do it as they held my money in their hands. If they'd asked me to pay them 500 euros I would of course have told them where to go. This is an abuse of power and should be outlawed.........
I wonder if I can stop you here?
The rest of the world do not operate with the same laws etc as UK. Just because they are different does not it wrong, or a con etc.
In Spain the banking law permits the charge which you incurred, That you failed to understand that before you made a transaction is not their fault but yours (ignorance is no defence). In Spain it is completely lawful for a bank to charge up to 0.5% on the total for a payment into or out of a an account.
That is why I said, one should ask about everything they are going to do before the event so that they may have the opportunity to negotiate a better rate. Sometimes one will be able to do that, at other times maybe not.
I transferred £160,000 sterling, on maturity, from a sterling investment in Sol Bank (now Sabadell) to a sterling account in another bank. I tried before doing to so to avoid the 0.5% charge which I knew was chargeable. I was unable to do so: it cost me £800. That was not a con but a legal charge.
Harry,
very simple to open an account, but make sure that in addition the cert showing your NIE you take your ORGINAL passport. It is the ONLY leagl ID we Brits have in Spain. For residents of course they must take their EU Registration Cert in addition to their Passport.
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Lloyds don't charge for incoming bank transfers., but will make a charge for paying in cheques or cash.
Just to reiterate, if you don't want to pay transfer fees then keep your bank transfers below 50,000 euros.
Ant amounts over this figure should be sent in "trenches" by you currency transfer company, but make sure you ask them to do that otherwise they will just send the whole amount in "one transfer"
We paid our mortgage off by transfering 160,000 euros to Lloyds International, via Moneycorp.
The money was sent in 4 trenches on the same day and it didn't cost me a penny in fees.
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Sorry to keep repeating this, but I suggest you do not take it for granted that because one customer may not pay charges for a certain service, that that is the policy of the bank.
As I said I get preferential rates in Cajamar which most customers do not get.
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Johnzx. Maybe it's just a matter of semantics. If a 0.5% charge just for putting money into a bank isn't a con, is it a rip-off? Is it justifiable and fair? We had been charged over the years for bringing money in from the UK. We would get told, 'Ah, it's because we had to change it from sterling into euros.' I would point out that we had used a currency dealer who had already changed it into euros. 'Oh, it's because it had to go through clearing in Madrid.' This is a load of nonsense. And there was no way I expected it when I walked into my bank and put a euro cheque in; my lawyer didn't even mention this possibility. She only charged 1% for all the work she put in to enable the sale and then the bank took 0.5% for what? Why defend these exorbitant charges? Would you defend it if they charged 1%, 10%? As long as they had it written somewhere you're never going to see it, in small print? Why didn't they, for example, warn me as I went to pay it in? Because it's a racket, that's why.
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My account of moving to Spain. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/olives.aspx"><img
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Egg cup, it is extremely unfortunate that you are so outspokenly rude about Spaniards.
I have a bank account in UK. I have never been overdrawn so I have no idea what charge I might incur if I were to be.
I Just checked Nationwide:-
nterest charged at 18.90% EAR*.
• £20 unarranged overdraft charge
• A paid item charge of £15 for each item will apply for transactions (including cash withdrawals) paid up to the reserve limit.
That seems that I could incur a high charge over say a month.
In Spain one cannot normally go over drawn and thus cannot incur charges. Does that mean my UK bank are rip off merchants? No, it’s the way they run their business and it is up to me to know, they will not, and never have, ram it down my throat,
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Eggcup, I don't think you were being outspokenly rude about Spain at all and I don't know why johnzx has tried to put that spin on it. We all know banks everywhere rip off their customers, it may be legal (and sometimes that is dubious) but it's still a con and has been proved to be time and time over.
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Poppyseed
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There are a couple of points I would like to make on this thread. Firstly I agree with everything eggcup has said.
We are in the process of selling our house in Spain, so I visited our very friendly bank manager in a Barclays branch in Murcia City. I asked him about the scenario of depositing a bankers draft, as I had spotted the Moneycorp advert on this forum. I gave him a ball park figure and the bank charge was going to be about 1000 euros. For depositing money in my account. He looked quite sheepish at the figure and said they could look at it???? So it looks like I will be using Moneycorp's system which is to open a temporary account at Cajamar which is closed after the transfer has been sent to Moneycorp. Doing it this way saves a considerable amount of readies. You can check the comparisons on the Moneycorp site. And as everybody says "I do not work for Moneycorp" I have been retired five years.
My other point which I thought was very interesting is what tamaraessex said in one of her posts about Moneycorp not taking any commision because she registered through Eye On Spain. Thanks for that info. I will have a chat with them next time I send any cash.
Best regards
Geoff
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Hi all,
I still haven't got around to ringing Lloyds or setting up the account, I did look to make an online application the other night but the criteria for a joint account was that both account holders had to earn a minimum of €50,000 per annum..... each!! I will attempt to call them tomorrow but work keeps getting in the way of my private life.
The information in the latest replies is interesting and is making me wonder whether to go with a UK bank with a spanish connection or a spanish national bank?
I know Lloyds do the internet transfers from the UK to Spain (Sterling to Euro) account free of charge, but you have to have a minimum balance of €2500 in the Spanish account (which pays no interest) to avoid charges. Also I am not sure if there is a charge when making cash point withdrawals. I estimate that my bills i.e. community charge, rubbish collection, electricity, broadband etc. will come to something like €2000 per annum, so I will probably be transferring the equivalent sterling value of around €5000 - €6000 per annum, including spending money to take out of cashpoints when there on holiday.
Do Cajamar insist on a minimum balance?
Do they charge for using cash points?
Do they pay interest on money held in the current account?
I'm wondering whether it is worth paying charges to either Lloyds or Cajamar rather than leave €2500 in an account effectively being devalued by inflation and exchange rates.
Cheers all
Kelju
This message was last edited by kelju on 12/09/2012.
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Do Cajamar insist on a minimum balance? No
Do they charge for using cash points? Not their own
Do they pay interest on money held in the current account? No
The only charges I pay on having the account is 10 euros a year for my ATM card.
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Thanks Johnzx, makes the Lloyds account look expensive.
Do you transfer Sterling into your Euro account? if you do what are the charges for this?
Thanks
Kelju
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I am retired so I have my State Pension transferred each month by the DWP.
I also have an account with Nationwide in UK where another pension is paid in.
I have recently started using my credit card to pay for things in Spain, petrol, shopping etc. The exchange rate I get at Nationwide is only a cent or two off the interbank rate and no charges by Nationwide to use the card in Spain. Works very well at present.
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Thanks Poppyseed and Geoff. Yes, you got my point: how can you be charged for putting money into a bank? I put 100,000 euros into my bank account, which I then was unable to transfer over to the UK for some time, because I had returned to the UK at that time and Caja Rural would not do the transfer over the 'phone or on-line, but insisted we do it in person, when we got back to Spain again. In addition to pocketing the 500 euros, they had the 100,000 for some time, giving us no interest on it. Then the exchange rates changed against us. We lost a fortune on something which should have been straightforward. (I wasn't talking about being overdrawn at all...)
How this can be construed as being against Spanish people, I don't know. I simply observe what happens, analyse it and express my opinion on it. And I think the argument here is quite clearcut. It might also help others who are reading this to avoid being ripped off in the same way, which would be a great outcome for me as I like to be helpful. It is also a great way to use the Forum.
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My account of moving to Spain. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/olives.aspx"><img
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Kelju. My guess is that you will probably end up paying out a lot of money to achieve whatever you are trying to achieve, but good luck anyway.
I will say this though - moving money from the UK to Spain is not difficult or rocket science providing you do your homework and ask the right questions.
As for johnzx, why do i always think you "muddy the waters" or just put on as many "replys" as you can that effectivlely "counter claims" anything that some-one posts that may disagree with your thoughts Mmmm.
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The comments on this thread are exceedingly informative for anyone heading to Spain.
Thanks & keep up the good work guys !!!
Harry
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Eggcup
how can you be charged for putting money into a bank?
If I live in Spain (and various other places too) I can get married when I am 14.
If I travel to UK I can be prosecuted for sleeping with my 14 year old wife.
If I am in Texas I can shoot dead a person stealing my hub caps, in tye UK I cannot
Why?
Because that is the law in the UK
Although one may not like it, and wish it were not so, one must accept the law of the place they choose to go to.
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To add to one more of John's answers to Kelju's questions - I think I'm right in saying that as Cajamar is part of the Servi-Red network, you can also withdraw free from ANY of the ATMs in the Servi-Red network. There are two main bank networks (similar to LINK in the UK), and I've temporarily forgotten the name of the other one. You can only withdraw free from other banks in the same network. Both are large networks and I've never had a problem finding a bank in any city or town that will give me free withdrawals.
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Blog about settling into a village house in the Axarquía. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/tamara.aspx
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Another simple way of transferring money in smaller chunks, for day-to-day bills, is to withdraw from your UK bank via the ATM in Spain ..... BUT only if you know you're getting an adequate rate and not paying charges. I was with Nationwide exactly because their Flaex account offered free withdrawals at an exceptionally good rate. Unfortunately they withdrew that a year ago (b*stards!!!) and started charging £1.50 and at a mediocre exchange rate. I then moved my main UK bank to Santander, specifically because they allow free withdrawals in Spain AS LONG AS it's from a Spanish Santander branch, which pretty much means only in cities. There's one near the main Malaga rail station, and another in the shopping centre in Antequera, and I probably visit one of those on most visits here. I take the maximum allowed out (300 euros), and out of my Santander business account as well, and dump most of that straight into my Cajamar account.
A bit cumbersome, but it works for me! And when I've checked the exchange rate I've been given, it's been absolutely fine - within a cent of what Moneycorp would give me to transfer a couple of thousand pounds.
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Blog about settling into a village house in the Axarquía. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/tamara.aspx
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Tamar
Nationwide now charge £1 per withdrawal plus 2% for debit card cash withdrawals, O/S UK.
And using a Debit card for transactions costs 2% per transaction. That is why i stopped doing it.
Of course their exchange rate is still second to none.
PS Also, until recently one could draw up to at least 5,000 euros over the counter at a Spanish bank (Cajamar) from their Nationwide account, of course providing they had that amount in the account. The daily limit did not apply.
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