Lloyd TSB / Santander etc. UK and Spain current accounts

That is all we do transfer money to Nationwide and draw cash out to pay into Barclays to pay the bills for the year. 

We have been doing that for 7 years now and will continue to do so as John said the rate is always good., it is swings and roundabouts really but it works for us.

Patricia 

Pat and Roy

No I only need to top up 600 euros a year and I make that arrangement with Nationwide. I have money in the bank when we first bought as we was getting a good rate then.

 Well folks I have taken the plunge and opened a Lloyds Spain account today, I decided to go into the UK branch and the manager was superb, immediately knew what I wanted and phoned Lloyds International in the Isle of Man on my behalf.  25 minutes later the account was opened, I mentioned in an earlier post about the minimum earning per applicant of €50, 000 (€100, 000 for a joint application) and apparently this is not a requirement for an account in Spain.

I have read with interest the comments and the debates, however my personal requirements were for an account that I could service from the UK, as the apartment I intend to buy will only be used for holidays at the moment.  Even if I used my full holiday allocation from work, I would only be able to be in Spain for 6 weeks a year, therefore using plastic to take money out of ATM's and deposit in other accounts to pay bills etc. is not a practical solution for me. 

With the Lloyds account, I can transfer sterling from my UK account to the Euro account in Spain with no charges, the rate is somewhere between the tourist rate and the commercial rate and whether done over the internet or phone the rate is given prior to the transaction.

There are no charges for the account if a balance of €2500 is maintained, if not the charges are €20 per month.  If the €2500 balance is maintained, there are no charges for direct debits or standing orders.  

A debit card is issued and cash withdrawals can be made free of charge from Servi Red ( hope the spellings right) cash machines.  If the card is used to make purchases there are no charges either.  So for holiday spending money I will transfer Sterling into the Spain account and then draw Euros out at the cash point as and when required.

There is a €16 charge every 2 years because I am not resident in Spain, not too sure what this is for, but I have hear it mentioned in other posts and threads.

I have no information for charges for paying into the account in Spain, cheques or cash, but cannot see myself doing that anyway.  If when I get the account information through the post there is information on this I will add it to this thread.

So, once again thanks for all your input and hopefully the postings in this thread will help others.

Kelju