Best Bank here in Spain for residents?

I have closed my Bank account with Bankaja as the branch has moved and it it too far to go to Quesada or into the town, Torrevieja. I opened one with CAM, and the chaos and charges got to me, so I closed that down too.

Anything near El Limonar or the Torretas that can be recommended?? I don´t want to HAVE to bank a certain amount every month.

Hope someone can help.

I agree completely with you Johnx

The bank dosent really matter so much.

having lived across different parts of andalucia for almost a decade the branch to branch experience couldnt have been more different.
from amazing experiences with the staff to walking in one day and walking out with a closed account due to rudeness.

but there is also the fact that relationships take time to build in spain so it can take over 6 months of going into the same bank daily for them to greet you with a smile, hug and coffee.

although not quite, its a bit like the uk in the 60`s where the bank manager would call at your house or you would actually go to see him rather than a faceless clerk.

banking is very different in spain if you are in one of the more remote or pikey places.
i cant speak for north and other places but in the south i am pretty happy with the whole thing.

I have an account with Barclays Espana - fantastic service, no charges, and nearly everything done on-line, so rarely use the physical branch.

Barclays has a branch in Torrevieja in Calle Joaquín Chapaprieta, 10.

Good luck with changing.

Agree with John, it's definitely more about the local branch than anything else.

We've been with Cajamar for years now and not so much for the services they offer but more about that they are so friendly and approachable in our local branch.  I think it wasn't for them maybe I wouldn't be so happy with them.

I can't say the say about Santander though.  Both my local branch and the one in Marbella are diabolical when it comes to service.

The problem is that you don't really get to know your local branch and how they are with you until you start using them.  It's a bit of a catch 22.

Banks always seem to be a problem here in Spain. If you live in a small town or village I think that the banks give a better service auis may get to know the staff personally. I know the name of all the girls in our local CAM branch and they treat me more like a friend.

With regards to quality banking I think Caja Murcia is good. They have a good range of accounts and if you are retired the account does not cost a penny. I am not retired so I don't bank with them but I know many people who are retired and they are happy with them as the staff seem to give a good personal and caring service.

Hi Everyone,

My wife and I live on Lanzarote having moved from the main land because we couldn't stand the cold winters.

We have been retired 5 years and during this time we have had several bank accounts.

We started with Unicaja and couldn't fault them, having started with an international account in Nerja before moving out and then a current account in Mojacar.

Always helpful even to the extent of doing your tax returns for a very reasonable cost. Unfortunately they do not operate here on Lanzarote so we started with Cam, but the local branch closed down and it was too far to the nearest one.

Banca March are the most solvent of all Spanish banks and had a London branch which made life easy when transferring sterling, then that was closed and we had to keep 1500 euros in the local branch every month to obtain free banking, in our mind dead money, couldn't be touched.

Now we are with Sabadell who, incidentely, have absorbed Cam. Very helpful, excellant English speaking even though we try to do a bit of Spanish, minimum transfer to get free banking, 700 euros every month and can go down to 150 euros in account before charges are incurred.

Excellant on line banking, multi-lingual and have just released an App for iPad etc, however, that is still in Spanish, early days.

They are amongst the top ten for solvency and we would highly recommend them.

David & Margaret