They blocked my bank account! HELP Please.

Hello there,

I'm a British citizen living in Gibraltar and have a holiday home in Spain. I found out the other day that my Spanish bank account (Banesto, now Santander) was blocked. I rushed to my bank and they said they would need two documents from me and it's a requirement from Madrid : Pasaporte & Certificado Del Consulado Britanico De Que No es Residente en Espana as my account is for a non-resident and they don't have proof for that.

As GIbraltar is a British territory, there is no formal consular office and local authorities handle any matters regarding civil status/immigration. Hence I spoke to the authority and he told me that he could write a letter that I live in Gibraltar but cannot include I don't live in Spain. It kind of makes sense to me though.

Would this suffice for the bank to release my bank account? |'m already worried before I go and see my bank manager next Monday.

Anybody has the same experience? Please help me!

puret0ne

Don't worrry.

Its quite a common problem, holders of non resident banks accounts are required to update the tax people every two years that the information they hold is still current. Normally the bank will do this for their clients and charge a fee, maybe there was a glitch when Banesto went to Santander!

The bank should be able to sort this out for you I would of thought, you need to take your passport a current non res NIE certificate and proof of address. I've never heard of them wanting a 'Certificado Del Consulado Britanico De Que No es Residente en Espana' before, If they hold out for this you will need to go to Malaga

Thanks Team GB.

I think that's probably why when Banesto became part of Santander. My branch premise is now closed and I had to go to Santader in the same town. Come to think of it, I may have another problem that my addreess in GIB has changed as I moved last May (in GIB also), hence my address showing on NIE doesn't agree to the letter I'm gonna obtain from the local authority? Could you advise please? Thanks.

puret0ne

From memory your non res NIE will have only your Spanish holiday home address on it, which should tie up with your bank account details I would have thought.

Maybe someone else might confirm this

 This is the Spanish Government web page, in English, which explains what you need to do. Although this info is regarding the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh, it’s pretty clear.  In Spain one does the same but at the National Police Documentation Office for the area where you have your Spanish connections, or where you are at the time of application. This is the Spanish Government web page, in English, which explains what you need to do. Although this info is regarding the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh, its pretty clear.  In Spain one does the same but at the National Police Documentation Office for the area where you have your Spanish connections, or where you are at the time of application

http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/EDIMBURGO/en/Consulado/Pages/Applying-for-N.I.E-and-Certificate-of-non-residence.aspx

Puretone already has a Spanish holiday home,NIE and non res bank account. If he really has to get a certificate of non residence to sort out his little problem he's better of going to the consul in Malaga has I've already said.

Team GB

 The non residence cert is issued by the National Police as I showed. 

This is the first line of the info on the web page which I showed :-

The N.I.E.     and certificates of non residence (certificados de No Residencia) are only issued by the Police in Spain. 

This message was last edited by johnzx on 30/04/2014.

So what I need to do is to go to the police station where I got my NIE to apply for a certificado de no residencia right?

http://www.janetanscombe.com/resident-and-non-resident-certificates

I found above website and this seems what you guys are saying. So does that mean it's usuless to provide a certificate/letter from Gib's local authority next Monday and I'd better apply for a certificade de no residencia at the Police Station right now? I'd feel more comfortable to go to Malaga though.

Then again GIB is a British territory and the local authority should act as a consulate shouldn't it? (See below)

https://www.gov.uk/government/world/gibraltar

Or shall I supply the letter anyway to see whether they accept it as a proof?

This is stressful and time-consuming.
 

Puretone,  you need a certificate of non residence (certificado de No Residencia) and they are only issued by the Police in Spain.  So I cannot understand why you think a letter would replace it.

johnzx

Yes you are probably right.

It is just the fact that that guy said very clearly ''Certificado Del Consulado Britanico De Que No es Residente en Espana'  and it threw me out completely. Thanks all for your help.

We were notified by our bank that our account would be blocked if we didn't provide our updated non-residency certificates.  We got certificates from UK HMRC by completing an online form.  They are certificates from HMRC which state that 'to the best of their knowledge' (from our tax records etc. I assume) we are resident in the UK 'within the meaning of the Spain/United Kingdom tax convention'.  They came in the post, with the wording in both English and Spanish. These were fine for the bank and HMRC seem to be geared up to provide them.  Obviously I don't know how that works in Gibraltar but would have thought you can go to wherever your taxes are collected?  Never been advised to get one from the Spanish Police but will remember that in case we have any problems in future.

I hope this is helpful.

Hello all,

Just a quick update on my bank account.
They have unlocked my account based on the document (a copy of passport and a letter from GIB's civil status officer saying that I'm a British citizen residing in GIB address.) I've supplied. No further questions asked.

I'm so relieved now and hope it helps.

puret0ne

Bad news and I'm deeply disturbed.
 

Though they confirmed me on the phone that the account was open about two weeks ago, today the bank sent me a short email saying it's not open and they will need 'un certificado de no residente que expide la Policía Nacional España'.

What a waste of time. Totally inefficient and deceiving,

I've now lost two weeks and still need to go get the document and my balance is going low pending a few direct debits.

So what's going to happen if I didn't get it sorted in time?

Will they still allow the payment to go out and make may account overdrawn? And there will be a penalty?
Or will they simply hold the payments?

Also, is it possible to get the certificate from any Policia Nacional or the Policia Nacional only where my house is relavant to? (For me La Linea de La Concepcion is nearer but my house is under Algeciras/Los Barrios.)

I'm so stressed with this. Too many to jugle.
 

Thanks for reading.

puret0ne

Puretone:

Send an urgent faxed letter to them, asking you to unblock it as it is not legal for them to do it.  Only penalty they are allowed to practise is the corresponding discount on your returns.

If yours is a current account, I can not see the point  both of the certificate and the blocking. 

Hi Maria,

Thank you for your response.
What exactly should I say? Shall I quote you (as in a lawyer)? See below.

For example,

URGENTE

Estimado El Gerente de la Sucursal,

Por favor desbloquear mi cuenta con un efecto inmediato. He hablado con mi abogada en España y me ha dicho que es ilegal para bloquear mi cuenta a vista.

Mi número de cuenta: ES xxxx-xxxx

Saludos,
 

Would this will do?

Thanks. I'm so distressed.

Dear.......:

I have never been informed on the blocking of my current account as being a  penalty linked to the lack of proof of my residency. Please provide evidence of this. 

Furthermore, being this a requisite linked to tax purposes and being mine a current account with no interets/benefits attached, I urge to inmediately unblock the unccount so no further damages are inflinged to the running of my debits through your entity.

I ask you to do it with inmediate effect ( 24 hours) previous to me changing my banking to another entity and informing Clients Services and Consumers Authorities.

I trust we will be able to sort this with the working of our good will in orde to avoid further problems.

Yours

Thank you so much Maria, you nearly made me cry..!

If it helps, to be precise, this is my account situation.

LA CUENTA ESTA OPERATIVA PARA RECIBIR DEBITOS , PERO NO ESTA OPERATIVA PARA REALIZAR INGRESOS HASTA QUE NOS PRESENTE LA DOCUMENTACION REQUERIDA.,

As you see, if I can't make a deposit sooner than later, the balance in the account is too low for direct debits that have to go out very soon.

1. I will fax it both to the Branch and the Headquarters right?
2. Willl it be ok in English?

Anyway I can't than you enough for this Maria.