Santander bank

I noticed that a pension amount from the UK paid into the Santander was lower this month. The pension provider said they had not changed the amount sent. The pound/ euro rate was 1.23 on the day received, so the amount should have been more than usual.Are Santander increasing charges?

  We were also told that we were no longer eligible for free banking, which we had been having  for years,because we had less than 600 euros transferred every month.

Camposol My pension paid into the Santander bank on Tuesday was 11.80€ more than last month which is about what I expected It is a bit puzzling that yours should be lower 

I expected it to be about 18 euros more! The funny thing is two small pensions are paid in this account- the other one was slightly more!

 I wonder if , as they now say we do not have free banking,  they are now charging a transfer fee?if so I will get ithem paid into the UK bank and put in the occasional cheque to Santander.

Can't ask them as it's another holiday tomorrow.

The pension I refer to is the state pension which after the April increase is constant I suspect the UK send pensions money to Spain in bulk and it is then divided up to the recipient's banks The payor seems to have changed recently my bank statement says "transferencia de worldlink concepto" previously it was Banco Popular maybe they have negotiated a better deal 

This message was last edited by scubamike on 12/06/2014.

Quite interesting,that Camposol was told by the Santader Bank that it now needs a minimum of 600 Euros a month for free Banking. My Wife and i joined Santander less than three months ago,and we were told as long as one of us had a pension paid into the account,no matter how large or small we would not accrue any charges,as at today we have not ,but I will keep my eye on any deductions, so thanks for the warning.

I shall be asking about that again, then! Santander can't  tell   Their 

customers different stories.

PS I have just emailed them.will let you know resonse( if any!)

I have had my state pension from DWP into Santander, via World Link since December, previously BP as said below. The DWP FX rate is always the best of the bunch in my experience. Certainly there are no charges.

The pension paid into the Santander isn't the state one- would that make a difference?

When I opened my account with the Santander I was told a pension no amount or type of pension was stipulated as long as it was recognisable by the bank that it was a pension and not just a monthly transfer 

It appears there may have been a mistake with Worldlink, who have charged 20 euros , when there should have been  no charge, as the money was transferred in euros and did not need to be converted.I was advised to wait until next month to see if it was a one off mistake, or a problem they will deal with. The 20 euros was refunded to my account.

in regard to free banking, apparently now Santander do require at least 600 euros pension paid in every month to avoid charges, but said that existing clients under the old scheme would continue to receive free banking.

Free banking was also available to shareholders I don't know if this rule has changed It was only necessary to buy about 25€ worth 

Marc            I have had my state pension from DWP into Santander, via World Link since December, previously BP as said below. Certainly there are no charges.

I understand banks cannot charge for pensions paid into an account. But that almost certainly does not mean that the account must be free of all charges, i.e. maintenance fees,  etc.

Just for info:   I get free banking (Cajamar) with just my OAP (married person) pension being paid in. My wife holds shares in the bank:  she also gets free banking (plus dividend payments)  because of that.

Johnzx

That may be true, but I pay no charges to any of my banks. They wouldn't dare!!

Campo:    For comparison.  Cajamar.

My OAP was a few cents more in June than in May. In May it was 12 euros more than in April.

On 8^th June I got 1.226 euros to the pound, on my Word Link Transfer. The best it has been for quite a while. 

Campo.    I have no doubt that you will know of course that the rate is that on actual payment day not when the funds reach your bank.

I checked the DWP payments system very thoroughly in 2008.  At that time,  on the actual payment day,  the DWP sent the funds to City Bank London, where the exchange took place.  They were then sent to City Bank, Madrid, and from there they were transferred to the Spanish bank accounts of pensioners. It all took a few days.   The rates were always within a very small fraction of the inter-bank rate on the DWP payment day. I have not needed to check how it works with Worldlink, but I cannot believe we get a worse deal now than previously.

This message was last edited by johnzx on 18/06/2014.

Johnzx a mistake has been made by someone. The amount reaching Santander should have been 20 euros more than it was.  It has been gradually going up for weeks.The rate would have been £=€1.12 for me to have received what I did, and it has not been that for many weeks!

I was pleasantly surprised when Santander paid the missing money back straight away.