CAJAMAR BANK CLOSING PENSIONERS BANK ACCOUNT

My retired aunt and uncle who I think are the most honest and caring people in this universe, bought an apartment last year, they live in UK, their UK bank recommended they use their international department who offered free transfers, the money came from their hard earned savings in their UK bank account, they transferred it to International, international transforred it to the owners bank to pay for the apartment, because of Cajamar delays they had to go to another branch to collect cash to pay the solicitor and notary etc because there was not the time for the transfers to arrive on the Notary day, of course they gave Cajamar copies of the transfers.   In March this year they were asked to prove where the funds cam from in the UK, they did so and did not hear another word.   This week they were asked again, they sent them again to Cajamar Bank, they received a reply from CAJAMAR Bank saying they were closing their account and refused to give a reason.   My uncle contacted their UK bank who ran a check on their account, nothing, they were totally confused, he then contacted the UK bank  international dept who told him they have other clients who Cajamar Bank has closed their account.   My aunt and uncle do not live in Spain their pensions are paid in the UK, they keep only sufficient funds to pay the DD, neither of them can use computers and they have constanmtly asked Cajamar for Bank statements, they were concerned about insuffient funds because their bills are estimated.   My aunt is really upset she sayd they have made her feel like a criminal - which they are not.   Anyone else heard of this

Sadly Spanish banks are a law unto themselves and work in the strangest ways. There has recently been many cases where  ex-pat bank accounts have been frozen because of non-compliance of a virtually unknown rule (unless you speak Spanish). No matter how long you had operated your account all banks decided that a new rule had to be complied with, so proof of identity had to be provided, even though you may have banked there for years!

The latest bank lunacy was Caja Murcia closing the Camposol branch. Camposol is a huge 5000 house 'town' with two shopping centres, loads of bars and a golf course. The resort is very popular in Summer with visitors, increasing the demand for banks by thousands more ........... yet they kept a branch in a tiny village 2km away from Camposol open!

Navidad, Just a thought, cannot you do their banking on line for them ?

I have used Cajamar for several years and always found them helpful . Although there have been a few hiccups but a call to the branch and all has been fixed.   I live in Spain but use the internet banking rather than stand in a queue.

Apart from the new regulations about bank having to  ‘a digital record’ of their customers remember that non-residents must obtained, or get the bank to obtain, a non-resident cert from the National Police every,  I believe, two years.  If the bank does not have that then they must freeze the account. Also, as your family do not transfer their pensions into the account there will be charges, which will diminish balances.

I would suggest, as you are concerned, that you call the branch and find out what is wrong.

It is quite normal for a bank to request its customers to prove the origins of larger sums deposited in their account. It is an EU legal requirement under money laundering prevention laws. The bank has no discretion in the matter.

In this case the 'origin' of the money is not the money transfer company but the actual origins of how they came about it. I know you say it was "their hard earned money" but they need to prove that.

Cajamar is one of the best banks in Spain and I find them very responsive to problems and there is no need to write in Spanish. Clearly something has gone very wrong here and I would suggest it may possibly be because the customer concerned did not contact the right person who could have helped.

These money laundering laws only really affect honest people because crooks know how to circumvent them. My best advice is to keep trying to contact someone inside the bank branch who I’m sure will be sympathetic. On their web site is a contact system to which you can write in English and explain your problem.

I think that it depends on who you end up with, whatever the bank or country that it's located in. We transferred our ISA's from Santander to Yorkskire Bank this year but the staff member insisted that we prove to her that the transfer was legitimate, it took me an eternity to explain that the money laundering regulations were Santander's responsibility and not hers. We then told her that we wished to use this years allowances and produced a cheque book, we had already produced passports and driving licenses, I half expected the fraud squad to appear, but she took the chance on us not being international drugs trafficers.   

johnzx has already touched on this but could it have anything to do with providing proof of identity and having an electronic record?

Spain suddenly went into a panic earlier this year to comply with EU rulings from some 15 years ago when they realised the time limit on having this proof was expiring. It means a current (ie up to date and in date) passport must be scanned into their records. If one had opened an account with a passport that has now expired then it needed updating. Banks did send letters or sent messages via internet banking but, if as you say they don't do internet banking or the letter went astray (as it often does here, I have had loads of letters in my mailbox which are nothing to do with me) then the time limit may have expired.

Customers were being advised accounts would be frozen or closed down if the information was not provided.

Maybe you could check on their behalf. I think some banks were accepting email copies of passports but others wanted the customer to attend in person.

Banks seem to have varying interpretations of the laws around money transfers between countries.

In 2013 we sold our home in France where I had lived and worked for 30-years and spent the year on long service leave in Spain and Portugal. At the end of my leave I went back to working at our Swiss headquarters and living in our Zurich apartment. At the begining of 2015 I had the opportunity to head up a number of joint research projects based in Zurich and Oxford. I brought a house in Oxford for a 7 figure sum paying cash which had come from our French house sale and releasing funds from the company patent fund.

No one ever asked where the funds came from despite the fact several 'foreign' banks and an off shore fund had been involved in the purchase. I'm not an EU national although my wife is, she is Italian.

It could have been that behind the scenes the Bank and Lawyers might have provided the required information so they may have earnt their fees.

Ross

As per Johnx´s recommendation, contact the Bank.

Proof of funds origin when buying in Spain is obligatory as a matter of money laundering prevention. No Notary can authorise a property purchase by a foreign national without this previous check.