Swimming Pool

Hi Lorraine again

I've searched your posts hoping to see where you are in Spain & see that you say you haven't bought yet but are drawn to Aguas Nuevas in the Torrevieja area. You have a choice of a branch in Torrevieja itself, Playa Flamenca or Guardamar, which is ours.

This is the info I said I'd give you.

It was posted, by me, in thread Best bank for expats in the Spanish Banks (found right at the bottom under 'THE SERIOUS DISCUSSIONS')
 

(WRITTEN MARCH 2007) Updated Feb 2009 to say transfers can be done online now. I know transfers FROM Spain HAVE to be done online as our friends were told by Guardamar branch recently so check situation with Halifax.) We are now with Halifax ES http://www.halifax.es/halifaxing/halifax/halifax.asp?sec=halifax (after being with Cambank) for a few reasons.  1) THEY don't charge us (as non-residents ) ANYTHING for the declaration of non residency. ( Cambank charges 17 euros something every two years for each person named on the a/c ! ) 2) We have (now) a Halifax high interest current a/c in the UK & enjoy FREE transfers at almost bank rates & transfers are in our Spanish a/c within three working days generally ! 3) A debit card is only 3 euros annually, think it's 6 euros at Cambank. 4) NO bank charges to maintain a/c if 600 euros (opening balance) is maintained generally. Cambank charged us a quarterly fee of 5.75 euros to maintain the current a/c even though we always had a minimum of 1,000 euros in most of the time. 5) FREE direct debits. 6) Guardamar (Costa Blanca) opened a branch in October 2006. Very conveniently sited on Torrevieja side of the town next door to "Bedz" shop. Parking right outside. Everyone speaks perfect English & actually Claire IS English ! 7) We opened a Spanish a/c by ringing the European Banking Dept in Halifax on 0845 number, see  http://www.halifax.es/halifaxing/acc/openingacc.asp?sec=acc It was quite simple & an a/c can be opened before you go over next. HOW you go about opening the Spanish current (basic) a/c from the UK. Ring The European Banking Dept. based in Halifax on 0845 600 3603 (Mon - Fri 9 - 5 BUT, if you ring outside these hours you can ask them to contact you, I often did this around 8.45am , saves your phone bill !!!) & ask for the application pack. It'll arrive within a couple of days. There is an info sheet on how to fill it in but it was easy. It's quite self explanatory. "Source Of funds" we ticked "savings" "Type Of Account" we ticked "Current Account" box. "Additional Facilities" we ticked both "Cheque Book" & "Debit Card" "Account Holding Branch" .. IF you want the branch to be GUARDAMAR, which is our nearest branch, it is so new (only opened October 2006) so it wasn't listed. SO .. You NEED to write "Guardamar" in this section & create a tiny box which you tick. Declaration Of Residence For Tax Purposes "Taxpayer's Data/Datos Identificativos" ONLY put your passport no. In box 3. "Country Code" box 10. Write 006 "Type Of Declaration" WE ticked box 13 because WE had gone through all this having had a Cambank a/c previously. Tick box 11 if it's your FIRST declaration. Don't forget to sign back of form & add your passport numbers. Get photocopies of both your passport's personal pages & a utility bill with your ID & address on. Take form & these copies ALSO originals to your local Halifax branch. They'll need to verify the copies so need to see originals. They'll put a sticker on the copies & scribble over the stickers. That sorted, you go to the cashier. I ASSUME you have Halifax UK current a/c as you'll NEED one in order to get the FREE transfers. Tell the cashier you need to transfer minimum 600 euros from your Halifax UK a/c to the holding a/c detailed in your Welcome Pack. This will be an International Bank A/C No. (IBAN) plus a Bank Identifier Code (BIC/SWIFT) (ENSURE she puts the customer reference they've given you on with your full names.) This holding a/c is ONLY used for this first transaction, you'll get your a/c number once all is set up. She'll convert this to sterling & give you an A4 form with all this on. (We transferred 650 € & also asked for a copy of transaction to send to Halifax in with application forms & verified copies of passports & utility bill.) She'll give you the preferential rate. (EG.. We got 1.46 when all we would've got at T.Cook's, best in town, was 1.41 AT THE TIME ! Commercial rate then was about 1.48 !) Put all in the pre-paid envelope & post off. After a couple of days you'll get a letter from Halifax advising you they've received your application & everything has been transferred to head office in Madrid. If you ring Halifax at this point they likely will have your Spanish a/c number. I rang for ours & she rang me next morning with it.   Once you have your a/c no. you obviously use that when transferring funds over. Nothing more now goes into the holding a/c ! You can either set up security with European banking dept & ring them asking for transfers or we have just been going into our local branch & getting them to do it as we then get a receipt. Transfers are taking three working days. Your cheque books, debit cards & PIN's will all come through separately, from Madrid. It can take a couple of weeks.

Thank you all.

Morerosado,  Its Torrevieja that I will be needing an account in.  I probably need to check what banks are there.  Thanks for the info, thats great.

Alyson was there are a reason for you not choosing the Halifax.  I'd be interested in your opinion.  I thought perhaps with having a mortgage here with them, selling up and moving it over to Spain it maybe easier but that might not be the case.

Lorraine

Lorraine, the Torrevieja Halifax Hispania bank is at Orihuela 71, Urb. Jardín Botánico, Bloq. 4 A , 03180 Torrevieja

Playa Flamenca one along the N332 is at the commercial centre. La Mosca. Orihuela Costa, 03189 Playa Flamenca

Guardamar branch is at Era de la Madaleneta, s/n, (esq. Pintor A. López, 2) 03140 Guardamar

BRANCHES LISTED HERE

Hi Lorraine,

Their charges were very high, and they wanted me to keep E600 in the account, which of course is £600, and as it is only going to be a holiday home, I don't want that much money, doing nothing, in there and plan to transfer on a monthly basis to cover bills using Moneycorp.  I bank with LloydsTSB in the UK, they are not marvellous but they  are OK.  I have 2 accounts, one for the house one for a very small business that I have but I move money between the two, its very convenient and I don't want to mess about closing it, or having a Halifax account as well as these.  Halifax wanted me to open an account with them in the UK as well as Spain, and would not give me a mortgage unless I did so.  I think that due to everything that is happening in the financial world right now, banks are being very cautious.  It may well be the right account for you, but it wasn't offering me what I am looking for, and I will probably go with a Spanish bank.

The other account that they offer, the Xtra is virtually the same as the Lloyds Euro account, but I would be paying for services I would never use.  They offer things like plumbers etc, but I used to work for the company that manages that service for all the banks and its not that good.

Halifax agreed in principle to give me a mortgage on MONDAY of this week, today they have changed their critria, and have now refused me...so good thing I didn't want to go with them.  It was agreed by someone called Chloe, she isn't in the office today to discuss anything with her.

On that note, I have posted a thread but I am now desperate for a good mortgage broker.

Many thanks

Alyson

Hi Alyson

I guess it rather depends on what you use a bank for in the end. You earn nothing really by keeping that 600€ in a UK bank anyway & another bank in Spain would charge you for the declaration of residence often just under 20€ per account holder every two years plus a quarterly charge to maintain your a/c plus charges more than 3€ per debit card so maybe swings & roundabouts. As I said it depends what you want from the bank.

A good mortgage broker is Smiley on EOS. If he can't fix you up with what you want maybe no one can, contact Patrick.

Smiley - patrick@marbellamortgages.com  www.marbellamortgages.com

Hi All, although I already have a Spanish bank account, I have been so impressed by these posts that I rang the 0845 telephone number and they are sending me a pack. They (Jim) wanted to know how I got to know them. I said EOS of course. I must say Jim was very helpful. I will keep you all posted on my progress.

Poor old Jim has been busy this evening, I spoke to him too, and although he was very helpful and pleasant, didn't really give me the answer I wanted.

Alyson

Hiya Rickiebear

Can I suggest you keep my info on how to fill forms in plus then what to do with it all, safely somewhere as you wouldn't believe the times I've been asked to post it. It just makes it very easy. (Keep copies so you can prove you did fillin that declaration of residency & when. It's not usually explained to you by those who know, ie.. The Halifax. Ironically, our local branch has a massive advert up saying why not open an a/c with Halifax Hispania but if you ask, it's a case of 'so & so is the one you should ask but she's on her coffee/lunch/holidays'.

Anyway, glad you were convinced it's a good idea, opening an a/c from here, the UK.

Hi Morerosado, thanks for the advice. Not sure where you are in Somerset, or if you are you are in Spain at the moment. But I assume you must be close to Bristol Airport. It is snowing again here, although not as hard as Monday night. The airport must still be open as I can hear an aircraft coming into land as I write. Although the snow may look nice, for those of you in Spain tonight, I envy you. Still I will be in Tenerife in 4 weeks. Can't wait.

Hi Rickiebear, we're just outside Weston (Kewstoke) & it snowed again over night here, very unusual for us to have snow. My OH brushed the snow from the drive then backed the car out of the drive on Tuesday morning & went to close the garage door. The car just took itself off backwards down to the road where it veered towards a neighbours van ! Thankfully it missed it & the deep snow slowed it down enough for it to stop at the kerb.

I waved OH off this morning & I was so nervous, remembering what happened before, but he's just rung to say main roads are just wet. Trouble is when we drive out of our road we drive either right, going down a steep hill, or left, going up it, & although it's a bus route & the buses that go into Bristol use it too, not just the local ones, it's always a nightmare in snow. The council used to grit it but seems it wasn't done Monday night although OH says he thinks it must've been done last night but the time he left 7:30am there hadn't been much traffic so he was concerned but he's ok, thank goodness.

News just said Cardiff airport has just reopened. Haven't heard about Bristol

Our road Tuesday morning. Bristol airport is just left of where sun's coming up.

Hi all, good to read the posts, I'm gonna watch this space carefully for any updates.

Alyson - its difficult to know what to do best when the banks are being so cautious, giving you with one hand then taking away with the other.  Hope you get on ok.

Morerosado - gorgeous picture.  We usually suffer terrible with the snow here but we seem to have a magic umbrella at the minute over Lossiemouth, theres only a dusting , if you drive 6 miles away its a different country altogether, still they closed the schools and college!! 

I have printed the post you gave earlier with all the details for the Halifax and am most grateful, thank you.