BANKINTER RIP OFF WHO DO I CHANGE TO HELP

I transfered money from uk they charged me 450 e as a receiving fee even though the fees where paid in uk the bank said tough its policy also they charged me 11e to get a new card when my old one ran out going to change but who to

Hi Steve and Hayley.

I recently changed my Spanish bank account to Barclays Spain as they have a new account on offer which does not charge you a monthly service fee and as i have a british account with Barclays, they will also do free transfers between accounts. They are also arranging to transfer all my direct debits from my old spanish account for me.They also set me up for online banking which is in english. So far they have been brilliant. They  have branches all over spain , the one I used was in San Pedro del Pinatar and Ana who opened the account was very helpful, she gave us her Email address and telephone number if we need to contact t her with any queries. ( you dont get that with a British bank)

Its early days yet so can only give you my experiences so far, but its looking good .

Peter & Pat

How much did you transfer? You can only expect to receive €50,000 free of charege (an EU directive I believe), anything over that you will be charged a %age of the overall amount.

Mark

edited to add a 0!

They charged 3% of any amount I spoke to the tele bank today and he told me to contact branch im there next week so ill go in and try hard ball but im looking at santander any veiws

Steve

I think Santanders web site is still only in Spanish at the moment for their accounts based in Spain, so not easy to manage the account online  if you don't speak Spanish.

Caixa Catalunya have a good online banking web site in English, but don't have such a wide branch net work, so depends on where you are in Spain if they would be suitable. They have a Global account, which is easy to manage online. Have a  look at www.caixacatalunya.es for details. Don't charge for credits either.

I changed from Solbank to Banco Halifax when my quarterly fees doubled. 

There are two accounts that you can apply for 1st has an annual fee of 25e., the second is free as long as you keep an average balance of 600e in the account.  The debit card fee is 3e annually.

I use the account  to pay bills so I went for the second option.  When I used Solbank I'd always leave this amount in the account to ensure I had enough to pay any bills between visits to Spain.  I don't need an atm card as I use my Nationwide card to withdraw cash as and when I need it.  I've been using Halifax for nearly 2 years now and it works for me.

The on-line banking is in English and transfers are free from a Halifax account in the UK and Spain.  The rate may not be as good as other financial institutions so you may get a few cents less on transactions.

In my branch in Torrevieja they have English staff so it's easy to speak to someone if you have any concerns.

The one thing to be careful of is that you should always check exactly what is dealt with for free with any bank that you choose.  We've got used to what we look at as free banking here in the UK.  Spain seems to rely on dealing in cash for paying bills, you may find that you will be charged for transferring money to another organisation to pay for property etc.

When I opened the account I took my latest bills with me, they took copies and changed the direct debits over.  Everything went through ok, they were also able to deal with one account which I didn't have bank account details for.  All I had was the original contract.  The only problem I had was with my IBI payment the following year, this should have been changed by my Solicitor who also deals with my financial affairs.  This year I went to the Suma office and registered the direct debit myself.

I'm with Bancaja and there are no charges at all on my account.  I have a debit card which, again, is free and there is internet banking which is (mainly) in English.  I deal directly with one of their International Managers, Antonio, in their Torrevieja branch and he is great with perfect English.

When it comes to transferring money from the UK I use John Mohan at Sterling Exchange and again I pay no fees and I get the commercial rate, rather than the tourist rate.

I am with Barclays and it works in the English way, no extra charges for having an account with them. customer service is also very good. I recommend it.

Ana