Opening a bank account

In your view which is the best bank to use when you live in Spain. ?

I bank with La Caixa but I am not happy with it.

We have been very happy with Banco de Andalucia. They also have ENglish speaking staff which can be helpful if your Spanish is not great. We have always found them very helpful and friendly.

Hope this helps

The reason I am asking is that La Caixa charged us 60 Euros annual fee for a current account and 12 euros for our credit cards.I realise that Spanish banks are not free as English banks , but do they all have these charges ?

Hola Shytalk

Although I am a non resident I know residents who use Banco Halifax click here. 3€ per debit card annually, no fees if you have their ordinary current a/c if residents keep 300€ in (generally) Terms & Conditions click here 18€ per 6 months charged otherwise.

 I am with CajaSur just because my lawyer opened an account with them when I first moved to Spain.  At first, they were very good - helpful, friendly etc but since I have moved areas - to a coastal town - the service has gone right downhill.  My new local branch seems to be staffed by the most miserable unhelpful people they could find.  Moral - all depends on the branch.

I wouldn't recommend Halifiax.  They say there are no maintenance fees if you keep an average balance of 300 euros (600 euros for non residents).  However, they charge for transferring money for example.  The Halifax Hispania on line banking is rubbish as well.

I have got a Barclays Cuenta Oportunidad, which has absolutely no fees or commissions and their on line banking is excellent, with the option to display it in English or Spanish.

Banco Santander also have a zero commission account as well.  The only catch is that you have to pay in 600 euros per month, otherwise they charge you.  There doesn't appear to be an English version of the website either.

David

Well, I can't comment about about other banks as we use Banco Halifax as non residents but they certainly don't charge us for transferring funds between our Halifax UK bank & Banco Halifax bank.

Sorry, I was talking about transferring money from Halifax Hispania to another Spanish account.

I realised that, David, I was just emphasizing that there were free transfers between Halifaxes as often our resident friends use this option.