Paying money into Spanish Bank Account

The way I understand it is ..  the new cashcard+ (how tonynault explained it)  .. ie for a cash card current account http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/cash_card_account.htm

The Flex a/c is as before http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/account_benefits.htm

Hello to everyone.

I dont have any experience with la caixa bank or nationwide, but i do with Santander.  I bank with them both here in uk (used to be Abbey) and also Santander in spain.  When planning my move to spain i visited most of the banks in spain to see which one would be best for my purposes and transferring money, cash out at ATM's etcc..  and found that santander was the best as told at the time, as uk santander (abbey) customers could transfer money from uk to spain free of charge. Well of course, upon my return to uk found this not to be true and actually it costs £25 each transaction.  Also checked Barclays from uk branch to barclays spain branch and this too you have to pay.  The only one that is free for bank to bank banking transfers is Lloyds but the catch with them is that you have to have a specific type of account which you need £1,500 to open the account and then their services are free.  Well i suppose this is ok for some customers but not everyone has that sort of money spare these days, and if you are planning a move to spain anyone will know it costs alot of money and sometimes this is not always spare cash, as you have a budget to plan and every penny is accounted for.  Anyway, after alot of dealings with banks both in uk and spain, found that they operate on whole different systems, ie - sort codes, account numbers, iban numbers and international banking costs a fortune for every little thing you do. 

Wishing everyone well.

ps. also thought i'd add for uk banking customers that withdraw money at the ATM's abroad, you not only have to pay a charge for using this facility and then also having to deal with the exchange rate too. something i didn't count on. 

Thanks More. I'm going to open an a/c with them when I go over if it's still free to withdraw in Spain. Hope the flex a/c is still like now. it's very confusing when people post different info. It's best for me to go & see them.

Cornish Geri,

If you are paying Santander £25.00 for every transfer then do not use them anymore. I use Smart Exchange. (Just Google for them). They don't charge commission and the rates are almost at commercial level. I used to use Halifax as I bank with Banco Halifax Hispania so there was no charge for transferring money but the exchange rate was very poor so I've stopped using them.

NEVER use the banks, they charge far too much in my experience.

Every cent counts these days, so why give the banks any more of your hard-earned money. I think those establishments have had quite enough of our money in the last 18 months.

Mr Fish, do you mean http://www.smartcurrencyexchange.com/ as Googling for Smart Exchange takes me to something totally different!

Charge No Fees/No Commission (on all transfers over £3,000)

I didn't go into the fees as I wasn't that interested myself but that is not no fees/no commission & most are maybe not talking about that amount of money unless, of course, you are needing money transferred in order to purchase property. 

Hi All,

My mother also received this letter and she is very worried as she is resident in Spain. She has a Flex account and the card she was given (has the cirrus sign) only allows her to withdraw money from atms, she cannot use it in shops etc.  She rang Nationwide customer services on Saturday and spoke to a manager who had no knowledge of this letter!   Reading this thread it seems there are 2 types of account - the cash card account and the flex account, and the letter applies to the former, but what is confusing is that she has a flex account but has still received this letter!

 I hear many residents in Spain use a Nationwide Flex account (by giving a UK address) but a Nationwide Flex account can only be opened by UK residents   it states in http://www.nationwide.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/11131E12-ED32-4C10-AAF2-692B98A2C60C/0/P857_November2009.pdf

Nationwide Current Account Agreement

 We strongly advise you to read all the terms of this agreement as you will be legally bound by them whether or not you choose to read them. Applications only accepted from residents of the United Kingdom.

So, if your mother is a resident of Spain how can she have a Flex a/c, Sharon? Is it ok to open one before becoming a Spanish resident, I wonder, then you are able to continue? Just interesting, that is all.

Hi More,

Yes, she opened the account when she still lived in England - when she was moving out here she informed them and they said that was fine, she receives her statements to her spanish address.   Her worry is that if this does apply to her then she will no longer be able to draw euros!

My husband is going to tackle our Nationwide manager tomorrow & I, of course, will report back on what he says too.

Of course your mother's worried, Sharon, I would be too but maybe Nationwide is as confused as its customers just now.

We have not received a letter, we are UK residents BTW.

Hi More, would appreciate any feedback your husband receives - she did try to get clarification from them but got no joy! She cannot get to a branch until she visits UK at the end of April.

Morerosado, Yes that link is correct. I see that their web site says No Fees/No Commission (on all transfers over £3,000) but I transfer less than that regularly and I don't get charged commission these days. They used to charge £5.00 but not anymore. (To me anyway)

Sharon said: "Reading this thread it seems there are 2 types of account - the cash card account and the flex account"

I think you'll find there is only 1 type of account, that is the Flexaccount. The difference is the bank can decide which kind of card they give you! My son has the exact same account as my wife and I, only because he doesn't have enough money going into his account, they issued him with a cashcard.

As to what happens when you become a resident of another country I don't know! Does your mum have her pension/wages paid into her UK bank? If so I don't see what the problem is with using the card in Spain. Also did she ever have a debit card or has it always been a cash card?

Not trying to be nosy please feel free to ignore the questions!

Tony.

Hi Tony,

That kind of makes sense, My mother definately has a flex account and definately has a card that only allows her to withdraw cash in Spain. The new card will not allow her to do this. It is fine for her to still hold the account even though she is now resident of Spain but she does have her pension paid into her Nationwide UK account so this is where the problem is she will not be able to access her pension!   To be honest I am not sure what card she has - it is blue and has the cirrus sign on the back, I do not remember it stating debit anywhere on the card.

New regulation on Banking meant that all Banks had to offer accounts to people they would otherwise have rejected.  There is now a basic account which is available to everyone except for those who have a very poor credit rating.  These accounts use a cash card system sometimes known as Electron cards.  The accounts are very basic, no overdraft facility, cannot be used to pay for goods in stores or on internet and are purely used as an atm card.

The new regulation came about through the government paying all benefits through the banking system.  Was this when your mother opened up her account Sharon, to have her pension paid in rather than collect it at the Post Office?

I'd write a letter to Nationwide to explain that this new card is not suitable now that she lives in Spain and ask for the account to be transferred to one that allows overseas access.  Hopefully this will speed up the process and maybe the paperwork could be at the branch awaiting signature with the new card in April.

I opened up my account on-line and I had to go into my nearest branch with my identification documents to prove I was a UK resident.  My cards were sent out to me the following week with my pin number.  I have a blue Visa Debit card, I always thought the cirrus sign was the Access symbol.  Remember when you either had a Visa Card or an Access card and you looked out for these symbols when using the card abroad. 

I'm sure Nationwide will be receiving lots of calls from concerned customers as so many of us use their system abroad, I'm off to US in April and intend to use mine although I will have to pay a small charge.  Spain is still free at the moment and long may it continue to be so.

Hi, your opening statement is incorrect Electron cards are  acceptable in stores where the sign is displayed but not as widely acceptable as other cards they are primarily given to very young account holders they can be used to pay for goods i am not sure about the internet.

I have been looking into getting an Electron card to use for when booking flights as Easyjet is still allowing them to be used free of charge.  When I asked in Nationwide they said that they were only issued to the basic a/c holders.  Whether they can be used I couldn't say, it could be that the Nationwide don't have them and the counter clerk misunderstood what I meant.

No I have to admit we have never been offered an electron card from Nationwide, I was not sure they did them.

But when we opened a  Barclays Account in Spain we was given one automatically not that we have ever used it as yet, it might be good if we book one way UK to Spain and then  use it to book a flight back. But we will not be doing that at the moment due to hospital commitments.

.  

Hi Semijubilana,

No, my mother opened her account a couple of years before retirering out here,

My husband has an electron card, and can hardly be called young!  He has used it online to pay for flights, hotels and books.  He does say though that it´s not as widely accepted as other cards, and when our belongings were delivered here the UK company (who shall be nameless - DDR!) refused to accept a payment for the balance using the card and then used an extortionate exchange rate when we had to pay in euros instead.

Sue