OTA63

Hi All.
Am I right in thinking that I have to have a Spanish bank account to pay Spanish bills including tax once I become a resident fiscally.
The problem I am having at the moment is finding a British bank that will transfer money from a British account to a Spanish account via internet banking. I want to keep a British account cos' there will still be the odd bill that needs paying in the UK. I will not be retaining a UK address.
I had thought to have all our pensions paid into UK account and transfer the majority of the money to Spanish bank.
Any ideas as to how to get around this?
Would it be any easier to have my pensions paid into Spanish account and then transfer money from Spain to UK account?
Many thanks.

dypcdiver

I bank with BBVA, who don't levy charges if I have my pension arriving there. My pension is paid in Euros from the UK Gov Pension office. I also have a small draw down from a pension fund which is paid into my UK bank.
I have no problem transferring either way, although there is a small fee to pay.
The UK bank is happy to acknowledge my Spanish address and all correspondence is sent here.

Fred James

You will probably find you will get a better exchange rate by using an FX company. I use Moneycorp. You can transfer your UK funds to them using your bank debit card and then transfer out in Euros when it suits you.

spainrico

I have my private pension paid into Lloyds UK and use a currency exchange company (cheaper than a bank) to transfer pounds which arrive in Euros into my Spanish bank account. Simple.

OTA63

Thanks guys. What bank do you use in UK DYP. Hi Spainrico, there is a TSB bank in my town who say that when they have completed their linking up with Sabadell in November it might be easier and I would only need a correspondence address in the UK. So that may work.
You see if anything happened to me whilst living in Spain my wife would not be able to arranging the transfer of our money back to a UK account and closing the Spanish account.

tebo53

I get all my pensions including the UK pension paid into Barclays in the UK then I transfer as much as I need monthly using "Transferwise" a very small fee is paid and it's usually transferred same day to Sabadell bank.

Steve

Loafing Along

I do a mix - Uk Govt pension direct to Spanish bank - excellent exchange rate, and then use Transferwise for private pension from UK bank to Spanish bank for top-up payments.

stevesainty

There is no reason why you should not keep your UK bank accounts, especially as you will be unable to open up any new ones once you live permanently in Spain. You will need to open up a Spanish bank account for your day to day living expenses and cash withdrawals.

We bank with Sabadell and they, along with most other large banks in Spain, have an account that is totally free of charges if you pay in a minimum of 700€ per calendar month. By free I mean free, no annual card charges, no transfer charges, and you even get a small dividend based on the amount of direct debits leaving your account.

Like other posters we have the UK state pension, only my wife´s at the moment, mine in another 5 years, paid direct into our Spanish bank account. In better times this one payment covered our 700€ minimum deposit, but atm, sadly, it is only worth around 570€. We also use Transferwise for our transfers from sterling to euros, a good rate of exchange and a small fee for a same day service.

We operate all our bank accounts and our Transferwise account online, and also by smartphone.

OTA63

Thanks guys. I understand that the Royal Bank Of Scotland are part of Barclays Bank yet they say I must have a UK address and there are difficulties with transferring to a Spanish bank. Concerns over money laundering they said.
I cannot see how transferring pension payments can be in any way confused with a money laundering operation.
Based on what you have all told me, I'll get my pension, my wife's pension and my superann pension paid direct into a Spanish account and my private pension into a UK bank for emergencies. That should work shouldn't it??
Bryan

tebo53

Yep!

dypcdiver

Things I would make sure; that the source of the pension/s is clearly stated, and that your bank in Spain will not charge you for receiving/processing the payments.
The exchange rate from the UK pensions dept has always been good.
Enjoy

Golden Years

There is no connection between Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclay Bank.
RBS own Nat West, a rival UK retail bank.
I think Caixabank bought the old Barclays Spanish retail business.

amideislas

UK banks have always been rather dismal at conducting any transaction outside the UK. This, of course, explains why the "transfer service" business is largely a UK-based enterprise. Banking in "rest of the world" (perhaps with the exception of the US) tends to be a little more familiar with international transfers. Certainly European banks are much simpler and less expensive. For example, I routinely send money to my daughter in Brazil directly from my Spanish or German online banking. It's easy and not terribly expensive. Many UK banks don't even have that facility in their online banking. You have to visit a branch and fill out paperwork. And even then, they often get it wrong, take a long time to do it, and charge a fortune for it (along with pathetic exchange rates).

Personally, I would never attempt to transfer money from any UK bank account to anywhere outside the UK. Always use a transfer service.

Having said that, for small amounts (under €1000), PayPal is a dream. Extremely fast, easy and cheap, too.

chopera

Keeping a UK account is very useful, but you must inform them that you are resident in Spain. Is there not a reative you can use as a correspondence address? Most accounts are paperless these days so it's not as if they will receive much correspondence anyway.

Having pensions paid in pounds to a UK bank gives you control of when you exchange the money to euros. You might have a slightly worse exchange rate than if the pension was paid directly in euros, but holding pounds might suit your circumstances.

OTA63

Thanks everyone. It sounds as though getting our pensions paid directly into a Spanish account. As I said earlier, my worry is how my wife will manage to get money out of the bank and transfer pension payments into a UK account should anything happen to me. I have always dealt with all financial matters. My son would need to come out to Spain and take care of officialdom and banking matters and then take my wife home to the UK. My wife just would cope in Spain on her own, but what's the alternative? Stay in the UK in the cold and wet suffering from arthritis as we get older and regretting not taking the chance to live in the sun in our old age. Not likely!!!! As with most things in like prepare for the worst and hope for the best!!

I could use my daughters address for correspondence but as you say most correspondence would hopefully be online.