keithBT

hI ALL, i''ve been banking with BBVA in Ayamonte since 2014 and every year I pay roughly 100 euros plus in bank settlement fees. Most recent was this month at 61.40 for six months If I were a resident and my pensions etc were paid in I would qualify for free banking. As it is I transfer over about £3000 a year, to pay the IBI, electric, priinet, water, manzana maintenance, intercommunity maintenance, various other taxes etc etc.HAS ANYONE managed to get an account with a bank to do all these direct debits / standing orders which is either free or minimal charges.
I feel like we are being taken for a ride subsidising the resident population. PS, I have not yet gone overdrawn. I hate to think how much that might cost.

Twenty years ago on the costa blanca I banked with Halifax. Great service and free. No longer in Spain I believe.

Any advice?

del.Almendro

I closed my Spanish bank account years ago and now pay everything using my Halifax Clarity credit card from the UK. It does mean making individual payments rather than automated payments but I am in control and have nil charges/commission to pay. Works for holiday home owners without a mortgage. Haven't found a way to pay Deemed Rental Income Tax from the UK though, so pay that over the counter in Ayamonte each year.

Jon-Bxl

Hi
I am interested in how complicated it is in practice to pay individually from abroad. Do you get all bills sent to the UK like electric, gas, water, community, intercommunity etc, please?

I've wanted to dump my Spanish account, and use my Belgian account for years using SEPA for years. But I hesitate as if I regret it later, opening a new account is so much more tricky these days with the intrusive questions they ask. I tried to change bank last year but was surprised at the detail they wanted to know for what is just an account for paying bills. I don't even take cash out of it.

Jon

https://transferwise.com/help/15/pay...sepa-transfers

keithBT

Keith again, So I can only gather from the lack of comments that we are ALL being charged quite heavily by the banks ?

del.Almendro

The village house we own in El Almendro is not subject to any community or intercommunity charges, nor do we have mains gas, so our situation is fairly simple to administer.

Giahsa, IBI, Tasas and car tax bills are all visible online and payable by UK credit card using sgth.es website. Leccy bill also online and payable by card. We are with CHC Energia. That's it essentially. The only ones we have to pay in cash over the bank counter are our annual Deemed Rental Income Taxes (modelo 210 form). Caja Rural in Ayamonte make no processing charge for this, despite us not having an account with them.

We pay insurance invoices direct to our Spanish broker by UK credit card (car, buildings, contents).

​

Jon-Bxl

Thanks so much del.Almendro for the detailed and prompt response. 👍

I need to get more savvy about the whole situation. I had so much free time during lockdown, and didn't even think about researching this!

The next time we are in Spain and I have the bills, customer numbers etc, I'll do a full investigation. It could be as simple as changing the bank account details to my Belgian bank ... Use SEPA .. and finally ditch the Bankia Spanish account. Their customer service is useless online, and on the phone. We have to go to Huelva for anything we need.

Thanks again - really helpful

Jon

keithBT

Hi All, I need the services of direct debits to pay my bills etc. I still have quite a lot of responsibilities here in the UK and would not have the time or inclination to pay the water bill, electric bill, priinet etc by card every month. At some point I would without doubt fail to make a payment or an advice would fail to reach me in time. I know the EUC is 85 euros every six months but I wouldn't have a clue how to pay it. Currently it just gets paid by the bank. The nature of this post was to see if someone had found a "cheaper" bank account. It somewhat irks me that residents get free banking in most cases and we subsidise it.
I've therefore reached the conclusion that currently this is an additional cost we have to bear and there is no way around it. At least I tried !!
Keith

johnnyone

I have received a letter from Caixa that if I have understood it correctly, looks as though I am going to be paying 60 euros per quarter in fees from 1st October.
Its ridiculous as there is always a healthy balance and I only use it for my dd's etc.

keithBT

60 EUROS A QUARTER !!!!!! THAT'S RIDICULOUS. EVEN BBVA AREN'T THAT BAD - YET.

Jon-Bxl

Too right. Yet another way the 'gold card' expats get taken advantage of.

Jon

casey948

I have banked with Bankinter ever since I bought my place in 2006, all on-line and with an English language phone service, I only use the account for paying bills, all set-up on DDs, and pay €7,91 per month plus an annual charge for 'Non-residency management fee' of €36,30, so €131,22 per annum.

johnnyone

I think Caixa may be trying to slyly switch my current account to another account (Hola account).
I've asked them for clarification but don't expect a response, so shall go into my branch when I am over.
Has anyone else who Banks with Caixa received a similar notice?

johnnyone

​​​​​​Have had a reply from Caixa and they have confirmed the 60 euro per quarter charge.

​​​​​​Need to find a new bank before October

MikeJ

We were with Caixa for a few years after they bought Barclays SA. Hopeless customer service. We were on the Hola account, which seems to be their standard now. Eventually we switched to Sabadell (opposite the Tributaria off Laguna Sq. Very happy with their customer service, all tellers speak some English and a few are fluent.

chrismortley

Hi
Thanks for the heads up , we are with La Caixa but so far we have not received any suggestion off an account change by letter or email , but I will keep an eye on it
Thanks
Chris