Lou P.

I've noticed repeatedly in British expat forums here and in France, that the subject guaranteed to mke the longest threads is money - property prices, exchange rates, investments, cheap offers of whatever. You hardly ever see much interest in history, geology, language or customs or ecology, just mone money money. I saw one thread in France whcih was asking people to sign a petition to save dolphins and one guy replied, "What have dolphins ever done for the economy?" Duh..

Mitzyboy

Well, to be honest thats bad news but even so when you have the full amounts in the accounts the 3% is still about the best deal around at around £1200 per year. As for the credit card, if the figures dont add up then I'll scrap it and continue using my HSBC card instead

It's very very difficult to get risk free decent interest rates any more. Even the ISA's are much less than Santander.

People who took the Governments advice back in the day and save for their retirement have all be had by the goolies ..... no one who actually did that gets any rewards now. The people who borrowed their way through life however get low interest rates.

missile

The OP is currently UK resident and hoping to relocate to Spain.

Mitzyboy

Thats exactly what I found when I researched your earlier comment. these are all accounts where you pay in x amount per month so the interest is not a lot, whereas I want to deposit £20K for instance it doesnt fit with these accounts

Mitzyboy

Well I guess thats because it is really important to people who are comitting a new life to a new country. They want to ensure they can afford it!
I didf the same ... the history, geology & customs were something I found out about in real life, rather than here :-)

I opened a bank account with Santander in the UK when I was a Spanish Resident. They were aware of my residency. i did it in person in the UK and had to provide original proof of my address in Spain and my passport

Fredbargate

If you take your own advice and read my posts carefully plus the link you will see these rates are available to anyone resident anywhere in the world whether retired or not.

missile

Which post would that be?

Dondurma

I love these investment advice threads.

I have € 17.89 in my account. Any ideas where I should stick it?

Mitzyboy

Do you want my address?

missile

Now that is an interesting question

Fredbargate

Quite simply to get the pensioner rate the pensioner has to be resident in Gibraltar.

However rates up to 5% are available to everyone under slightly different conditions to the pensioners conditions.

That is why on my original post I listed the pensioners rates separately.

Also you know what you can do with your smilies

missile

I am sure if the OP finds your advice helpful he will thank you in due course

Dizzydee

That is interesting. Thank you.

I didn't want to respond to the previous answer as I'm sure it would have been met with sarcasm.

Fredbargate, I can't speak for the OP but thank you. The Gibraltar option for non residents does look quite good. I honestly can't remember if the OP actually asked for any investment advice in this thread or whether it was someone going off-topic introduced the subject.

missile

I guess that comment was aimed at me?

As far as I am aware, Santander 123 accounts are not open to non-residents:
"1. Eligibility
To be eligible to open this account you must be 18 years old or over and live in the UK for tax purposes.
You may only hold a maximum of two 123 Current Accounts, one in your name and one in joint names.
Any additional requests for a 123 Current Account may result in a joint account holder becoming aware of your existing I23 Current Account(s).
If you open or hold any additional 123 Current Account(s), we may change them to another current account.
We will give you at least two months’ personal notice if we decide to change the account.
If you are not happy with the change, you are free to close the account or there may be other current accounts available to you."

see here > http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/curren...rrent-account/

Please be advised there are several threads on where to invest / save your hard earned £ / €.

Dizzydee

Yes several topics indeed, thank you. Please be advised however, that I wasn't looking for somewhere to invest or save my hard earned money. I was asking how can someone open an account if they are tax resident in Spain (no sarcasm intended).