Hi

Well the time is coming near....(moving to Nerja on the 15th March ) but we are still a bit confused about banking, specifically actually transferring money between our account and the property owner we are renting from.

We currently banking with Nationwide and have asked if we can transfer money to a Spanish account. The answer they gave was No.....but others have said you can do it online

Because of pensions payments etc we dont want / need to open a Spanish bank account

Our land lady wants us to pay our rent into her Spanish bank account so in your experience can this be done.

My personal understanding is that as long as you have her bank account details then its just a transfer, isnt it?

Any help much appreciated.

I dont know what Nationwide do re charges, but in general banks charge you for making transfers to euros. Its a fairly expensive way of doing things. Nationwide may be different.

hifx.com transfer money from Sterling UK to Euros Spain.

My son a UK accountant checked them out and was satisfied. We have used them several times, and after the setting up, it so simple, no charges ether end and good rate of exchange

Not sure if you are here permanently but you can withdraw 300 euros a day from NW account here to deposit in landladies account until you are more settled.

If you're here for anything other than a short holiday I would think you would find it pretty tough to exist here without a Spanish bank account.
IMHO, best to open one, transfer some funds to it using a currency transfer company then use that to pay all your bills, rent etc. Much simpler, no?

I assumed they weren't here permanently, for as you say it would be nigh impossible to live here without a spanish account.
They could always open a non resident account from the UK.

Also if you ever decide to buy a property in Spain you will have to have a Spanish account. Your solicitor will ask for the IBAN no.

Bank accounts are no big deal - there's no reason that you'd have to close your british account(s), so having at least one account with a spanish bank gives you flexibility.
Ask yourself: what would you do if you were in Spain and you lost (or had stolen) your british cash / credit cards? It's worth having an extra account just for the peace of mind.

Yes I agree I will keep my UK bank account after we have moved out there but will use my spanish account for utility, rate payments etc. What I am hoping is that internet banking on UK accounts will extend to making overseas payments. I am with Lloyds TSB and they have recently been conducting a survey on internet banking and one of the options for what people would like it to do is overseas transfers so it may happen who knows. This will make things a lot easier.

What about setting up an account with Snatander in the UK? They're a Spanish bank so maybe easier to use them.

I doubt it to be honest because a spanish account is a euro account and you can only transfer from a sterling account via the bank. I opened my account with La Caixa in London but it is still a euro account.