Can anyone recommend a good bank in Ayamonte. My bank has unilaterally told me that it is improving my service by moving my branch to Huelva!
My personal definition of a good bank is:

How easy is it to transfer from one bank to another? - is it as trouble-free as in the UK?

If you don't want to go public with your opinion of the banks in Ayamonte then please pm me. Many thanks. MikeJ

Just PM'd

It sounds as though you are with the same bank as us. When we 1st moved here our then bank's nearest branch was Seville so we then changed (in Jan) to a Bank (fairly easily I have to say) with a branch in Ayamonte only to be told they are now moving to Huelva Regards Bryony

I have an account with Solbank (now banc Sabodell) and Kath is at Bank Andalucia (now Grupo Banco Popular). We each have an account which carries minimum charges Solbank available at any age and Andalucia a retired only account. We have set it up this way so that at the first "event" the surviving spouse has access to funds. Both banks have good English language websites and English speakers in branch, Solbank slightly the better. Both banks issue debit and credit cards and Solbank also has a no cost pre-loaded card for RYANAIR

Which bank is moving?

Thats handy to have a bank that if you need anything doing you have to go to Huelva, like for us we need to pay in reguarlary

The Bank is Barclays - closing 13th September nearest branch Huelva.

"just off to the bank love - See you tomorrow"

We had the letter this week.

Not surprised though,pretty poor service levels.Looks like we may have to change bank.Never been to Huelva,dont fancy it!

Out of your region but same problem.
I'm in Oliva (valencia)and my Barclays is also shutting. They make it sound as thay are doing you a favour.
Is it easy to change banks, inc. dds etc?

I have business and personal accounts there... I went into Solbank they said it is all straight forward however lots of admin for my accountant or me..???? changing DD's , suppliers, vat, tax, social.. etc pain in ****!

More paperwork!

In the UK one can swap banks reasonably easily - the new bank does it all for you (apart from the usual tidying up). Does anyone know is this the case in Spain? Or do you (or accountant) have to do it all yourself?

I did it recently and it was all done for me.... in my case it was the DD's that I have for everything that were transferred - however it was a favour and I dont think it is a normal service. So I cant disclose the bank - sorry. I was very impressed .... and my bank charges were reduced from my Huelva bank. (I originally had my account in Huelva with the same bank as I have in Belgium, with a great internet service.... but since SEPA has come out in Europe there is no real advantage, and its better to have an Ayamonte bank)

The problem is that even though the Spanish manager called and changed the DD's (more than once now ..... and got assurances that it is finally changed) - the gas one simply havent changed. They just take the instruction and do nothing and keep on charging my other account.

The manager gave me some good advice (he knows his country!).. that was NOT to close the old account until we had seen one DD come from the new account, for every change. It still hasnt happened with Gas and I have to keep the old account open even longer - and contact the gas co myself (the manager has politely asked me to take over - I cant blame him for giving up! ) ..... So I am still paying charges (more than the 'flaming' gas bill - pun intended) and keeping an account open for months for just 1 company who cant do their job properly aaaaargh

Had I closed the Huelva account, the bill would've bounced and I would be on a list of people to cut off!

I hope I can have more luck than a local Spanish bank manager!

Nothing is easy in Spain!

JOn

PS the Caja's are having a lot of problems in Spain - so do some research - you dont want to have to change again.
PPS Ive mentioned this before - its crazy how in Spain DD's can be set up without me signing anything! Its happened a lot and the bank just pays. Crazy. We moved a bunch of DD's with just a voice on the phone saying he was a manager... and I have had others set up from scratch with nothing signed from me! Most have been done like this. Weird - but handy for me - but also scary