Ken and Tina

Can anyone throw any light, help or advise here please, on an issue I’m having with CaixaBank ?.

Periodically (I think, around every 2 years), Caixa expect me to go into the local Caixabank, to validate our passports, and confirm our business status – ie. what is our work status/are we retired etc, and sign a confirmation. This is all linked to a letter they send out titled “Notification Importante”, and is to do with an anti money laundering law. Although this is a real pain, as you would know if you’ve ever had to queue up at the local Caixa in Laguna Square with all the locals, and try and get any of the staff to understand “why” you’re there, we have to do it, so we do it.

Now I received one of these letters on 13/12/2020 (we’re currently confined to the UK, for obvious reasons), telling me I had to do this by 19/12/2020 !, otherwise certain restrictions would be put on my bank account. So, after the initial panic, as I clearly wasn’t going to be able to do this, I tried to contact Caixa !.

I emailed them a covering letter, all polite, explaining my situation – all translated into Spanish. I attached, copies of our passports, copies of our NIE numbers, confirmed our signatures etc etc, telling them that as soon as we are allowed to travel, I would be going to Spain, and will go into the local branch, with all these documents, confirm our status etc, and sign as required.

Now after, and I’m not exaggerating!, around 10-12 further emails, to probably 6-8 different people/offices, numerous phone-calls, sending a personal written letter to Caixa in Huelva, containing copies of all of these documents (signed for & tracked), and still getting nowhere. Today, I received an email from a lady in the Huelva office of CaixaBank, telling me that they need our passports to be legitimized by the consulate so that they can validate the passports, and here’s the best bit……….this needs to be legitimized by the consulate of my country i.e. England, despite the fact that our passports have been issued by Her Majesties Passport Office in the UK !!.

Now I know some of the Spanish Laws/rules can be a little odd and confusing, ….and before someone says “oh that’s Brexit for you“, this was a request/requirement before Brexit,…. is this for real?.

Would appreciate anyone’s thoughts, and if anyone has had the same, and if so, what have they done about it to get round or resolve this.

keithBT

Hi Ken & Tina, I'm sorry to say, I had the same problem with BBVA in Ayamonte. This was about three years ago. I had to go in and present my passport and sign something. I had failed to notice the warning emails when I logged in online. Long story short, they froze the account on the 31st December that year. I had to send out individual payments to various utilities using transferwise until I got back out in the early March. A complete PITA. I keep an eye out now, but I'm sure some kind of renewal process must be on the cards soon. I tried contacting BBVA, but they didn't want to know. They have to comply with the law.

Ken and Tina

Hi Keith, yes, I've had the "going in to present my passport, or my account gets frozen" etc etc, and reluctantly accept that, but for CaixaBank, telling me that they need our passports to be legitimized by the consulate so that they can validate the passports, and this needs to be legitimized by the consulate of my country i.e. in England, despite the fact that our passports have been issued by Her Majesties Passport Office in the UK !!. Who else with any higher authority can authorise that our passports are legal, over and above the office who issued them ???.

breakfasttea

Not sure if this is a troll, but you can simply have a British government approved notary verify your documentation on your behalf. Please check the British Embassy in Madrid (though calls go through to Valencia sometimes) website.

Ken and Tina

Troll ?.
That's certainly not what is being requested by CaixaBank !. They are advising that I need our passports to be legitimized by the consulate in the UK, so that they (CaixaBank) can validate our passports, which is absurd. Can't help but think there's been some breakdown in translation somewhere here ?.
At the end of the day, a British Government office has issued said documents, so they would clearly be valid/legitimized, wouldn't they ? - how can you go to the government issuing office and ask them if what they have issued is actually valid/legitimized, considering in recent times these documents have been examined by Government security personnel in Spain, Portugal & the UK, when travelling between these countries, without any problems, except this doesn't suit CaixaBank !!.
Utter madness.

guesswork

Would Caixabank in the UK be able to verify the Documents for you. When I was with Banco Halifax and Lloyds I used to take mine into any Halifax branch in the UK and they would sign it off for me. I never needed to go to the Ayamonte branch.

​​​​​​https://www.caixabank.co.uk/uk/home_en.html

They are in London

breakfasttea

An official registered notary from the British embassy website can validate on behalf of the British Government, you can email these to one who will process the documents you need certified.

I’m truly at a loss why you refuse to do this.

I had to do the very same for processing my marriage paperwork when I got married in Spain to my wife and they were legally notorised and accepted by the consulate back in the U.K and Madrid/Valencia. I had to do the same process as you for my Caixa account too and it was accepted by the office in Santiago de la Ribera, San Javier and Beniajan office in Murcia also.

It sounds like the misunderstanding is wholly on your behalf. Best of luck fighting a very losing battle 👍🏼

Ken and Tina

Breakfasted, apologies, but I can assure you, that any misunderstanding here is not on my part.
Firstly, you have not been party to or seen the numerous communications between myself and Caixa, so clearly you do not know exactly what has been said.
Second, I am not refusing to do anything, yet !. I am simply asking the many learned people on this site, for their views/opinions, and then, I will decide the best way forward - the best idea don’t you think, considering I am the only person who really has “all” the facts .
Thanks for your view/opinion, enjoy the rest of your evening 👍.

MEL & JOHN

Ken and Tina,

What an absolute nightmare for you, wish I could offer some advise but I do know how inflexible the banks can be. Just a thought, I wonder if a local notary could help, cut through the flak and with some common sense sort it. I am thinking of Gloria Crespo. I have her contact details if you want them.
I have to say I am getting twitchy about this too as it is coming up to the time when we have to go to the bank with our passports etc, we have had new ones since our last visit so i am sure that will complicate things further.

Good luck, I do hope you can sort this soon.

Mel

MikeJ

It was this sort of bureaucracy, obstructiveness and plain bloodymindedness which caused us to leave Caixa and move to Sabadell. The performance we had to go through to finally close our account you wouldn't believe (or you probably would!) involved three visits to two different branches in Huelva.

Ken and Tina

Mel & John, you have a private message. Thks