Appologies if this is going over old ground, But i am a little confused as to the difference (if any) Between the terminology ' Resident/Non resident'.
The reason I ask, is that as I already have a uk Halifax account, I have emailed halifax es as to what is required to set up an account in Spain.
I have explained our requirements in that we will each need a seperate account (4 adults) and a seperate account for the Business. We will be applying for Nie and will be registered for Taxes, Iva etc.
They have replyed stating that I can open A 'NON RESIDENT ACCOUNT with just my passport, A perminet address, and a utility Bill.
They dont stae what a NON RESIDENT ACCOUNT means..Is there such a thing as a RESIDENT account or am I confusing myself.
P.S I also have to deposit 600 Euros when opening.
Please Clarify.....................I Dont want to keep it under the mattress

Seperate tax resident from resident.
If you come to Spain with the intention to live you become a tax resident

When you come to live in Spain you can register with the town hall on the padron as a resident in the area. Nowadays you also have to gain a residency certificate. Getting a resident card used to be a choice, but now you have to have a certificate.

Now we are on the padron, we can change our account to a residents account. The only difference I know of is we don't have to make the annual non resident declaration, and I believe we can spend a bit more on our cards!

Thanks Mitzy.
So as there no restrictions with a NON Residents account we will set these up, My concern was I wanted to have my account in place before I started to instruct getors etc and i didn't want to set up the wrong type of account but it seams my concerns were groundless. Once again Many Thanks.

Well, I'm restricted in as much as I can only use a certain amount on my card every month, and withdraw only a certain amount per day .... but even so you can always change it when you get your residency.

Will I be able to use it to make initial large payments? Buying the Business, Deposit/Rent on accomodation etc

I had a non resident account and drew out 10k € to buy a car, all they said was next time could I give a bit of notice in case they ran short of cash.
Although laws have changed because of money laundering, so it may be a bit harder to draw out cash now, but a cheque account should be ok, saying that, Spanish are not too keen on cheques. ;-)
Best to ask the bank manager.

We have just changed our non residents account to a residents account and were told that it is then called a 'normal' account. The only thing that the bank manager wanted to see was our passports and our new residence certificate.

Rosemary

A residents account will have more favourable conditions than a non residents account. For example, higher interest on savings, lower charges, etc.

I find it is better to give a couple of days notice to take out large sums, i.e. over 1500 Euros, otherwise you may have to wait a while in the bank and it would be a requirement for large sums to apy for a car for example. I have a daily limit on my bank card for both cash and card payments in shops, but as far as I know NO monthly limit. I do NOT have a credit card.

We wanted to change our, BUT, while we have a form saying we have residencia, we do not, as yet, have the card, we are in the old system and have to go for fingerprinting in September, and as we do NOT have a card, we can't get a residents account, which would entitle us to a lower interest rate on our mortgage, and a longer term for repayments as well as other things.

Thats a pain for you, having to wait. Did not know that you could reduce your mortgage payments, can you tell me a little more please.

Rosemary

Our Bank Manager accepted the position that we had applied for residency and altered our accounts accordingly. He knew that it would be ages before we obtained our card. We just took in all our official stamped bits of paper!

Depends on the bank, some do, others don't, but as far as I'm aware, the interest rate for a residents mortgage is lower than for a non residents, and the terms can be up to age 80.