Domino

sister, brother, son, daughter or just a plain postal address - there's lots of businesses do them, even solicitors, but all will charge for a) holding your box b) forwarding on mail to you

I use my sister's address where necessary but all my banking is on-line so don't get the usual statements etc from them.

We know that Unicaja charge for sterling deposits and changing to euros, but AFAIK Santander don't.

Tinky

That is food for thought, never knew you could get a plain postal address! Thanks for the idea Domino, just need to get UK phone number as well, and that could work very well

andyrich666

You can get numbers that divert to your Spanish number either 0843 or 0207/8

andyrich666

Have a look at https://www.norwegian.com/ I booked a trip in Jan return for €20

It goes to Gatwick, but its daytime and train is one stop to Essex for £14 !

tebo53

Hi, I use 'Transferwise' to transfer money from Barclays to my Sabadell non-residents account. They charge £1 for up to £200 transfer then a % after that.

Fionan

I travel a lot with work and have started to notice this charge come into effect from Nov 18 2013 onwards. In my case it covered five countries. I was up in arms and angry as all hell so I prepared a spreadsheet to make my case when I called my bank HSBC. However, the guy on the phone knew what I was calling about before I even really started!

It is like a previous poster has suggested. The overall fee to you to use your UK debit card abroad is the same as before but the UK Office of Fair Trading has ruled that all banks must how split all bank foreign transactions into two lines on a statement....one for the actual transaction and one showing the adjustment they make. It is a reporting issue more than a cost issue

Actually calling it a Non-Sterling Transaction Fee is what misled me as I have a particular account (and relevant charge) that does not charge me this. It costs more but I travel a lot so I figured it was worth it.

Bottom line: the guy from HSBC on the phone gave me the impression that I was one of many many callers with the same query/complaint. I think the banks will change their nomenclature somewhat as people are getting very uneasy but The Office of Fair Trading has ruled.

It is hard to do anything but trust the banks (very hard I know) as since the exchange rate keeps changing I cannot compare a transaction in say, Peru in May to a similar transaction in Peru in December.

Note: I am not British or an Expat (living in the UK) but I figured my many hours of investigation today could be shared to save people wasting their Sunday like I have just done. A google search led to you fine people.

Good luck.

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary