deepcpearl

Hi, everyone! I've been lurking for a while so I thought it was time I come clean and introduce myself. I am currently living on the West Coast of Canada, having moved here from the Midlands 20 years ago. I loved it at first and, as with a lot of enthusiastic immigrants, I strived to become more Canadian than the Canadians. I got into hockey, ate wings and corn dogs and drank Labatt's, learned to sail boats and ride horses and camped every weekend. I've had close encounters with bear, moose and cougar, seen the Northern Lights, followed the rodeo and loved it all. But 20 years on, I still can't understand Canadian humour and am itching to get away from the blandness of the people. I have decided to move to Spain next year. I miss having a good belly-laugh with the Brits.

Now please be gentle with me. I've had 20 years of living with a highly critical race of people and I'm not sure I can handle any more, especially from my own clan. So if I ask a question could you please not shoot me down? I have searched the forums already and not really found an answer so although I am making enquiries, I thought why re-invent the wheel? Why not just ask people who may have already done it? Although I am excited about moving to Spain, I do realise after my experience in Canada that it won't stay exciting for ever, probably not past 10 years. So I'm quite prepared to move on again when the lustre fades. With that in mind, what I would like to do is open an offshore bank account so that I can access it from wherever I'm living without having to keep changing banks every time I move. Now the kicker comes in the charges. In Canada I have a totally free bank account. Free deposits, withdrawals, cheques, ATM use, everything. Don't have to keep some extortionate amount in the account, no restrictions on how many transactions I can have per month. It costs zilch to run. As you might imagine, going from that back to monthly service charges is going to hurt. So has anybody else set up their finances like this, using an offshore account, and been lucky enough to find something that doesn't charge? I'm guessing I'm going to get laughed out of Europe but in that case, if there really isn't anything for free, then what's the cheapest bank anyone has been able to find? Any information you're willing to share would be much appreciated.

TGA

Banco sabadell is popular with expats in Spain, but I would advise to cut down costs get a caja type bank (cajamar - unicaja) these are usually used by utillity companies, schools, property administrators ect. so any payments made to these through your bank dont have a charge.

Leper

Deepcpearl you sound to me like a cancer victim in his last days complaining about a headcold (no offence meant). If you want to come to Spain and you are not looking for work here, then you are away in a hack. Bank charges are just the headcold.

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

Countryboy1

I can't help you regarding the specific banking matter, but I do find it a little odd that such a momentous change in your life, moving from Canada to Spain, only elicits the question as to how you can 'squirrel away' your cash until you move on to somewhere else!
You WILL need some form of financial roots in Spain. Do you propose to pay your Spanish taxes (property/car etc) your bills, insurance etc, etc; pay for your food and other day-to-day living expenses all from an off-shore account? You ask what is the 'cheapest bank'. Do you mean domestic or off-shore? Surely the internet allows you to survey all the banks and their charges?
Your focus upon bank charges to the apparent exclusion of any other questions regarding the financial implications and obligations of moving to and living in Spain strikes me as a little strange.
Finally if you want a 'good belly-laugh with the Brits', why not move to the UK?
Others may disagree and no offence intended.

TGA

what a helpful bunch

Countryboy1

I intended to be helpful, by being frank!
I said he will need a domestic bank account and advised checking the internet for banking information.
Asking 'what's the cheapest' however didn't strike me as forming a strong basis for a new life in Spain.

Domino

well I will compound it by saying exactly the same to "someone else" who has asked a similar question - you won't be wanted unless you can prove you are financially independent and can keep yourself and have private medical

it doesnt matter you being a Brit and Spain has to obey EU freedom of movement - because that is what they have, but they arent going to allow anyone to take a thing out of their system when that person hasnt contributed.

as to banks, well this is the bright new world here - the only way to my knowledge is to become a pensioner. almost all banks are currently shmoozing the grey euro with free banking - because they know the same amount of money will come in every month. Everyone else has to pay charges, which annoys my BH as she gets her salary paid into Santander.
And probably the UK will go the same way.

not considered moving back to the UK for a good laugh and a joke ? Plenty of Brits there, although they are becoming the indigenous minority

flotsum

I have been trying to look at reducing my banking charges in Spain but find that I still have to pay something, with our current account it is a charge for owning a debit card but no other charges so its 20 euros a year, when we first came we organised our finances as we did in the UK with several different accounts and a savings account and lost a lot in bank charges now it all goes into one account. We looked into off shore as my husband works in Spain and the UK but they were more expensive so we kept our English account and use a money service to bring his wages over in bulk every 3 months. Off shore seems to be for people with a lot more money than us and a regular income my husband is autonomp so its hit and miss! Although being used to free banking makes you not want to pay the 20 euros in the scheme of things its not so bad and you need a residents bank account to pay the bills. I think it will all depend on how you are financing yourself and how you organise your finances day to day.

snikpoh

Why not have salary paid into an account in Spain? Once you do this, banking CAN be free as I've previously stated.

Sabadell offers free banking if a regular amount is paid in each month. No charge for ANYTHING.

flotsum

Unfortunately he is autonomo and its the regular amount coming in that we cannot do as he can be without work for 2/3 months also some companies have to wait to be paid before they can pay him Any work in spain, is often paid by cashiers cheque or cash, smaller english companies can pay by cheque we have to bring over what we need when we can afford it, hence no one wants to give us free banking.

cricketman

My wife and I are both autonomo and get free banking from Santander

Luckily we get paid by all of our clients by bank transfer

ionie

I lived in Canada and I know what you mean about the blandness. Have you thought about moving east towards Toronto? Plenty of Brits there to hang out and laugh with plus you'd have the advantage of Canadian efficiency.

flotsum

How much do you have to have as a regular payment? Maybe I need to try again and box clever bringing a regular small amount over from the English account as a minimum and the odd bigger amount to make up what we actually need every 3 months, think this is a job for the new year resolutions as next bank charge is due May 2013.

amideislas

I don't know how it is in Canada, but most things here require a Spanish account. Like most places in continental Europe, your finances are not private - the government needs to see a Spanish account to verify what you claim as income, and tax you accordingly.

Having said that, if you have any "real" money, you'd be better off moving to the UK, where it's perfectly legal to make money offshore and not pay UK taxes on it. In fact, the UK supports a number of offshore jurisdictions in the Caribbean and elsewhere that enable UK citizens to stash money to avoid tax. But these offshore jurisdictions are usually only attractive only to those who have real money to stash away, that would otherwise be severely penalised just for having it (EU citizens are increasingly penalised for social crimes such as accumulating wealth). The average bloke has much less need to avoid tax, and can get away without paying much at all.

You already live in a rainy, cold place. Why not move to the UK? Spain is a different animal entirely, and if you have any "real money" this wouldn't necessarily be the best place for you to call home.

"It's easy to be a millionaire in Spain. Just bring 2 Million with you".