Hi
I have purchased am apartment in Quesada and will come over in two weeks to complete the sell.

I have open a bank account in Spain with Bankia and would appreciate any known issues with this bank like hidden charges etc.

What is really important is to find the best way to transfer €60,000 Euros from my UK Bank to Bankia?

I need to ensure I do not get any charges either side and also ensure i obtain the very best exchange rate.

Any help and support is most welcome

Mike

Hi Mike, hopefully somebody can prove me wrong for you but I'd be shocked if you can do it without any charges at all as Spanish banks charge for just about everything. One way I can think of to try(although it's a bit of a chew on) is open Paypal accounts in UK and Spain, transfer from your UK bank to your Uk Paypal account then transfer to your Spanish Paypal on to your Spanish bank. I think that can be done, not sure what charges you'll incur but hopefully it'll be cheaper or even better somebody comes on with a simpler and better way

Thanks for the reply, do Paypal give a good exchange rate?

I can't check at the minute as it's may wife who has the account, if you have a paypal acc instructions for checking exchange rates are here: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/helpc...ID=12900&m=SRE
like I say hopefully someone knows a better way with less charges and has transferred cash more recently than us.

What about the foreign exchange companies? I use HiFX. I have no mortgage so I only transfer enough for day to day expenses until I move permanently next year. I think that they do not charge for transfers above £3000 and the transfer never takes more than 24 hours. Have a look at their web site, you can also find out the current exchange rate that they are offering.
Pete

We've used HIFX and MoneyCorp without any charges either side.

You do need to set up your account in advance to give them time to check your bank details etc.

Both websites are good and they are helpful over the phone too.

We use http://www.currenciesdirect.com/ get a good service.

Guys appreciate the feedback

Moneysupermarket also recommends HiFX so I will call them.

Any views on Bankia?

Don't accept the first currency trader you ring. When we purchased the rate quoted by HIFX was better than Currencies Direct. On larger sums it adds up to a few bob.
On another day Currencies Direct may offer a better rate. Try a few.

Do not use PayPal for this amount, the exchange rate is poor. We used currencies direct when buying our house in Spain and had no problems at all, yes there will be a charge, but there will be for any transfer of this sort of amount from one country to another.

Absolutely untrue! Many currency brokers offer zero charges for this sort of amount - check with one or two for the best rate (I use World First - found them to give a better rate than Currencies Direct).

We did a lot of research before opening a bank account in Spain as we had been warned about charges that can be made for services. All the banks we visited charged a percentage to receive money, and with large amounts, that could be as much as 5%!! We chose to bank with Santander as they said it could be done with no charges. We have never paid anything to transfer money from UK - including the money for our house purchase. The important thing is to inform the bank that the money is coming, then they will stop any charge. Our practice when buying our property was to transfer money electronically via internet banking to Santander Spain branch in London from another UK bank(after informing them we were going to do it), who then sent it on to our branch in Spain using commercial rates, which were very advantageous. The only thing was that for a house purchase, the amount is usually too large to make in one transfer, they have a daily limit - but that was no problem, we just made three. We continue to bank with them, and as residents pay no charges at all to run the account as our state pensions are paid direct to this account. I have to say that we are very happy with the bank and in almost 10 years have never had any problems whatsoever.

Before we purchased we set up with 3 different foreign exchange companies, we got a guarantee from each that we would not pay fees, then on a day with good exchange rates I phoned all of them and got the best offer, when I had these I phoned each one again and told them the offers I had received from other companies asked them to match or better, one said no the others both improved their offers and I took the best.

I can see that you are a belt and braces type of person.

That is how it is done, play them off against each other, my OH does it like that with both currencies.

I'd be shocked if you couldnt find a bank that did free charges, in fact I dont pay anything at all for my banking.

If you use someone like HIFX or MoneyCorp or Currencies direct you can get very good rates of exchange normally without charges, and many banks in Spain accept money inwards by transfer without any charges. I used Sabadell.