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whats the best resident bank account please?
We are shortly to be moving to Spain and need to open a bank account. What are your suggestions please (and why) for a joint bank account with debit cards, online banking. Thank you, Julie
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Re: whats the best resident bank account please?
Originally Posted by the aging hippies
(Post 12746521)
We are shortly to be moving to Spain and need to open a bank account. What are your suggestions please (and why) for a joint bank account with debit cards, online banking. Thank you, Julie
Sometimes it can depend where you will be, as to whether there are bank branches where you can walk in to discuss matters, which I think is important. Obviously there are the big ones (eg Caixa, Santander, BBVA) in most areas. We are with a Basque bank, Kutchabank (aka BBK) because we live in the Basque country, with branches everywhere & a good online service. In the end, it's horses for courses. |
Re: whats the best resident bank account please?
I would say, do you really need a bank with a branch near you? Have you though of an online account like First Direct in UK - most banks offer such an account and then you never have to go to a branch.
The most popular for expats seems to be Sabadell (one of the largest in Spain if not THE largest now). Most branches have English speaking advisors if that's important. Their web interface is also extremely easy to navigate. |
Re: whats the best resident bank account please?
You dont say where you are moving to. We live in the campo ( countryside) , our bank had a branch in the nearest village with plenty of parking. They closed that and now we have a thirty minute journey to the nearest town where parking is an issue. Cash is a very useful commodity. Unlike the UK where you can get cash back from for example supermarkets , here it is cash or payment by bank card. Lots of smaller businesses prefer cash. N Have a look on the web for branches near where you are going to live. If you will be somewhere buzzing, you may well have a good choice within walking distance. We like La Caixa for two reasons. Good , easy to use internet banking , in English if you want. Secondly a facility whereby you add big ticket items into a payment account which spreads the cost over the whole year. Useful if car, house insurance, council tax equivalent all happen near each other. Helps you budget. Of course you pay for these things. My gut feeling is bank charges here are higher than in the UK. |
Re: whats the best resident bank account please?
Originally Posted by olivefarmer
(Post 12746578)
You dont say where you are moving to. We live in the campo ( countryside) , our bank had a branch in the nearest village with plenty of parking. They closed that and now we have a thirty minute journey to the nearest town where parking is an issue. Cash is a very useful commodity. Unlike the UK where you can get cash back from for example supermarkets , here it is cash or payment by bank card. Lots of smaller businesses prefer cash. N Have a look on the web for branches near where you are going to live. If you will be somewhere buzzing, you may well have a good choice within walking distance. We like La Caixa for two reasons. Good , easy to use internet banking , in English if you want. Secondly a facility whereby you add big ticket items into a payment account which spreads the cost over the whole year. Useful if car, house insurance, council tax equivalent all happen near each other. Helps you budget. Of course you pay for these things. My gut feeling is bank charges here are higher than in the UK. |
Re: whats the best resident bank account please?
Both my husband and I have accounts with Sabadell and are very happy with them. Mine is an Expansion Account - I have to deposit a minimum of €700 each month and there are no bank charges apart from a charge if I want a bankers draft issued (as I did when we bought a new property, but the standard charge was halved because I had the Expansion Account). If I had a credit card I would need to make a minimum amount of purchases each month for it to be free, but I just have a debit card which carries no charges. My husband has a Pension Account into which his UK state pension is paid. He has to pay in a minimum of €600 per month (covered by the pension) and then there are no bank charges. Recently he lost his debit card and the replacement arrived in the post less than a week later. Their online banking system is very easy to use, and we don't get bombarded by lots of correspondence from them trying to sell us financial products.
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Re: whats the best resident bank account please?
Originally Posted by Lynn R
(Post 12746700)
Both my husband and I have accounts with Sabadell and are very happy with them. Mine is an Expansion Account - I have to deposit a minimum of €700 each month and there are no bank charges apart from a charge if I want a bankers draft issued (as I did when we bought a new property, but the standard charge was halved because I had the Expansion Account). If I had a credit card I would need to make a minimum amount of purchases each month for it to be free, but I just have a debit card which carries no charges. My husband has a Pension Account into which his UK state pension is paid. He has to pay in a minimum of €600 per month (covered by the pension) and then there are no bank charges. Recently he lost his debit card and the replacement arrived in the post less than a week later. Their online banking system is very easy to use, and we don't get bombarded by lots of correspondence from them trying to sell us financial products.
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Re: whats the best resident bank account please?
Obviously it depends on where you are living. My wife and I have just opened an Expansion account with Sabadell after closing our Santander account following its enforced migration from Banco Popular. Compared to the dire Santander on line portal Sabadell is refreshingly straight forward and easy to use.
Although we are required to deposit Euro 700/month into Sabadell it can be from various sources. We rent out an apartment via AirBNB and Trip Advisor so some months we receive from one source, others a combination. We hope it stays this way. |
Re: whats the best resident bank account please?
Hello, I have very good experience with Sabadell bank. It offers many help for expats. If you are looking for them in Madrid I can give you some contact person for helping you there.
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Re: whats the best resident bank account please?
Originally Posted by NABman
(Post 12746947)
Obviously it depends on where you are living. My wife and I have just opened an Expansion account with Sabadell after closing our Santander account following its enforced migration from Banco Popular. Compared to the dire Santander on line portal Sabadell is refreshingly straight forward and easy to use.
Although we are required to deposit Euro 700/month into Sabadell it can be from various sources. We rent out an apartment via AirBNB and Trip Advisor so some months we receive from one source, others a combination. We hope it stays this way. |
Re: whats the best resident bank account please?
A vote for Caxia.
Two state and a private pension going in each month so zero charges. Website is in English and ATMs come up in English too. Not that we need to very often but if we want to see our manager we just email him and he's straight back with an appointment. No need to be local if you won't need to be visiting on a regular basis, we are 30km away from our branch and went there through a recommendation. Couldn't be happier. |
Re: whats the best resident bank account please?
Originally Posted by Retired in Euskadi
(Post 12747091)
So Santander online is just as bad as when we were in England 10 yrs ago and they took over Alliance & Leicester. I would never recommend them.
I love Santander's UK internet portal - and I was with A&L before |
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