Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Information and questions about the Law in Spain and Andalucia.
morlandg
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Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby morlandg » Thu Mar 14, 2019 4:28 pm

The following article was posted on facebook on 10 th march 2019:

Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

BANKS will be forced to cap current account commission or ‘admin charges’ to just €3 a month by March 25
in a welcome move introduced this week by Spain’s national government.

Depending upon where you bank, charges can vary from €1.50 to over €12 a month on each and every account,
meaning it is not worthwhile setting up separate ones for bills, holidays, car expenses and so on.

Even at €3 a month, banks will still be netting €36 per year per account, but with the high-street finance
industry being forced more and more to become competitive and offer customers good reasons to stay,
some are opting to reduce or even axe commission altogether.

Unfortunately, many banks continue to demand a minimum average balance of around €2,000 to €3,000 a
month to waive commission – amounts unlikely to be maintained by the ordinary wage-earner and high
enough that €36 a year in admin fees would not make much of a dent.

The difference now is that the €3 a month maximum must cover credit and debit cards, meaning charges
for renewing expired ones must be included, and up to 120 annual withdrawal or payment operations within
the entire European Union, not just Spain, to include direct debits, standing orders and transfers.
Once these 120 transactions – averaging 10 per month, which is very low for a current account used
for everyday expenses – have been exhausted, banks are still not permitted to increase commission
beyond their usual amounts for these operations to compensate for any losses by the €3 cap.

This means if a bank does not normally charge for withdrawals, payments or standing orders, it will
not be able to do so once 120 transactions in a year have been made.

Transferring money between accounts held at different banks will be amended by the new requirements,
making them much easier – and, in most cases, free of charge.

Banks are also required to tell customers about the best deals they can offer on accounts and
commissions, whether or not this information is requested.

The €3 cap will be reviewed every two years by the Bank of Spain, meaning it may go up, or
even down, depending upon various macro- and micro-economic factors.

Once details of the new law are published in the State Official Bulletin (BOE) on March 25,
they will go live within 20 days and banks will be required to comply.

In the comments that followed one person pointed out that this cap would not apply until 2025! I don't know his source of this information and I am awaiting his reply.
Is anyone aware of this or is it just a scam? Rather a long-winded one if it is.

Manchesteral
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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby Manchesteral » Thu Mar 14, 2019 6:30 pm

I bank with Deutsche and don't pay a penny in commission if I make three card transactions per month !

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gerryh
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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby gerryh » Thu Mar 14, 2019 7:38 pm

I bank with Sabadell and, likewise, don't pay any commission.
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Gerry
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Wicksey
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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby Wicksey » Fri Mar 15, 2019 10:41 am

Sabadell have just started to charge 95c for an instant transfer between Spanish banks, free transfers go the next day. I've noticed that they've stopped paying the refund of 2(?)% on direct debits on my account. Perhaps they've changed something in the small print as we only have one utility bill a month. Otherwise charge free though which is good.

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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby pensure1988 » Fri Mar 15, 2019 10:42 pm

I have Banked with La Caixa since they took Barclays over. I am charged E24.00 Commission on my main Account and E12.00 each on my other two Accounts each quarter.

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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby Manchesteral » Sat Mar 16, 2019 9:21 am

€192.00 per annum for the privilege of allowing them to use your money ! time to change banks mate :problem: !!

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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:46 pm

Totally free banking from Santander

https://www.openbank.es/en

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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby Manchesteral » Sat Mar 16, 2019 7:36 pm

Sorry but I know of no Bank that offers it's services for free, somewhere along the line there will be a caveat, I have bank accounts in UK, Sweden, Gran Canaria and Grand Cayman, non of them gives me something for nothing !!

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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Sat Mar 16, 2019 9:42 pm

of course if you want a statement from 15 years ago or go overdrawn it will cost you. However there are several banks throughout Europe who offer totally free day to day banking (without minimum lodgements, balances or card usage criteria).

The one that is most useful to Spanish residents who desire a Spanish bank account is Openbank. If you can point out what charges they make for normal usage I would be obliged if you can let me know as I intend to open an account solely for the purposes of paying my first Spanish tax bill.

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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby 1bassleft » Wed Mar 20, 2019 9:41 pm

Banks rely on inertia and I expect Spain is no different. My dad set up a Cajasur a/c in the late 80s (some of the other long-time neighbour-owners still have one, too - possibly one of the few around back in the day) and it was convenient for me to just take it over. I really intend to sit down and go back through my books now that I'm not just here for a few weeks a year. Not only has the seemingly-randomly-applied Comision Mantenim gone from €8 to €15, a Comision Administracion of €4 has attracted my attention. This week, I enquired about a simple debit card (ok, I'm a non-res, but even so) and will need to provide my mother's cervical diameter. So, I asked them to transfer <€25 to another bank in Barce to complete an online purchase instead. This was processed and, without a word having been said (my Spanish is decent enough for this) €4.50 was deducted.

Nobody likes faffing around, telling bill-shifters your details have changed, but even I can be pushed. Interested to read the OP, morlandg, thanks for flagging up.

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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby pensure1988 » Sat Apr 06, 2019 7:53 am

Hi Morlandg

Just seen your Posting. Can you help me??????


I have just been charge 48 Euros Quaterly Bank Commission. Please can you find the Boletin de Estado for 25th March 2019, so I can take a copy and to show it to my Bank, in order that they can Refund me the excess overcharged.

Thank You

David

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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby Beachcomber » Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:34 am


pensure1988
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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby pensure1988 » Sat Apr 06, 2019 7:50 pm

Good Evening

Here is the Boletin es estado BOE. I have been through this whole document and nowhere do I find mentioned that Bank Commission will be capped at Euros 3 a month. Please can someone tell me on what page it tells you this information. I used Google translate webpage to translate this whole document into English.

https://boe.es/boe/dias/2019/04/04/pdfs ... 9-4955.pdf

Thank You

David

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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby Beachcomber » Sat Apr 06, 2019 8:21 pm

That is the BOE for the 4th April. I thought the article mentioned the BOE of 25th March to which I have given the link in my post previous to yours.

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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby pensure1988 » Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:17 pm

Hi Beachcomber

I have been through all the Boletin de estado's (BOE) from 25th March until 4th April 2019 and have found no mention under Treasury Heading regarding the abovementioned subject. Only this information appears on 4th April 2019. See if you can find anything before this date

Thanks

David

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Re: Bank account commission in Spain to be capped at €3 a month

Postby pensure1988 » Tue Jul 02, 2019 7:41 am

i am still getting charged euros 24 for my main cheque account at La Caixa Bank and 12 Euros each for my other two accounts. Is this correct. I mention I have a Hola Bank styled Bank Account. Can someone give me a link to Spanish Boletin where this law was promulgated this year.

Thank You


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