Letter from my bank

Information and questions about the Law in Spain and Andalucia.
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chrissiehope
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Letter from my bank

Postby chrissiehope » Thu Jul 14, 2016 8:48 am

This letter has just come down in an email - I'm a bit confused, as I thought this law only related to residents ?

There is an important matter that needs your attention with regards to the final stage of the Banking Transparency law (Spanish law 10/2010 Prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism) which requires all the Banks to have digital copies of passports ( this we completed last year) and now proof of main source(s) of income for all account holders.

You are required to forward documentation that reflects your occupation (employment or company dividends etc..) or main sources of income ( rental of property / bank deposits etc..).

Depending on each client’s personal situation we would require either of the following:
Employees: Work contract with salary slip / annual Pay as you earn tax summary (i.e: P60) / reference from the company on headed paper / annual personal tax declaration
Self employed: Self assessment tax / annual tax return.
Company owners: Company house or register reflecting ownership + annual accounts reflecting payment of dividends etc..
Pensioners: letter from Pension Office reflecting amount you are entitled to or bank statement reflecting monthly payment ( must show beneficiary's name).

Other forms of income: leasing contracts / bank statements reflecting deposits / proof of sale of property / equity release + annual tax declaration.


In the case of joint accounts this regulation applies to each client individually.


You can either send documentation by email , fax , post or bring in person. We require this information by the end of February. The failure to comply may result in automatic restrictions being applied to your account.


Please feel free to contact us if you need further information or assistance. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

You can send the documentation attached by this same mail .


Regards


Has anyone else had this sort of letter ? I am non-resident, and have a sole account which is basically for paying utilities, tax etc, and which I top up as and when necessary by transfer from UK.

TIA
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby peteroldracer » Thu Jul 14, 2016 8:57 am

It would not be much use if the anti money-laundering measures were only for residents, would it? My bank did all this over a year ago, and it seems perfectly reasonable to me.
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Free at Last
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby Free at Last » Thu Jul 14, 2016 9:40 am

I have seen comments elsewhere from people who have been asked to provide this information by their Spanish banks. We had to provide copies of our passports and proof of address for both our Spanish and UK banks last year, but to date we haven't been asked to provide the proof of income details.

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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby truebrit » Thu Jul 14, 2016 9:48 am

Can I ask which bank it is? Like FAL I had to go into the bank for copies of residencia etc., last year. My bank Never email me and will not reply to my enquiries online but insist on a secure phone conversation.

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Enrique
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby Enrique » Thu Jul 14, 2016 10:06 am

Hi,
Chrissie is enquiring as a non-resident...........the usual thing is to confirm non-resident status every two years.

I've not had a letter yet as non-resident.

Possible tightening up of the Banking Laws...........
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby Wicksey » Thu Jul 14, 2016 10:17 am

I have read that a lot of people have received these letters from Spanish and UK banks. I can see that they want to confirm your identity and address, but I think it is a bit of a cheek to start asking where your income is from. They ask where the funds come from when you purchase a property (except in these sorts of cases http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2 ... y-is-legit )
but I am not sure why I have to prove where my lowly monthly income comes from to the banks. I do tax returns in the UK and here but I don't see why I have to provide such indepth info to the banks. Until fairly recently we were living off our savings without a regular income so not sure how well that would have gone down.

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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby truebrit » Thu Jul 14, 2016 11:09 am

I still think is is a bit suspect. Would just leave it and see what happens. Last year when we were asked to confirm details to the bank it was just the ususal not personal details like this.

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chrissiehope
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby chrissiehope » Thu Jul 14, 2016 12:34 pm

Thanks for all the replies :-)

My immediate reaction was that it was highly suspect, as, like truebrit, I have never had an email from them before (it's Unicaja by the way). Every couple of years I get the ''sign to say you are not resident'' letter, but that always arrives by post. The only thing that makes me think it could well be genuine is that it gives the full address of the correct branch, & the name of the manager, together with his email address, which when I hover over it shows the correct address rather than a dodgy one which the phishing ones usually show. It also addresses me by the name on the account, which is my previous married name which I opened the account with, and is still the title of the account (tho' statements are addresed to my current name :S ).

I might reply, as my passport was renewed this year, and so their copy is out of date. I'll just ask if they want a new copy, rather than sending it, just in case ;-)

I think I will take a look at their website & see if I can find any reference to this new requirement....
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby Beachcomber » Thu Jul 14, 2016 1:53 pm

This may help:

https://www.unicaja.es/PortalServlet?pa ... residentes

It mentions a tax domicile certificate but certainly nothing about income details.

Are you able to check the full email header to see if it really was from Unicaja?
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truebrit
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby truebrit » Thu Jul 14, 2016 2:19 pm

You could always make an appointment with the manager and ask him. Odds are he doesnt know anything about it. At the end of the day I would be very cautious about it. There are so many email scams going on at the moment.

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costakid
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby costakid » Thu Jul 14, 2016 4:17 pm

please keep us posted on the outcome.

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chrissiehope
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby chrissiehope » Thu Jul 14, 2016 10:42 pm

I've checked all the header stuff (message source etc) and it has 'unicaja' all over the place, so I think it must be genuine.

Truebrit- I'm in UK & not planning to be in Spain until late Sept, so visiting the manager is a non-starter I'm afraid ! I don't know if he's the same one who was there when we transferred the account from another branch, but if it's the same man, he couldn't speak much English, so I think it must be a generic English version.

I'll take a look at that link tomorrow - I'm wondering if they've just got mixed up & somehow have me down as a resident...

I've emailed the manager asking if he wants an up to date copy of my passport, so hopefully, if it is genuine, he will respond, which will pretty much settle it :-)
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby Enrique » Fri Jul 15, 2016 6:02 am

Hi chrissiehope.
You're out in September so the February deadline means you can call in person if needs be.

"I've checked all the header stuff (message source etc) "

that's the fun stuff to see where the email has bounced around the Web...... 8)
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby Pistol Pete » Sun Jul 17, 2016 8:15 pm

Hi Chrissiehope

I recently tried to use my bank card on 2 occasions and both attempts were declined, even though the previous day it had worked fine.

I went into my bank (Unicaja) and was told the account had been blocked and that I needed to provide proof of earnings by either a recent wage slip or latest P60. As it was a joint account I also needed to get this info for my wife.

The copies were sent directly into the branch, and after another visit everything was checked and the account un-blocked.

Apparently I was sent a letter requesting this info but it never arrived.

Hopefully this helps.

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chrissiehope
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby chrissiehope » Sun Jul 17, 2016 10:44 pm

Hi Pistol Pete,

Are you resident in Spain ? I know it has been a requirement for some time for residents to give all this info, but I am fiscally non resident and sign a form to that effect every couple of years, which is why I am confused !

If I do have to provide details of income, that's going to be tricky, as currently I have very little & certainly no wage slip or P60 (well I have a very small P60 from my late husband's old private pension, but it's less than £60 per month so I don't suppose that will be much use ;-) )
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby Pistol Pete » Mon Jul 18, 2016 1:13 pm

Chrissiehope

I am non-resident, I have a holiday home which is not rented out.

In your original post you quoted.... Pensioners: letter from Pension Office reflecting amount you are entitled to or bank statement reflecting monthly payment ( must show beneficiary's name). ...... as a way to confirm. I'm guessing, if you are like me, your account is used for paying bills and money to spend on visits, so the amounts transferred over are not going to be significant and your husbands pension P60 may be enough. Nothing to lose in trying.

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chrissiehope
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby chrissiehope » Mon Jul 18, 2016 1:43 pm

PistolPete - exactly right - just a holiday home, not rented out pay bills, get spending money :-)

It's probably worth a try - I will be in Spain in late Sept, tho on the coast so at least an hours drive away, I may try & visit the bank, or at least maybe not my branch but one more local to where we are staying...
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chrissiehope
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby chrissiehope » Tue Jul 19, 2016 4:23 pm

Update:

I got no reply from my first email (in English), so I tried a second (in dodgy Spanish) which pointed out that I am non resident, and did I need to give my income details ?

This brought a response, in Spanish, as follows (followed by a google translation):

"Buenos días Sra. ,

especialmente está normativa es para no residentes por lo que sí es necesario que nos presente la documentación solicitada que se ajuste a su caso junto con copia de su pasaporte escaneado. Hasta que no nos presente la documentación su cuenta ha sido bloqueada para cumplir con la normativa vigente.
Su caso puede englobarse dentro de alguna de las circunstancias:"
& repeated the requirements from the previous email.

Google translation :

"Good morning Ms. ,

is especially legislation is non residents so you do need to present us with the requested documentation that fits your case with scanned copy of your passport. Until we present the documentation your account has been blocked to comply with current regulations.
Your case may be encompassed within any of the circumstances :"


I logged in to my account last night, and sure enough there was a big notice basically saying the account was blocked :( but at least I could still access all the documentation :wink:

So, my conclusions are
a.) it is genuine, and
b.) I'm going to have to find something to show income :thumbdown:

If anything new crops up, I will update again
Alexandr for President (Squire for PM !)

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read (Groucho Marx)

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chrissiehope
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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby chrissiehope » Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:55 pm

Update !

Following receipt of the above mentioned email I managed to find something to cover each requested piece of documentation and so I sent:
a copy of my new passport (pointing out the two surnames)
a P60 showing the tiny pension inherited from my late husband
and a bank statement showing a year's worth of rental income (with all other details blanked out :wink: )

This appeared to be acceptable, as I then got a reply with more forms attached to be signed - one was the usual regular non resident declaration, and the other a declaration that my info was correct (no mention of the income !)

So I signed them, emailed them back, and that was that - all sorted :D :thumbup:
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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read (Groucho Marx)

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Re: Letter from my bank

Postby ashtondav » Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:04 am

You're lucky! Unicaja didn't send me an email, I just logged on yesterday to see a big notice saying my account has been blocked. Disgusting customer service. An email or letter should have been posted months ago with the requirements and a deadline.

Well done Unicaja - how to scr*ew up an economy, lesson 101.

I've now emailed my bank asking what I have toi scan/copy and send to get my money.


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