Bank recommendation?

[Wicksey]

Thinking about opening a new current account here and wondered if anyone can recommend their bank.

Our bank has been taken over by Sabadell and if I'm not happy with the new charges that are being announced in the autumn, I will want to change. I only have a small amount of money in there at any one time to cover the electricity DDs and odd other ones for insurance etc. I like to have a debit card just in case my usual UK one is rejected for any reason. We currently pay 25€ set fee for a joint account per annum with no other charges for cards etc. It seems that many other banks charge monthly fees and you have to pay to have a debit card, so I wondered what may be best for us.

I had been with Popular some years ago who not only charged for us to have debit cards, but also there were fees each time we used it to draw out money. Also tried Caxasur but not sure if they still exist (swallowed up by Bankia??) Nowadays, I will only use it for DDs so want something cheap to run .... I know I am asking the impossible

[Enrique]

Hi,

"Sabadell and if I'm not happy with the new charges that are being announced in the autumn"

Aren't this lot taking/taken over Lloyds International (Formally Halifax Spain)...........

[country boy]

Caja Rural de Granada, suits us just fine. Usually an English speaker in each branch too!

http://www.cajaruraldegranada.es/cms/es ... en/portal/

[Enrique]

http://www.cajaruraldegranada.es/cms/es ... en/portal/

Have you got branches down on the coast...............

If yes then worth a look at..............

[gerryh]

http://www.cajaruraldegranada.es/cms/es ... en/portal/

Have you got branches down on the coast...............
Yes they do, quite a few
If yes then worth a look at..............
Why,are they any good?

[country boy]

There are certainly branches in every town we visit around here, including Pizarra of course. Yes I consider them a very good option, the rates are reasonable, they are helpful and courteous and they appear to be devoid of scandal, they simply are just never mentioned, just quietly getting on with their business.

[Enrique]

Hi Gerry,
Have used one up this way............Jaén............for our needs it is suitable.

As I've already posted can pay bills any time, No English speaking clerks up this way..........not found this to be a problem..........

As Country Boy points out quietly get on with their business...........Branch near you...........

http://www.ruralvia.com/cms/estatico/rv ... index.html

[Julie]

I use Caja de Granada rural and they have been excellent up until now

[Wicksey]

Hi,

"Sabadell and if I'm not happy with the new charges that are being announced in the autumn"

Aren't this lot taking/taken over Lloyds International (Formally Halifax Spain)...........

Precisely! They have taken over but at the moment is still trading under the Lloyds' T&Cs but around October time the branch said that they would then know what changes to the charges etc would be made. I understand that eventually the branch will simply become Sabadell. A friend changed from them as she found them so awful.

The Caja Rural de Granada site shows a branch on Torrox Costa but I am pretty sure that it closed down a while ago and is now the Chinese bazaar shop near to Mercadona. I think there still may be one in Nerja but not so convenient.

[johnm]

Be careful of Cajamar (Caja Rural)

Charges went up in June. Now annually €60 account maintenance and €30 for 2 debit cards. The free banking for over 65 has been withdrawn

[alisonb]

Will second John's caution of Cajamar. We've just been in to query debit card charges of 30 euros each. Some friends managed to get their charges cancelled by showing both pensions paid into the account, but we ended up agreeing to give back one card and pay 15 euros for the other, unless we use it 48 times per year. This was on top of the 60 euros per year account maintenance which we managed to argue our way out of. The problem is there didn't seem to be any notification of the changes. And the cuenti-i account which we use for our bit of savings here has just halved it's interest rate too

[Wicksey]

Be careful of Cajamar (Caja Rural)

Charges went up in June. Now annually €60 account maintenance and €30 for 2 debit cards. The free banking for over 65 has been withdrawn

ouch .... that's a lot of money each year! Makes my 25€ per annum seem a bargain, but it's what it will change to when Sabadell start charging which is my concern.

It's annoying as we only use it for the DDs mainly for electricity and I can't bear the thought of having to go to the bank every 2 months to pay in person. Otherwise it would be tempting just to give up having a Spanish account altogether. (I did manage to pay the IBI in Cajamar in Torrox pueblo just before they shut at 2pm yesterday, and we thought was a nice little friendly bank it was .... that was before I got home and read John's comments!)

[patricia]

I find La Caixa very good and there is one in Torrox Costa. The odd charge for debit card but I have found them very helpful all in all

[oliveview01]

We changed branches with La Caixa, they then charged again for the privilege of keeping our account in credit, when we queried the charges we were told the charges were for the new branch- we closed the account. We also have a Lloyds Bank account here. Looks like we will close that too, we only opened it as it was free to transfer cash from the UK.

[Stoker]

Be careful of Cajamar (Caja Rural)

Charges went up in June. Now annually €60 account maintenance and €30 for 2 debit cards. The free banking for over 65 has been withdrawn

As far as I know it is possible to avoid these charges if you open an "Aportacion" savings account and save €1037 (I forget the interest rate but it isn't too bad) or have a pension paid into the account. Debit card charges can also be avoided by using the card frequently (i.e. more than 48 times in a year).

[alisonb]

We managed to avoid the account charges (but not cards) by opening the savings account, but we only had to put 61 euros in it