New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

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katy
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby katy » Wed Apr 14, 2021 7:24 pm

Wise words.

anyroads
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby anyroads » Wed Apr 14, 2021 7:40 pm

Point taken about exchange rates Paddy, and the difference over time.

However, still not sure say, if CaixaBank would hit me with fees if I used Revolut say. I do know the small amount I tried a few days ago with WISE, hit my account without any fees deducted. If no fees, you can of course do small amounts now and again, save having larger amounts in the system. Having said that, the EUROS hit my account in seconds.

I am happy to pay EUR 35 per quarter to have the account, but if I can get around paying them any additional fees, I am happy to do so.

I will admit I am quite happy with their "APP"

anyroads

steve_w
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby steve_w » Wed Apr 14, 2021 9:21 pm

anyroads wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 7:40 pm I am happy to pay EUR 35 per quarter to have the account, but if I can get around paying them any additional fees, I am happy to do so.
Take a look at the 'features' that are bundled with the CaixaBank account, and at the Ts & Cs. I think that there's a 0.2% fee for the 'receipt of currency transfers'. However, I'm not sure how they would treat Euro transfers from an account with a GB IBAN.

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Wicksey
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby Wicksey » Thu Apr 15, 2021 11:09 am

The Wise euro account is a German one I think, so it's not coming from a GB IBAN. I send across a minimum of 700€ pm without any problems from my Spanish account and it gets here in seconds. I used it to pay for 2 cars a couple of years back, again without any delay or fees, and it saved hundreds compared to what my UK bank would have charged. I would not hold savings in there though as it's not protected.

Screagle
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby Screagle » Thu Apr 15, 2021 2:22 pm

Wicksey, when I transfer a monthly amount from UK to Spain using Wise it goes via a Belgium IBAN and arrives in seconds. Interestingly it takes overnight to send the other way, typically arriving at 7am the next day. I don't know whether this delay is due to my Spanish bank's processes or cross EU border euro transfers in general.

Saludos

Dominic Lopecas
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby Dominic Lopecas » Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:52 pm

All Spanish Banks except N26 are in the game of Rip-off all British and Spanish people expat regarded they are resident in Spain or not and Spanish government do nothing about, some of my friend that were likely to sell off property they moved to Portugal, the Government is very keen to attract British and other northern Europeans to move to Portugal. Their banks Don't charge any thing por a privet personal Account, you only pay €12.00 per month if you do have a business account. The easy way out is to leave the country as many Expats are doing.

Paddy Pumpkin
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Sat May 01, 2021 9:08 am

There is no need to go the extreme of emigrating just to avoid bank charges. Like every EU country I know of there are some banks who charge and some that don't

In Spain banks with totally free banking are Bank Inter, Openbank, Abanka and Liberbank

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gerryh
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby gerryh » Sat May 01, 2021 9:20 am

I'm a British expat living full-time in Spain.
I and I'm sure many others, have free banking with Sabadell.
So no rip-off here.
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Gerry
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firsttango
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby firsttango » Sat May 01, 2021 9:22 am

As Gerry says

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Wicksey
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby Wicksey » Sat May 01, 2021 2:38 pm

Sabadell charge us 15€ per quarter as we do not qualify for their free bank accounts for one reason or another. I am not leaving the country for the sake of 60€pa charges! Living in the UK would be impossible for us on our income as our campo house has such low outgoings, and it's not something we would ever consider anyway. Anyone who uses Brexit as an excuse to move back obviously was not very happy or settled here.

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jonbar.1
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby jonbar.1 » Sun May 02, 2021 8:48 am

I have used Sabadell since we came to Spain 8 yrs ago.
Absolutely no regrets.However they now charge me €15 per quarter.No big deal but, I'd like to know how Gerry gets his free.

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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby elusive » Sun May 02, 2021 8:50 am

We have free banking with sabadell. State pension is paid in

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gerryh
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby gerryh » Sun May 02, 2021 8:54 am

jonbar.1 wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 8:48 am I have used Sabadell since we came to Spain 8 yrs ago.
Absolutely no regrets.However they now charge me €15 per quarter.No big deal but, I'd like to know how Gerry gets his free.
Both my monthly UK company and state pensions are paid into the account.
Don't know which one qualifies for free banking.
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Gerry
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quebin
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby quebin » Sun May 02, 2021 9:22 am

UK state pension paid into Sabadell Cuenta Experiencia account monthly with no fees or charges.

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Wicksey
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby Wicksey » Sun May 02, 2021 9:48 am

You have to have your pension paid in directly I think to qualify but I am not yet on state pension. I pay in a certain amount each month but that is from my UK account via Wise. I don't get any other charges for anything, it is just a flat quarterly fee. I think I posted somewhere else the link to the Sabadell free account and I don't meet the criteria.

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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Sun May 02, 2021 10:06 am

Save yourself the EUR 15 and get an account with Openbank. Totally free, no need to pay in a penny. No maintenance or transaction fees.

They have a website and app in English. It is part of Santander so you can use the Santander branches and cash machines.

It takes 10 minutes to open the account. You get the account number straight away and the Debit Card within 1 week.

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jonbar.1
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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby jonbar.1 » Sun May 02, 2021 10:52 am

Thanks Gerry and others for your very useful answers.
Might consider having State Pension paid in.At present our pensions are paid into UK and we D/Debit a sum every month to Sabadell.

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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Sun May 02, 2021 11:23 am

Be aware that having the UK pension paid direct you will lose money. The exchange rate they use is very poor.

It is much better to get pension paid in GBP to a UK account and then use Revolut(they have the best rates for amounts up to 1000 per month) to convert it to EUR and then pay to your Spanish bank account.

If you get an account with N26 or Openbank that whole process of payment and conversion and maintaining account will be completely free.

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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby Screagle » Wed Jun 09, 2021 9:17 am

I just wanted to post a correction here about CaixaBank account fees for our garage owners' community account. The President emailed me this morning to confirm our fees are 60 euros per quarter and not per month as was reported to me. Anyway I have been tasked to get a better deal so I'll be doing the rounds of local branches next week such as Cajamar, Unicaja and Sabadell! The problem is that we have very low outgoings and possibly only one regular direct debit. As you would imagine 240 euros per annum next to insurance would be our biggest annual cost.

Saludos

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Re: New CaixaBank fees ... time to change banks?

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Wed Jun 09, 2021 9:02 pm

Don't forget the online accounts offered fee free by

BBVA
N26
openBank
SELFBANK

I am sure there are others also


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