Non Resident bank accounts

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Jolly
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Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Jolly » Fri Oct 30, 2020 12:30 pm

We have just had an offer accepted on a property and are looking to open a bank account for the relevant financial matters. Can anyone suggest a particular bank please? Just to Clarify, we are in the UK now having recently returned from Torre del Mar/Malaga with our NIE's.
I tried Sabadell, who have just informed me they can only open an account in person.
I'd be interested to hear anyone else's experiences with this ?

Jolly

DannyB
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby DannyB » Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:36 pm

When we were going through the same process we got our solicitor to open the account. We gave him power of attorney to make the whole process easier as we were in the uk
We have also opened a Starling account which gives easy and cheap access to a euro account, but all the Spanish governmental agencies seem to need a Spanish IBAN so you will still need a Spanish bank account

Beachcomber
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Beachcomber » Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:20 pm

It is unlikely that you will be able to open an account with any bank remotely. It can be done on your behalf with a power of attorney but you will need to produce UK tax returns or a P60 showing your National Insurance number.

Jolly
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Jolly » Sun Nov 01, 2020 4:08 pm

Thanks both, if you don't mind me asking DannyB , what was the cost involved in getting the solicitor to open the account please ?

elusive
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby elusive » Sun Nov 01, 2020 4:28 pm

If you are gonna do it that way jolly use a gestor not a solicitor just as qualified for what you need but prob half the price.

Beachcomber
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Beachcomber » Sun Nov 01, 2020 5:32 pm

I am assuming you will have to do this from the UK given current travel restrictions.

If you are using a gestor or suchlike to help you with the purchase of the property the cost of opening the bank account would probably be included in the overall fee but a much greater consideration will be the cost of granting a power of attorney in the UK which must be drawn up by a bilingual notary public in Spanish and English and validated by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the endorsement of the Hague Convention together with the validation of your passports.

You will also need a NIE number which you will have to obtain from the Spanish consulate.

Jolly
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Jolly » Tue Nov 03, 2020 5:31 pm

Thanks again,(Elusive and Beachcomber) i do have a Gestor in mind, i'll ask him about opening an account on our behalves. To answer your question we have NIE numbers but were unable to open an account in person whilst running around getting the NIE sorted in mid October.

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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Lavanda » Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:39 am

I know it was over 20 years ago but I gave my solicitor Power of Attorney for a limited time and went back to the UK. He got my NIE sorted out and opened my bank account. On my next visit I picked up all the documents from my solicitor, we went to the bank together and there I got all my bank cards, etc. The fee was somewhere in the fees for buying the house but it all seemed reasonable money in those days.

Paddy Pumpkin
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Thu Nov 26, 2020 1:08 pm

Open an account with N26 (a German online bank, full deposit protection etc). They have a Spanish subsidiary that gives you a Spanish IBAN. You will have to play around with the website a bit to get a Spanish account as it may default you to the German parent if you are not in Spain....you can also try using a VPN (tunnelbear gives a limited free VPN) to disguise your location and say you are in Spain.

The account is totally free and the process to open the account is all done online via their app, just make sure to put in your Spanish address for the card to be sent to. There is no security implications to leaving your card sent to Spain and not being here to collect it as the card is not activated until yiu get it and activate it on your phone. Also you can open with a zero balance so even if someone acttivates the card there is no money in your account!

Dominic Lopecas
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Dominic Lopecas » Wed May 12, 2021 7:34 pm

Spanish Banks most if no all of them are the same, you get charges monthly as well as went you send funds from the UK it doesn't matter whether you send Sterling or Euros you get charge €25.00 every time on top of your monthly charges that could be as much as €45.00. It is a disgraces that Spanish banks out of control and there isn't a government to put some cost control, so the future for most British expat residents or not residents is very uncertain as some ordinary working class people can't sustained themselves any longer and most of them are set up in a negative equity property.

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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby El Cid » Wed May 12, 2021 10:09 pm

As a resident for over 20 years, I have never paid any charges at all for maintaining an account. I regularly transfer funds from the UK into my account and pay no extra charges.

Non residents may be treated differently but it is wrong of you to suggest that expat residents are badly treated.

Sid

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Wicksey
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Wicksey » Thu May 13, 2021 8:44 am

Dominic Lopecas wrote: Wed May 12, 2021 7:34 pm Spanish Banks most if no all of them are the same, you get charges monthly as well as went you send funds from the UK it doesn't matter whether you send Sterling or Euros you get charge €25.00 every time on top of your monthly charges that could be as much as €45.00. It is a disgraces that Spanish banks out of control and there isn't a government to put some cost control, so the future for most British expat residents or not residents is very uncertain as some ordinary working class people can't sustained themselves any longer and most of them are set up in a negative equity property.
I thought we'd already had this post elsewhere that was refuted by others on here. With a resident's account we have not been charged to send money here, and I change mine to euros before sending. We now get quarterly charges but I know others avoid any by having their pension sent directly here. The cost of living here is far cheaper than the UK and we could not have this lifestyle back in the UK on our modest income.

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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Lavanda » Thu May 13, 2021 8:52 am

As residents we get no bank charges with Banco Santander by having a bank 'product'. We insure one of our houses with the bank and it is cheaper than Mapfre anyway. I do international transfers from the Nationwide to Banco Santander and there are no charges from either of them and, like Wicksey, I sent the pounds in euros. The exchange rate is always good.

Free at Last
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Free at Last » Thu May 13, 2021 8:56 am

I bank with Sabadell and transfer part of my pension income each month from the UK (via CurrencyFair). Sabadell do not make any charge for receiving these payments, not even after 1st January this year. I do pay the extortionate sum of €5 per month in charges to them, for the time being, because I don't yet have a directly deposited pension and I don't want to change my house insurance to their product (my choice, when I start to receive my UK state pension next year I will have it paid directly to my Sabadell account which will get rid of those charges and save me a massive €60 per year, whatever will I find to spend it all on).

Even if Sabadell did charge for receiving a transfer (if I sent it directly from my UK bank, for example), it would be €18 not the €25 claimed by Dominic Lopecas, so that is as inaccurate as everything else he says. Why he has chosen to make such silly claims as this

"so the future for most British expat residents or not residents is very uncertain as some ordinary working class people can't sustained themselves any longer and most of them are set up in a negative equity property."

in a thread about Non resident bank accounts I do not know, as people living here should not have non resident bank accounts in any event.

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gerryh
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby gerryh » Thu May 13, 2021 9:43 am

Dominic Lopecas seems to have a thing about Spanish banks.
He has posted the same tirade before on different threads.
Still, he can't seem to accept that most us expats who legally live in Spain, don't pay any bank charges.
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Gerry
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby Manchesteral » Mon May 24, 2021 4:31 pm

El Cid wrote: Wed May 12, 2021 10:09 pm As a resident for over 20 years, I have never paid any charges at all for maintaining an account. I regularly transfer funds from the UK into my account and pay no extra charges.

Non residents may be treated differently but it is wrong of you to suggest that expat residents are badly treated.

Sid
I have had a non residenty bank account with Deutsche for a number of years now and pay no bank charges, I have transferred substantial amounts from Hong Kong and several scandinavian countries, no cost !

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gus
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby gus » Mon May 24, 2021 6:39 pm

Ok - recommendations welcome. We have had a non- residents account with la Caixa for the last 10 years or so ( ever since it acquired Barclays) , primarily to pay all of our regular bills and, although it was a little bit expensive maintaining the account, it seemed to work ok until April last year.
It appears that my wife had not signed some documents recently and the result was that the bank “ closed” our account pending the signatures !
Of course, they didn’t mention this until the account ran dry and they rejected a couple of direct debits. Of course I tried to transfer funds to make sure bills were paid but “ closing” the account meant exactly that - we couldn’t transfer funds into the account until the required signatures were provided and the signatures could only be provided face- to- face in Spain.
By this time I was shielding in the UK and couldn’t travel.
I managed to get a Gestor to pay my bills on my behalf and we are now flying out to resolve our issues.
I am not too sure whether I want to give La Caixa my business now since we intend selling our house - but is it worth opening an account with a different bank ( and who would you recommend)
Sorry if it all seems a bit long- winded.

maureenscot
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby maureenscot » Mon May 24, 2021 8:11 pm

Caixa bank non-resident charges are a joke now.

anyroads
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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby anyroads » Thu May 27, 2021 12:27 pm

I am paying Eur 35 a quarter, which is something I can live with. Not quite sure why they are not charging me eur 60 per quarter, which I believed would happen.

Sometimes it is the devil you know. I am all for the easy life, too much hassle changing standing orders etc. Most banks seems to be moving to charges in any case.

anyroads

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Re: Non Resident bank accounts

Postby DesWalker » Mon Sep 13, 2021 12:10 pm

Hi All,

I am non-resident in Spain but have owned an apartment in the Canaries for 8 years now.

For the first four of those eight years I paid charges to Sabadell, got fed up and for the last four years have enjoyed fee free banking with Bankia. Very sadly this will end in November and I’m trying to figure out my next move. I only need an account for DDs for my community fee, electricity, water and annual council taxes. I can manage cash and other payments in other ways.

I’ve just opened an account with Wise (formerly Transferwise) and have received my Belgian IBAN which under EU law is supposed to be accepted in Spain but can often be refused. I am interested to hear from anyone who has tried (with either success or failure) to move away from a Spanish IBAN and over to Wise (or elsewhere) to avoid the non-resident banking fees. I plan on trying to swap my DDs when I am next at my place in October but fear obstacles at every turn....

Thanks for any comments.

Des


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