How can I avoid exessive bank charges with Sabadell?

You can use a WISE Euro account, uses an EU IBAN. You can pay your utility direct debits via it.

I had same problem with Bankia. Saved a fortune by closing the account. In addition Shop around for your own insurance. Sabadell also making a commission of your insurance 

Use the SEARCH option at top of page, and search forum for WISE

Its a shit bank, lots of hidden charges. Change it to a free online account.

I've been with Sabadell Bank for 10 years as a full resident and comply with the requirements for free banking.  I find Sabadell and their app to be suitable for my needs.

If you are non resident then I agree that Wise Online would be your best option.

www.wise.com

Steve 

Agree with the others. Being a non resident in Spain it makes no sense to have a Spanish bank account due to the high charges. This would hold sway in most other countries and, if you were lucky enough to find a bank in UK willing to do so, would apply to foreign citizens in UK as well but as UK citizens we don't get to see this.

As a resident, free banking is available if you meet certain conditions which are not onerous. Just depositing an amount per month (in Bankia it's just 300 euro a month if it's a pension), using their credit card a certain amount of times and having 3 or more direct debits. All usual items.#

A non resident should look at one of the online banking systems which use an EU IBAN. Wise is often mentioned but there are others. Just be aware that they are not covered by the European Banks guarantee but they must show they have deposited enough money elsewhere to cover losses. Use them to pay bills, even draw out money when you are in Spain but they are not banks so don't put all your worldly wealth under their control, just what you need to transfer and pay your bills.

Wise seems one of the safest at the moment. 

don't you need a Spanish IBAN to pay Spanish taxes?

We were with them too, the final straw was when we brought another house & they charged us €750 to issue 3 cheques I changed to wise all my directs swapped over no problem & no charges at all, even our solicitors advised us not to have a Spanish bank account as the fees are exto

For me that sums them up, I have to adhere to their rules, for my money? They took direct debts earlier than they should, I got into debt because of them, I had their credit card and just before the lockdown I went in and wanted to pay all of it "yes sir no problem" apparently I had to wait 3 months because I had already made one payment, so what was only 1000euros became 3300 (I did pay it and have no debts). I will say this though their customers service is by far better than any other bank I have been to, they atleast appear to be helpful and happy about taking my money

Direct debits are taken by the end company not the bank.

I've no idea which company it is that you're talking about buy Hidraqua did some totally weird stuff with regard to their direct debit whereby they didn't take it for maybe 3 or 4 quarters (we pay every 3 months) but then took multiple payments in October for each of the previous bills.

Thankfully, there were sufficient funds in the account to cover them all - it must have been before I moved to N26 as with N26 you get notifications of payments due to be taken the day before but with Sabadell I didn't (or had turned them off).

I always thought that DDs for utilities were meant to be taken on the same day each month/quarter subject to weekends/bank holidays but I never tried to dig any deeper and just raised my eyebrows at how slow they had been to take the direct debits - especially since this was a number of years after the DDs were first set-up so it's not as though it was an issue with set-up!

I know SUMA moved thing about re their collections due to COVID but the Hidraqua point above must pre-date COVID as I moved to N26 before the pandemic.

Only bank I have ever had that issue with, neither me nor my misses have had that problem except with Sabadell. When I asked them why it happened they said, "it's normal for all banks, to make sure its paid" even though the start of the new month was mid week. I have a client who works for them, she's actually really lovely and I know one of the workers because she lived near us and they both said the same thing.... Sabadell is the best bank account you can have, if you're rich. Poor people gets lots of hidden fines if they miss a direct debit or don't put in €700 a month. it's all those hidden cost that make them millions. Its the same with their business accounts, most big businesses bank with them because they offer the lowest rates if you bring them more money