caixaltea bank

We have just closed our account because of charges.  They charge for everything.  We are residents and had all our savings with them but it counts for nothing.  They said unless we had investments with them or insurance or paid a salary or pension in, there were charges so we took out all our money and closed the account.

This sounds like Sabadell are you sure the bank is the Caixaltea the cooperative bank opposite town hall / police station?

Yes

Oh dear that's not what we've been led to believe. We've opened a Welcome Account no charges for a year. Then I think you deposit 1021 euros it's free untill they move the goal posts!! I have a hand written note in English confirming😎😎

But in contrast, the Caixa in the main square in Jalon is extremely helpful.

Unlike UK, there is no such thing as ‘free’ retail banking in Spain. Services of any kind are all chargeable. In UK they call it ‘free’, but somehow one will be paying for it, be it in lower interest rates or whatever.

We have been forced to take out life insurance for a personal loan at 635 euros a year for eight years around 5000 euros, I have asked to cancel this insurance as not needed and we did not ask for this, however they tell us that we cannot get the loan without it, its unlawful we know but they will not cancel it.

We had a mortgage with them and forced to take out life insurance nearly 800 to 1000 a year. I cancelled this as it is unlawful and paid up the mortgage.

However when we applied for a small loan a year ago we were forced to pay 900 euros one off life insurance fee for the loan this was taken from our account and I do not know how to get it refunded.

Has anyone had the same problem and did you get refund? 

Was none of this stated in the T and Cs.? It has always been my understanding that mortgage providers wherever require life insurance to be arranged in case of the obvious? We certainly always had this in UK.

Yes that is true however the bank cannot force their life insurance onto the client as a condition of getting the mortgage or loan or add the cost of life insurance to the loan, the client covers themselves via who ever they can get insurance from outside of the bank if they require it as a option. It is now spanish law that banks cannot  force life insurance and its a mis sold mortgage or loan if the do.  

I read of one who claimed back 9,000 euros in life insurance she was paying 2000 a year to a bank.  Just wanted to know if others had had the same experience with spanish banks and if the bank cancelled the life insurance when requested.

Sorry to disagree with you Stephanie but its been 4 yrs now (as a non resident) since we opened a Cajamar "weferrent account" and havent paid a single cent in fees since. At the time we had no restrictions as new account holders but I think now they ask for a one off deposit to become a member (its a co operative bank) but it stays your money with interest so not lost and although online account its fee free. We dont have a branch of our UK bank in our town and I,ve only ever visited nearby branch once in last 5 yrs so online is perfect for us whichever country we are in. To open a Cajamar account as non resident it must be done in branch but residents can open online. I cant recommend them higher, truly satisfied. 

Regards 

Pauline