Warning to Sabadell bank Expansion account customers - Page 2

Hi Kim, it maybe because my Pensions are paid by Direct Transfer, see below copied from the message.

 A monthly maintenance fee of 5 euros will apply, to be paid on a quarterly basis in the account settlement (15 euros). We wish to continue offering advantages to our preferential customers and groups of customers aged under 30 or those who have a direct-deposited retirement pension. In your case, the account indicated below will be exempt from the maintenance fee and your Expansión Account will pay no fees as is currently the case. 

Just when you think everything is going "tickety boo" they change it!

I'm going to check my account messages. I changed my account type to this to avoid charges.

I almost emptied my account apart from €1500 this week just in case things went wrong with the "B" word. I had a call yesterday from Sabadell yesterday asking me why! 

I've heard all sorts of things about banks with people including the Spanish Government just taking money from peoples accounts. Didn't fancy this at all so took it out. 

I've opened an account with Starling Bank including a Euro account and it appears to be quite good. All APP based but appear easy to use.

Regards to all.

I have just checked my Sabadell and I don't have any notices on my APP regarding this extra monthly cost.......not even in the Legal Notices part or Messages.

Mind you it is early and I might have missed something.

Thanks Glen, I'll check out Starling to see whether it would work for me as a Spanish resident - I have a feeling the utility companies won't accept DD's from a non- Spanish bank, but worth checking it out.

I emailed the account manager at my Sabadell branch in Almoradi, telling her we didn't agree with the changes (as per the wording of their legal notice) and she's invited us to a meeting next week.  Probably a waste of time, but I'll go along and see what she has to say.  I'll update this post after the meeting.

Kind regards, 

Kim

Hi Kim

Yeah let us know how you get on.

Still can't find anything on my account so I'll wait and see if any charges get applied.

I have direct debits from it myself for the usual utility bill's, insurances and SUMA so it will be interesting to see how it works for you.

Have a good weekend.

Regards

Glen

Hi,

If you are resident in Spain your best option is to open a N26 account ,it will give you a Spanish iban. As said direct debits without a Spanish iban may not be accepted in Spain although EU regulations state that they must be! Spain seems to me to pick and choose which EU rules they want to comply with.

N26  is a challenger bank based in Germany and is internet only ,so you have to be comfortable with that. There are no charges at all.

You manage it by phone or tablet,Android or ios.

Hi all, I have previously posted on this subject as a non resident who was fed up of Sabadell,s extortionate bank charges unless we paid 700€ into the account monthly. It took me 2 months in total to find a bank in Spain that had no charges for non residents with no terms or conditions after investigating 7 banks.I was determined to find a online service but with a branch, should i need one so dismissed starling and N26. I changed us to Cajamar Bank in April and totally delighted with their service. No fees to run it online, no card fees, free atm use, havent paid a cent since then. The account is called "wefferent", it pays all our Direct debits, I send money when it suits me by Transferwise, and the atm automatically appears in english. Its easy to use online but if your spanish is limited best log in via the website which is all translated in english by google, however the app(which I do use) is only available in spanish with no english. They are part of Caja Rural and although I appreciate most repliers and original poster have been resident, this would still offer a better alternative to Sabadell. I was glad I changed even more now as we had considered the expansion account but didnt really want the hastle of tranferring money every month when I really needed it for living in the Uk just to get the account free instead of the nearly 200€ per year we were paying in fees. Their banks dont have english speakers (maybe some do speak english but not guaranteed) but with google translate and a mobile passing over the counter like a playing card, we did it with very limited spanish. Their terms and info was given us in english(and spanish). Oh there is a fee of 5€ for a month if a transaction has been processed face to face in the branch and I recently had to request in branch a duplicate debit card (stupidly left in Uk!) and the fee was 3€ but no transaction fee. I couldnt recommend higher, stop Sabadell's greed, you wont be sorry

Regards

Pauline.

That's great, thx Pauline.  I've also been looking at Starling and N26 today, but I'm concerned by the reliability of app only products.  I'm going to look at Monzo and Revolut tomorrow, but your post is very timely because we have a branch of Caja Rural in Formentera village, so I'll pop in and see them on Monday.  

By the time I meet with my personal banker at Sabadell next week, I hope to have at least one or two options I can decide to switch to, if Sabadell don't want to waive their new fees to retain my business - blue suits me, but I won't be holding my breath...... 😉

Kind regards,

Kim

Thanks for your appreciation Kim, I believe many non residents have moved away from Sabadell sick of the high fees so now they,ve decided to attack residents to cover their shortfall. I had no grumbles with their service just fees so took action. I am however stunned with this new action and wonder if it will pave the way for all the other banks who give free service to residents to follow with the same terms. I dont know if Caja Rural have the same terms as Cajamar but supposedly same partners. Will follow this with intrigue and hope you get a positive result with your bank

Regards

Pauline.

This is an addition to previous reply, I,m thrilled to add the Cajamar app now has an english version which can be selected in "my profile". Hurray! Now I cant think of a single gripe I have with them. Thankyou Cajamar!

Regards

Pauline.