Avoid Spanish Bank Charges - Page 2

Kenbo wrote on Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:19pm:

It was me that mentioned how unhelpful the staff of La Zenia branch are.

For your future reference one of our forum members closed his Bankia account whilst still in the UK with the help of Cabo Roig branch, I wrote to La Zenia branch to point this out, result, usual straight bat.

James1212 wrote on Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:06pm:

Hi Barry, 

The standard Bankia non resident account now costs €14 per month. This started last year - mine was free or had minimal fees until then. If you want a ‘free’ account you have to have a regular monthly deposit (€700 I think) plus buy one or two other products like insurance (I don’t reme...

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...mber exactly). Another option for free banking was to lodge €40k for 5 years at 0%. I only use it for direct debits, so it makes sense for me to switch to another account but I haven’t done it yet. 

Someone mentioned that the La Zenia branch was unhelpful- that was also my experience on the one occasion I went in there, although the Cabo Roig branch has always been fine. 

Barry14 wrote on Thu Jan 21, 2021 10:02pm:

Thank you James...Do you have an e-mail address of bank assistant in Bankia Cabo Roig...branch on N332..near Tony Ellis...I urgently need to contact.. them...balance   status of account no idea..

Thank you..for info

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Barry

Barry14 wrote on Thu Jan 21, 2021 10:05pm:

James..have had large sum with them for near on 15 years...still had very poor service....

Barry

Kenbo wrote on Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:59am:

Yes Kevin you can do this, I have.

I also bank at the La Zenia branch who happen to be the most unhelpful staff that I have ever come across at a bank, I can't close the account without a personal visit or Power of Attorney, the fact that we are in a pandemic is lost on them.

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I have had a Transferwise account for almost 10 years, initially for transferring currency to my Bankia account but as time moved along they developed the borderless account, this allows you to send and receive money in many different currencies including the Euro. 

More recently they have allowed direct debits from the account, I have moved Iberdrola, Hydraqua and the Suma to here, all working fine at the moment, my community fees admin couldn't make the dd work but as this is only twice a year I just do a bank transfer directly to the communities bank account.

You can inform the utilities of any new IBAN number in your utilities accounts or in some cases by email or phone.

Transferwise's account is based in Belgium and therefore the IBAN prefix is BE and up to now there has been no charges against the direct debits and only very small charges for currency transactions, there are no monthly charges.

HTH, Ken.

richard22 wrote on Fri Jan 22, 2021 10:13am:

Ken

just read your reply on use of transferwise as i just recieved a email from Hidraqua saying i can no longer use Starling to pay my direct debit .I noticed you say that the IBAN number is in Belguim do i need to open a multi currency account to get this

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Richard 

Barry14 wrote on Thu Jan 21, 2021 10:02pm:

Thank you James...Do you have an e-mail address of bank assistant in Bankia Cabo Roig...branch on N332..near Tony Ellis...I urgently need to contact.. them...balance   status of account no idea..

Thank you..for info

Read more...

Barry

Bergor wrote on Wed Jan 27, 2021 11:48am:

Just on an off chance. Can you deal with the staff in Cabo Roig branch to close your account even though your account elsewhere.

Kenbo wrote on Fri Jan 22, 2021 10:33am:

Richard

In the first instance just open a Transferwise account much in a similar way to when you opened your Starling account, they will need id proofs etc, all straightforward stuff.

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Once your account is open you can then attach a Borderless account, this will give you the facility to send and receive funds in other currencies including the Euro, US dollar and many more, the Euro account is the one which provides the Belgian IBAN number, prefixed BE.

You can also have a debit card with this account which I find handy for purchases in Spain.

There are no monthly charges to the account and they have a helpful customer support team based in London, so if you come across any problems during the process just give them a call, all info on their website.

HTH Ken.

Elaine5 wrote on Mon Aug 9, 2021 7:18pm:

Hi, following this with interest as we currently have an account with Bankia who charge us 224 Euros a year to pay our bills! Did you find it easy to set up your direct debits? I am not very tech savvy!!