Sabadell in La Zenia blocked my account without notice and is unreachable via phone. What can I do?

I would stop using the bank that you can’t use and open an account with Revolut or Wise,there are others but many people do struggle with their Spanish accounts.You can make your payments through these online banks very easily.As an example I transferred £1000 from Barclays this morning to Revolut then immediately transferred €1000 from Revolut to my Bankinter in Spain,took seconds,cost nothing and got just under €1.18.Its the future!

Hello

This is a common enough complaint on the forum especially regarding Sabadell....accts blocked, no customer service, unable to close accts ,very  high bank charges etc etc .    If you search 'Sabadell Accts blocked' in the Search Box  above, you will see pages of  complaints  about many of the banks in this area, all  of a similar nature.

Hopefully you will hear from someone who has somehow resolved the problem that you have & can offer advice. Many people have now changed to online accts like Wise.

Cheers

Elinspain

The first thing you need to know is why your account has been blocked. When were you last in contact with your bank, face to face or by email. Since Brexit there have been a few changes, whereby additional information is required by the bank so that you can retain a fully functioning account as a non resident. ( or at least it was as far as I was concerned). Have you been contacted regarding providing those relevant details. Before engaging a solicitor I would persist in attempting to communicate with your bank manager, it might take a while. I agree it should not, but it’s Spain, and even worse, Sabadell. But it is possible so don’t give up. Then you can consider alternatives such as changing banks etc. You are frustrated at present and I can sympathise, but persist and contact your branch, one way or another. If you know why it’s been blocked, you can rectify the matter. As far as a lawyer is concerned you could use Sun lawyers, good communication in English. 

The strong  possibility of your account being frozen is the requirement of all the banks to inform the authorities, every two years, that yours is a non residents account, you are charged for this.

The requirement now is for you to produce your passport etc, most of them say in person, I know, I have been there.

The fact that you weren't informed is irrelevant to them, they just do it and cause you an immense amount of grief, I know, it's criminal isn't it ?

Do yourself a huge favour and do as many of us on here have done, open a Wise account asap and then give all your utilities/ mortgage etc your new IBAN number from Wise, there are no monthly charges just very small amounts on certain transactions.

In the UK we are used to our banking system being regulated, to a degree.

But in Spain it's like the wild west, vote with your feet, save yourself alot of money and have peace of mind that in the unlikely event that you have a problem with Wise then you can speak to customer support which is based in London.

Wise' bank account is based in Belgium, your IBAN number will be prefixed BE which is accepted Europe wide, unlike the Starling account which is GB.

I really know how you feel about taking them on with a lawyer, I felt like that too but save yourself the costs and stress and concentrate on walking away from them, you can be setting all this up and then once you have access to your funds in Spain, withdraw them to your Wise account.

Ken

Thank you all for your replies! This helps a lot to calm down and think constructively.

I just wish there’d be a chance to change this failed system…

I have a mortgage with them and they opened a Key account for me by default (which costs €40 quarterly). It seems that walking away from them would be the smartest move.. I just tried to update my hidraqua and iberdrola payment method and faced errors saying contact customer support. I guess it’ll be faster to do it all in person once I’m there. In the meantime, still trying to reach Sabadell…

Hi 

As others have said, open an account at Wise.com. 

Also register with the Hidragua and Iberdrola websites - within them you will be able change the IBAN for your direct debits, or is that where you saw the error messages? Or if you prefer, I expect you could pay the bills by bank transfer.

It's just occurred to me that you haven't said which country your sender bank is in - if it is in the eurozone then you could change your direct debits to pay directly from your sender bank.

Cheers 

Steve 

Hi Peetonn,

Have you pursued Sabadell's official complaints process?  You can download the form from their Customer Service website:

https://www.bancsabadell.com/cs/Satellite/SabAtl/Customer-Service/GBS_Generico_FA/1191335625947/1191332198208/en/

I'd submit a complaint detailing that you've received no communication from your branch, the dates and times you've made contact with no response, and that you hold the bank wholly responsible for preventing you from meeting your contractual obligations to your mortgage provider and utility companies, and in accordance with their own complaints procedure you expect a response within 15 days.

If Sabadell fail to comply (I'm sure you've experienced Spanish bureaucracy grinding to a virtual halt in July and August!), there's also a link to Bank of Spain's complaints procedure in the link above, which regulates the banking industry in Spain.

Good luck!

Kind regards, 

Kim

Thank you all for the replies they are very helpful and I'll be filing a complaint with the bank on the provided link.

My manager have finally replied (after my calls to customer support and asking them to contact my branch as well as the department that is responsible for transaction restrictions), however they aren't much helpful -- they'll keep the block on my account (which is due to my non-EU citizenship, although I am a EU resident since February) and require supporting documentation for every incoming transfer. 

I already started to change my recurring direct debits with various companies (Iberdrola, Hidraqua, etc.) to my other (non-Spanish) EU bank and looking into ways on how I can make mortgage (and house insurance) payments from that bank. 

I just got off the call with the customer support line and it seems that they won't be willing to close my account (it is a non-resident "Key Account", €40/quarter) because of the mortgage and making mortgage payments from non-Spanish bank seems non-trivial.

I'll keep trying though...

If I was in your position I would set-up a DD with your mortgage provider from your other (non Sabadell) EU account - Wise perhaps?

I would then do the same with all your DD's to utility providers etc and, once all set-up, I would then withdraw all cash from your account, contact Sabadell again via phone, and inform them that you want the account closing. Without any funds inyour account, they will not be able to thieve your €40 euros every quarter

This is what I did, without any problem, but granted I did not have a mortgage in place with anybody. If your mortgage is with Sabadell then it may be a lot more difficult to close your account....