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high bank charges

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2022 4:20pm
10 replies153 views5 members subscribed
margaret78

Posts: 18

4 helpful points

Location: Los Altos

Joined: 30 Jun 2022

i have had a bank account with sabadell for many years, and am suffering with their high bank charges.

i would like to change bank but am nervous about transferring utilities accounts.

here in uk it is simple, the banks do it for you.

any advice would be most welcome

i will be in spain for 3 days, mid october, and

 would like to sort things out during this time.

i have found sabadell rather unhelpful. when my husband died they would not deal with my solicitor, insisting that i appeared in person in the branch.

then they charged me for probate 90 euros.

Kenbo

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 9:44am

Kenbo

Very helpful member

Posts: 991

796 helpful points

Location: La Florida

Joined: 6 Dec 2017

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 9:44am

Many of us on this forum have closed their Spanish bank accounts and moved their banking and direct debits to Wise.com ( formerly Transferwise)

Give the IBAN number of your new Wise account to each utility, this can be done in various ways, if you have an online account you can do this in there or just a simple email to their customer services or as I did visit the utility offices in person but this was just prior to the pandemic when appointments were not required, I think you would struggle to do this in person if you are only here for 3 days.

As for closing your account, my bank were Caixa and would only close the account if I attended in person.

As you are with Sabadell there may be a chink of light here , I am fairly sure that I have read of a couple of people on here who have managed to close their account via a phone call from the UK, I will try to find the most recent posting about this or maybe the member concerned will see your post and confirm.

Ken

margaret78

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 9:50am

margaret78

Original Poster

Posts: 18

4 helpful points

Location: Los Altos

Joined: 30 Jun 2022

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 9:50am

margaret78 wrote on Thu Jun 30, 2022 4:20pm:

i have had a bank account with sabadell for many years, and am suffering with their high bank charges.

i would like to change bank but am nervous about transferring utilities accounts.

here in uk it is simple, the banks do it for you.

any advice would be most welcome

i will be in spain for 3 days, mid october, and

 would like to sort things out during this time.

i have found sabadell rather unhelpful. when my husband died they would not deal with my solicitor, insisting that i appeared in person in the branch.

then they charged me for probate 90 euros.

Thank you for that information.

So I really need to open a new bank account before I can advise utilities to 

Change?

Kenbo

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 10:00am

Kenbo

Very helpful member

Posts: 991

796 helpful points

Location: La Florida

Joined: 6 Dec 2017

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 10:00am

margaret78 wrote on Fri Jul 1, 2022 9:50am:

Thank you for that information.

So I really need to open a new bank account before I can advise utilities to 

Change?

Yes but opening an online Wise account is very straightforward 

https://wise.com/register/?redirectUrl=%2Fsend%23%3Famount%3D1000%26sourceCurrency%3DEUR%26targetCurrency%3DGBP%26fixedTarget%3Dfalse%26guaranteedFixedTarget%3Dfalse%26paymentOptionType%3DGOOGLE_PAY&country=BE#/email

Have a look at their website before you open the account to help understand how they operate, the account comes with a debit card which does all the usual things, one slight downside is that cash withdrawals at ATM's is fairly limited.

https://wise.com/

Ken

Edit. This is the posting which I referred to earlier re closing your account via a phone call.

Sabadell bank

PeterPan

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 10:10am

PeterPan

Very helpful member

Posts: 636

578 helpful points

Location: Almoradí

Joined: 1 Aug 2020

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 10:10am

Kenbo wrote on Fri Jul 1, 2022 10:00am:

Yes but opening an online Wise account is very straightforward 

https://wise.com/register/?redirectUrl=%2Fsend%23%3Famount%3D1000%26sourceCurrency%3DEUR%26targetCurrency%3DGBP%26fixedTarget%3Dfalse%26guaranteedFixedTarget%3Dfalse%26paymentOptionType%3DGOOGLE_PAY&country=BE#/email

Have a look at their website before you open the account to help understand how they operate, the account comes with a debit card which does all the usual things, one slight downside is that cash withdrawals at ATM's is fairly limited.

https://wise.com/

Ken

Edit. This is the posting which I referred to earlier re closing your account via a phone call.

Sabadell bank

Re cash withdrawals at ATM.....If you have a qualifying UK Santander account you can withdraw cash from any Santander ATMs in Spain, fee free and at the Visa bank rate (mainland Spain only). Do make sure you opt for the "No conversion" when withdrawing your money. The funds come directly from your UK Santander account and the daily withdrawal rate is the same as in the UK.

2nd recommendation for Wise, we use them to fund our N26 account.

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Kenbo

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 10:14am

Kenbo

Very helpful member

Posts: 991

796 helpful points

Location: La Florida

Joined: 6 Dec 2017

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 10:14am

PeterPan wrote on Fri Jul 1, 2022 10:10am:

Re cash withdrawals at ATM.....If you have a qualifying UK Santander account you can withdraw cash from any Santander ATMs in Spain, fee free and at the Visa bank rate (mainland Spain only). Do make sure you opt for the "No conversion" when withdrawing your money. The funds come directly from you...

...r UK Santander account and the daily withdrawal rate is the same as in the UK.

2nd recommendation for Wise, we use them to fund our N26 account.

Yes this is also my method of obtaining cash, I should have included it in my reply to Margaret but thanks for your input.

Ken

margaret78

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 10:22am

margaret78

Original Poster

Posts: 18

4 helpful points

Location: Los Altos

Joined: 30 Jun 2022

Posted: Fri Jul 1, 2022 10:22am

Kenbo wrote on Fri Jul 1, 2022 10:14am:

Yes this is also my method of obtaining cash, I should have included it in my reply to Margaret but thanks for your input.

Ken

Thank you for all the information.

I use my nationwide current account card to withdraw cash, but mostly pay with my credit card. So not really an issue for me .

TerriFielder

Posted: Mon Jul 4, 2022 10:15am

Posts: 1

1 helpful points

Location: Los Altos

Joined: 24 Jun 2022

Posted: Mon Jul 4, 2022 10:15am

I have switched to Wise banking. Very impressed. It was easy to do iberdrola dd switched on line, I emailed our administrators who just switched fir me. The only onevwhich was a bit more taxing was hydraqua  but its all done now. No fees

FionaS

Posted: Tue Jul 5, 2022 8:50am

FionaS

Helpful member

Posts: 216

168 helpful points

Location: Orihuela Costa

Joined: 2 Jan 2018

Posted: Tue Jul 5, 2022 8:50am

Hi, Wise has started charging for holding money, so am thinking about swopping to N26 anyone got any thoughts about this? I have used Wise for years, so am a little reluctant to change but the charges are going to work out a lot in the long run. As far as I can make out N26 don't charge for holding money and am I right in thinking you can have a physical card with them? (Standard account)

If anyone has thoughts I would like to know, thank you.

PeterPan

Posted: Thu Jul 7, 2022 10:29am

PeterPan

Very helpful member

Posts: 636

578 helpful points

Location: Almoradí

Joined: 1 Aug 2020

Posted: Thu Jul 7, 2022 10:29am

FionaS wrote on Tue Jul 5, 2022 8:50am:

Hi, Wise has started charging for holding money, so am thinking about swopping to N26 anyone got any thoughts about this? I have used Wise for years, so am a little reluctant to change but the charges are going to work out a lot in the long run. As far as I can make out N26 don't charge for holdi...

...ng money and am I right in thinking you can have a physical card with them? (Standard account)

If anyone has thoughts I would like to know, thank you.

N26 don't charge for holding funds but now have a small charge if you want a physical debit card. 

They now have an app instead of the physical card. (Free with standard account).

We've been with them for years and are happy with the customer service, all support queries are in English and they're quick to respond.

We still use Wise to fund the account from our bank in the UK

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