Can anyone recommend: A bank in Pinoso - Recommended Tradesmen and Companies in Pinoso / El Pinós - Pinoso / El Pinós forum - Costa Blanca forum in the Alicante province of Spain
Airport Service Taxi Mil Palmeras  Torre de la Horadada
Car Key Solutions
James Spanish School
Gran Alacant Insurances
interior building work
ASSSA Insurance
Blacktower Financial Management
Expat Services
Thy Will Be Done
Jennifer Cunningham Insurances SL
Espana Dream Properties
Gentlevan Removals
AA Free English TV
Costa Blanca Building Specialists

Join the Pinoso / El Pinós forum

Join the Pinoso / El Pinós forumMy name's Alex and this is my website all about Pinoso / El Pinós in Spain. Register now for free to talk about Recommended Tradesmen and Companies in Pinoso / El Pinós and much more!

Can anyone recommend: A bank in Pinoso

Posted: Sat Oct 7, 2017 4:09pm
7 replies162 views3 members subscribed
Gabriel B

Posts: 29

8 helpful points

Location: Pinoso / El Pinós

Joined: 6 Oct 2017

Hi everyone.  We need to open a Spanish bank account.  I've heard that Spanish banks charge you just for having an account.  Is this true?

Are there any in Pinoso who maybe charge less?  Or that you could recommend for any reason?

Many thanks

Gabriel B

Posted: Sun Oct 8, 2017 1:58pm

Gabriel B

Original Poster

Posts: 29

8 helpful points

Location: Pinoso / El Pinós

Joined: 6 Oct 2017

Posted: Sun Oct 8, 2017 1:58pm

Thanks very much for that Kimmy.  It's quite shocking really.  So, every two years you have 315 euros (120 + 120 +75 euros) to pay the bank just for the privilege of depositing your money with them!  We aren't residents yet and the prospect of us being able to move to our property soon is quite low as long as we are still trying to figure out how we can have an income.  Is there a way for us to be able to pay our deramas (standing water charge) and property taxes without having a Spanish bank account?

Any other info on other banks people are using would be appreciated.  But I suspect they'll all be pretty much the same by the sound of it...

Gabriel B

Posted: Sun Oct 8, 2017 6:53pm

Gabriel B

Original Poster

Posts: 29

8 helpful points

Location: Pinoso / El Pinós

Joined: 6 Oct 2017

Posted: Sun Oct 8, 2017 6:53pm

Very helpful again Kimmy, thanks.  The property is just a bit of rustic land, so in my ignorance, I wasn't aware that I'd have any taxes to pay on it! 

On the banking, I've been reading about Barclays having branches in Spain that don't charge non-residents the way Spanish banks do.  Also that the Cajas (as opposed to Bancos) tend to charge less.  I'm going to ring Barclays in the Uk tomorrow to see if they can help as my Spanish isn't good enough for a phonecall to a branch in Spain.

Gabriel B

Posted: Mon Oct 9, 2017 3:17pm

Gabriel B

Original Poster

Posts: 29

8 helpful points

Location: Pinoso / El Pinós

Joined: 6 Oct 2017

Posted: Mon Oct 9, 2017 3:17pm

Just some updates for anyone following in my footsteps.

Barclays apparently don't operate in Spain anymore.  No explanation why.  I'm trying to find out if any other UK bks still operate in Spain, the motive being 'maybe they don't charge fees for non-resident bank accounts' (as Barclays apparently didn't).

In the meantime, can anyone say whether there are any 'cajas' (as opposed to bancos) near-ish to Pinoso?  Bancaja, La Caixa, Unicaja were mentioned as having comparatively lower 'maintenance' fees than, for example Sabadell. 

We only need to honour a couple of direct debits a year at the moment, so if we can avoid paying 120 euros a year and an additional 75 euros for a bit of paper every two years, which all goes to making wealthy bankers even wealthier then obviously that would be the preference!

Here's a useful article I found for non-resident bank accounts.  Unfortunately it's from 2013 so I've no idea how current the information is: http://www.terrameridiana.com/blog/491-bank-accounts-for-non-residents-of-spain.html

Advertisement - posts continue below

Gabriel B

Posted: Mon Oct 9, 2017 4:18pm

Gabriel B

Original Poster

Posts: 29

8 helpful points

Location: Pinoso / El Pinós

Joined: 6 Oct 2017

Posted: Mon Oct 9, 2017 4:18pm

Thanks Kimmy.  My lawyer (in Pinoso) didn't mention anything about IBI.  I did have an account with Cam bank for the purchase, then closed it a year and a half later when I saw how much they were taking in 'maintenance fees'.  I assumed, naively, that I wouldn't be needing the account until I eventually moved to Spain. 

The lawyer I mentioned also didn't tell me that I'd also have to pay SAT Ubeda every year, even though I use no water and have no water connected to the meter!.  As such I found out about the bills three years after I bought it and by that time the guy who runs SAT Ubeda had added....wait for it.....149% interest to my bills.  He was and remains quite beligerant and obstructive with me, making every effort to find out about bills or to communicate with him as difficult as possible, and I ended up having to pay the interest.  To this day he still refuses to reply to any of my emails and I have to contact the lawyer twice a year to find out if he has issued a bill.  Needless to say, it has made the challenging prospect of moving to Spain even more challenging and I feel some degree of dread when I even think of dealing with bureaucracy in Pinoso now.

So that's another reason I really need to get a bank sorted out.

 

Gabriel B

Posted: Mon Oct 9, 2017 4:35pm

Gabriel B

Original Poster

Posts: 29

8 helpful points

Location: Pinoso / El Pinós

Joined: 6 Oct 2017

Posted: Mon Oct 9, 2017 4:35pm

I hear BBVA may be ok for fees.  Not sure about non-resident accounts though.

Gabriel B

Posted: Mon Oct 9, 2017 9:58pm

Gabriel B

Original Poster

Posts: 29

8 helpful points

Location: Pinoso / El Pinós

Joined: 6 Oct 2017

Posted: Mon Oct 9, 2017 9:58pm

Thanks Kim.  Just replied

dalek44

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 4:34pm

Posts: 59

11 helpful points

Location: Pinoso / El Pinós

Joined: 11 Jan 2016

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 4:34pm

Gabriel B wrote on Sat Oct 7, 2017 4:09pm:

Hi everyone.  We need to open a Spanish bank account.  I've heard that Spanish banks charge you just for having an account.  Is this true?

Are there any in Pinoso who maybe charge less?  Or that you could recommend for any reason?

Many thanks

Hi

They all generally charge for banking, the best one to get is one that has an English speaking member of staff.

Not sure if this helps but you dont always need a bank to pay bills cards such as Revolut and Monzo can be loaded with sterling and cash withdrawn in Euro's or bills paid in euro's at a excellent exchange rate. I am non resident and use these all the time Martin Lewis money website has full details of the pro's and cons of these types of payments.

Good Luck

Sign up for free or login to reply to this topic

Want to reply to this topic? Login or register for free to post your message:

Find more Recommended tradesmen topics from a particular area:


Register for free!

Login to your account

Airport Service Taxi Mil Palmeras  Torre de la Horadada
Car Key Solutions
James Spanish School
Gran Alacant Insurances
interior building work
ASSSA Insurance
Blacktower Financial Management
Expat Services
Thy Will Be Done
Jennifer Cunningham Insurances SL
Espana Dream Properties
Gentlevan Removals
AA Free English TV
Costa Blanca Building Specialists
Advertise your business here
Advertise your property
Help with my computer