Bank charges

Hi Alistair,

You certainly do!  Charges vary, depending on whether you are Resident or Non-resident. 

Until this year, bank charges for Residents who paid a minimum of Eu 700 into their account each month had free banking.  However, Sabadell are introducing new charges from March this year (Eu 15 per quarter) and many of the other banks are following suit.  It is still possible for some people to get free banking by, for example, having a pension paid direct to their Spanish account and, in some cases, also taking another bank product, such as insurance or savings.

Bank charges for Non-residents are higher (Sabadell charge Eu 34 per quarter), but there are fee-free options with some of the newer, online banks that include an IBAN number for international payments and transfers, such as N26, Starling, Revolut and Monzo.

There's been a lot of discussion on this forum quite recently about the changes - this thread includes a recommendation from Paulsav which may be useful for you:

Bank charges

If you put "Bank charges" in "Everywhere" in the search fields at the top of the page, it will bring back a list of other threads on a similar subject.

Kind regards,

Kim

Being in the black is not enough. 

Generally you need to pay in a decent and regular monthly amount and/or purchase a product like insurance. 

You usually pay but you don't have to. All banks are required by Law to povide a free account with basic services for those with a maximum income of 12.900,- p.a. for singles, or 16.135,- if integrated in a family. Maximum charges for other accounts are 3,- mo. + extras (the latter to be negotiated individually).

Hi Kim

Thankyou so much for advising my recommendations regarding Cajamar bank. We still haven't paid any fees since last March (fingers crossed) and we are still very happy with this bank. I have just replied to another poster regarding same. I wish I knew how to create "a link"(not vey tech minded) to save me a lengthy explaination each time. They also had an account called "360" which required a minimum of 1k€ in but gave you 3% interest, which I would think would also be an incentive to residents, but I dont know if that is a competitive rate in Spain. Here in UK as savings rates are so awful,  I have just changed our everyday account to Natwest in December for their "bribe" of £150 to switch. This is 3rd year on the run I,ve changed our bank account to get their bribes. I,m wondering if I will be doing same next December as I,ve exhausted virtually all the banks in the UK now! Just have to wait and see.

Once again thankyou

Kind regards

Pauline.

Killjoy, as our incomes were low enough to qualify for the basic bank account with Sabadell, we were informed, 1) we dont have our pensions being paid in every month, and 2) we dont have Spanish tax declarations to show this so therefore "NO". They would not allow us to have a 3€ per month account for same reasons. As non residents with not paying our income tax in Spain, we therefore did not qualify. However we changed to Cajamar bank and since March last year have not paid a cent in fees even as non residents. I,m well chuffed!! A lot of research but I got there and anyone who thinks non residents should expect to be charged for having a spanish bank account because they are non residents is frankly insulting. I have 2 homes to maintain 24/7 regardless of which one I,m in at the time, plus transport costs for 2 differrent countries vehicles to use and the fares for back and to visiting so my money is accounted for to the penny and as non residents also pay a non resident tax for their spanish home on top, I think with everything we bring into the spanish economy that entitles us to expect a fairer deal re bank account charges.

Regards

Pauline.

Thanks all for your replies how easy is it to change bamk accounts 

Easy, no english speakers in our branch Villena, but google translate helped a lot. Paperwork in english too. I have already written a foolproof itemised account as per Kim,s link. Just do it. I should have done it 10yrs ago before our charges amounted to over 2k€.

Pauline.