The bank has frozen my account

It might be the requirement to verify the identity of non residents, which seems to have become stricter of late - I had to call into Bankia in person to do it and to register my non Spanish mobile number. They normally send an email to tell you about this though. I remember someone saying their email about this  ended up in their junk / junk folder - even if this is the case, I don’t know how to resolve it remotely. Good luck with it. 

"As for no English helpline, why should there be? If you want to use a Spanish bank, the responsibility is on you to speak Spanish, and not the other way round. Does your local Barclays have a Spanish speaker in the branch, or a mandarin Chinese?"

I appreciate the sentiment in the point Ray but it was a little harsh when the guy is looking for help don't you think?

Let's face it, the Spanish accommodate the Brits and there are many examples of them providing more English speakers in areas where it is known to be needed, like the ex-pat communities etc. Supply and Demand?

When you consider that English is the main international business language for many countries, I think the OP has a valid point.

Thank you, Castleman.  That was extremely kind of you and I will certainly follow up on it.  

It’s very pleasing to see that there are people on this forum who are willing to be both positive and helpful.  The smug condescending ones we could manage without.

Hi BigOLondo

Most of us are kind, positive and helpful so don’t give up on us. RayD gets a bit scratchy when our Spanish is not up to his expectations. There needs to be an acceptance that there are many reasons that people are poor Spanish speakers. Many can do the daily pleasantries, work their way through a menu and the shopping but accept that their Spanish will never be good enough deal with the bureaucracy associated (anywhere in the world) with banking, taxes and utilities. 

The reasons are many and do not need to be debated on the forum

I’m one of those. When I opened my bank account, my choice was very much around “do you have English speaking staff”. 

I wish I did speak Spanish more fluently. I also wish I was going to win the lottery, but that’s not going to happen either

I hope you get your banking issues resolved🤪🥂

Thank you, Angebadge.  It is fascinating that some of the "old hands" on this forum leap to conclusions with nothing more than their intuition to guide them.

I do speak sufficient Spanish to conduct a reasonable conversation, but when I'm dealing with matters legal or financial, I derive comfort from using my native language. It is also pointed out that "if you want to use a Spanish bank", the onus is on the customer to speak Spanish.  That may be a fair point, but, in this case, I don't particularly want to use a Spanish bank - I have no choice in the matter.

As for expecting to find an English speaker in my local branch, I have never expressed any such expectation.  But to find one in a call centre is, as Castleman kindly took the trouble to establish, quite another matter and one might ask why the bank didn't point me in that direction.

Best wishes and thanks again,

BigO

Well said Ray.......& your Spanish IS improving😇. V

English speaking number for Santander is 0034 912737090. option 1, I think.  I had the same problem.  I provided full Id under Banco Popular on opening the account and again Sept 19.  They then insisted I fly to Spain to appear in person, where I spent 3 days at the bank.  In May 2020 they froze the account , would not pay direct debits or accept payments in.  There seems to be a glitch in their data transfer, in addition to which Banco Popular acknowledged apostrophe's in surnames whereas Santander do not.  I was lucky enough to find the Vice Chairman's message service on an unrelated business site and he got things moving for me.

Hi Linda

Wow! You are having difficulties. I’m pleased you appear to have sorted them. RayD’s right in that we shouldn’t expect services to be in English but boy, it sure is helpful when they do! When I’m in Spain I seem to spend my life apologising for my lack of Spanish. I’m invariably met with a smile and courtesy.

Interestingly, when I try my very rudimentary Spanish In shops, cafes and restaurants, they usually answer in English! Probably cos they can’t bear to hear me murdering their mother tongue!,🤪🥂

Perhaps I should have made the point earlier that, even though most of my family is totally bi-lingual, English/Spanish, we chose to bank with Popular because they emphasised the polyglot nature of their business.  We felt that it would be helpful for me to have a fallback comfort position.