The bank has frozen my account - Page 3

Angebadge wrote on Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:25pm:

Hi BigO

Well, in which case I feel you have a legitimate gripe. As I said earlier, my choice of banking was also based on their ability/willingness to speak English for anything other than daily needs. If they suddenly decided they were not able to offer this facility, I’d be well and truly stuffed.&nb...

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...sp;

I remember our first time in Spain, about seven years ago. I screwed up my courage and asked for “gin y tonica”. The young lady responded with what appeared to be a question and it was all I could do just to say si. I went into total meltdown! I worked out much later she asked if I wanted ice and lemon 😂😂. 

I’ve not heard “polyglot” for a very long time🤪🥂

bclemx wrote on Thu Jun 25, 2020 2:09am:

I have been locked out of my Caixa bank for months.  Caixa are a nightmare.  They constantly change security codes and other requirements.  My card has now expired which I pay direct debits with.  I have asked my solicitor for help.  My son uses a international online ban...

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...k which is so easy.  Your bank is your phone.  Never closed.  It speaks every language.  Transfers money from £ to euros at 0.4% of full BOE exchange rate.  Does debit, credit, regular and every other payments.  Pay with phone or draw euros free at ATM with card.  I will be using it in the future.

FionaS wrote on Thu Jun 25, 2020 8:05pm:

Hi I am sorry but having lived beginning 35 years ago in Iceland, Belgium, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden all these countries even back then had English speaking (fluently) staff for services such as electricity, telephone, gas, water, lawyers, dentists, doctors, accountants, and yes banks!

I am sorry but it has been many many years that different foreigners, (Germans, Iclandics, Swedes, Norwegians, Britains etc) have lived in Spain and still we get the runaround it is not hard to have one person who can speak English fluently to help not only the British but every other nation who ...

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...generally use English as their "International language" even when I was in Russia back in the 1990s there was a good level of English spoken. It is the language of business in most of the world, banking is important, many of you are trying to juggle life savings, pensions and more, of course, the banks should provide a fluent speaking person as should accountants, doctors, dentists. 

It should be a requirement of putting your money in a bank, if more was said and done to support the notion that foreign citizens should have a right to conducting business in their own language then this would be forced to happen, many people living here full time are over sixty-five vulnerable and unable to cope with some things leaving them to perhaps open more unscrupulous behaviours from others including people in authority. They cannot be expected to become fluent in Spanish. I feel too much credence is given to Spain, yes we live in their country but I go back again to the many countries I have lived, run a business in and been involved with the native countrymen without ever been expected to find my way through what is sometimes a minefield when dealing with different paperwork in different countries.

Just a thought

BigOLondo wrote on Thu Jun 18, 2020 12:04pm:

Many years ago, something like 25 or 30, I opened a non-resident's current account and a non-resident's deposit account with what was then Banco Popular Espanol.  All went well and I operated the accounts quite happily until quite recently.

A few months ago, Banco Popular was acquired by Santander and, even then, I was able to operate the accounts via online banking without problems....

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Then, with no notice or explanation, Santander changed my access codes so that I can no longer access the accounts - not even to establish my balance.

Santander seems to have adopted a xenophobic policy because they no longer have foreign languages available on their website, but they appear to have withdrawn the English language facility on their telephone helpline.  The only advice I can get from them is to call into one of their offices which, in the current climate I cannot do.

Thus, I am left unable to gain access to my accounts.

Can anybody suggest, please, how I can resolve the situation? 

BigOLondo wrote on Mon Jul 6, 2020 12:36pm:

Following my post of 18 June, I promised to let you know how I got on with having my account unblocked.

I rang the number (+34 912 737 090) given to me by a number of people here and spoke to a very helpful lady.  She asked me for my passport number, which I gave her.  She said it was wrong.  It transpired that she didn't want my current passport number, but the number of the passpor...

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...t I held when I opened the account.  That passport expired in 1999.  However, I found it and rang again.

This time I was taken through steps to obtain a new access code, but we could not get beyond step 2 because the system would not respond. We agreed that we should wait for a day or two and then try again.

To be continued........  

BigOLondo wrote on Mon Jul 6, 2020 3:00pm:

Following my last message, I decided to throw caution to the winds and I tried again today.  This time, we managed to complete the entire “lost key” routine and I now have access to my accounts.  However, when I try to do anything, even as simple as transferring funds from one accou...

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...nt to another, I receive an error message telling me that ‘for my security’, I need to obtain a new password.

Back to the helpline.

To be continued......