Bank charges

we bank with caja rural. they charge us quarterly for having the account and yearly for the debit cards. We are never charged for transferring money (in or out). Have a word with them to find out why you are being charged. 

Most Banks charge for receiving money over a certain amount, Sabadel is free up to €50K, so send money at intervals if it's larger than this. The current account charge is now capped at 3€ per month, so that should help everyone who isn't a resident. As in the UK, shop around for the best deal.

I’m with Bankia & pay €15 a quarter & €28 per annum per debit  card (2) so around €116 a year - free banking is a thing we’ve become accustomed to in the UK - it’s a bit of a shock, also you tend to get charged for using atm’s other than your own bank

We went to our Sabadell branch yesterday to request the new Basic bank account at 3€fee per month as you,ve mentioned and were refused, as you have to either have a pensionista account where only pensions go in or the standard 700€ deposited per month which would be fee free then . We were told as non residents who dont have our pensions go in or our taxes paid in Spain it is not applicable. This 3€ mnth fee account is for low income holders who have to prove their low income. It is not as easy thing for non residents. We are going to open a BBVA account online which is fee free.

Regards

Pauline.

Hi

I think the important statement you made is you are "Nonresidents" this means you will have a nonresident account and the banks will normally make charges against this.

With regards to this have you actually st down with the Manager/director and asked for no fees?

It often works and say to him/her you will start looking at other banks.

Thank you to everyone for your helpful messages. This is a bit of a minefield so we really appreciate everyone’s help! We will go into our bank and see what they say and if not helpful will look around for alternatives. 

Eduardo332

I told the bank agent we would cancel our account and go to BBVA for a fee free acount and she wasnt bothered. We didnt ask for the manager but after our BBVA account is activated we,ll do it then as we will need to cancel our account in person. I think its a disgrace non residents are victimised, I have more direct debits and keep a healthier bank balance than my resident friend has so determined we,re not paying these fees anymore

Regards

Pauline.

Thanks Pauline. We have a number of direct debits for electricity etc, was it easy to swap them over? 

Zoe

Just out of interest, what are the conditions for a fee free account with BBVA. When I asked them a few year's back they said I had to pay in so much per month even though I would be transferring a high balance. The fees they would have charged me were higher than I was paying my current Bank.