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Free Spanish Bank Account for Non Residents
Hi, I have posted many replies to posts asking for any info on a Spanish bank account for non residents without fees. I am also constantly receiving private messages asking questions that I keep answerring with the same info, so I,m writing this as our experience of opening a account with Cajamar. At this moment there are now many postings regarding resident accounts that used to be free now requiring extra conditions to keep their accounts free of charges too.
In March 2019, after 10+yrs of paying Sabadell over 2000€ in fees, I researched every Spanish bank and some internet only non Spanish banks for a fee free account with no conditions for a non resident. This took weeks of research and finally We opened a online account with Cajamar bank and closed our Sabadell account. We had to open in branch as the white paper NIE is not recognised by online applications. Residents can open online. The account is called "weferrent". Thankfully Cajamar have a dedicated english helpline that told me to go into branch to apply.
Before we went I translated all the questions I could think of in google translate as there is no guarantee of an english speaking person in branch, such as Sabadell offer. I also took all our direct debit infos with reference no,s to enable a switch service (however I wasnt convinced it would happen as smooth as Uk switch and as we had closed our old account on same day, I telephoned or emailed all our debit Co,s to confirm to ensure a smooth changeover). If your spanish is poor for phone use, write in google translate and send email in spanish. It did go smooth too as I changed the accounts on a date as far away as the next one was due.
We took our passports, NIE,s, copy of deeds for ID and last statement from Sabadell. We were not asked for any proof of income and although we were opening with a sizeable deposit (balance from Sabadell) we were given loads of info on a interest paying account called 360 but we declined this.
The bank "gestor" who dealt with us had no english nor did anyone else, but using my phone and google translate we managed successfully to open our account. It is an online account but if you want to do an "in branch" transaction there is for that month only a 7€ fee. That month no other fees even if you go in every day.
In 50yrs of banking in Uk I rarely go into our bank and havent even had a branch in my town for past 6years as they closed it. As said there is an english phone helpline.
The cards are free but take 2 wks to collect (so keep some cash to last for 2wks). On opening it appears "transfers" are not part of normal banking?? So a visit a few wks later and we had that service added to account. Needed tranfers to pay our accountant for doing our non resident tax and if we need to pay a builder/workman perhaps. Anyway ask for "transferias" when you open to save returning.
The atm use is free and you can deposit cash in the machine. We have not paid a cent in fees yet (1 year now) but I believe we will shortly for the non resident tax certificate which Sabadell charged 35€ ea and Cajamar is 25€ ea.
The website is in very good english and although the app wasnt available in english when we opened it they now have it available in english so we have found it perfect.
I hope those that need this info will find it helpful and have the confidence to leave their present greedy banks as I know its not just Sabadell but most of them are now exploiting even more. I am also sure others will offer their experiences with their choice of banks but this suited us. I believe N26 have recently changed their rules too, so many people are now looking for an alternative.
Regards
Pauline.
