Free Spanish Bank Account for Non Residents - Page 9

Thanks for that I'll give it a go 😊

Thanks I'll look into that 😌

Thanks a lot for your update. We are also near Balsicas and it will suit us to the ground. Does anyone speaks English in the branch 

Hello jimbob i have just used the app and took your advise on changing it to english it worked a treat. thanks for that.

best regards

IanC.

Hi. Were you able to open account in  Cajamar without having to make a monthly lodgement? And without a European residency card? Is there a debit card without charges? I am unable to email them to ask any questions as their online form requires a Spanish phone number and I only have a Uk one

Hiya.

Yes o opened an account 19 years ago as a none resident it was easy. Back then they offered free banking. They have now changed it and i have to pay a none resident tax €25 and i have to pay a card charge of €30, i think every 6 months. I am about to change it to a Weferent account which gives me the same benefits but is free, it is operated solely on line. I don't know if you have been on their web page? but it comes up on the home page, oh and they offered to send the debit card to my UK address. The firm is in Spanish but if you struggle with Spanish, if you highlight the sentence Google translate should come up.  Hope this helps

To open an online Wefferent account with Banco Cajamar you need:

Passport

NIE

UK or Spanish Bank statements

Spanish Mobile number.  We tried with a UK mobile number and were unable to open the account.  We got a sim card from HITS mobile in Spain and used the Keep My Line service. They have English speakers.

You will get a free debit card with Wefferent.   Afterwards once you have got your Wefferent Account number it is just a question of changing your direct debits.

Previously we used Banco Sabadell until their commissions/charges became outrageous! Changing to Wefferent has been the best thing I have done in Spain.

Thanks for that.  If I was in branch (another visit planned in June) do you think I could manage it without the Spanish Sim?  Also is it just a NIE number (I have one) or do they need a NIE card with photo? San Javier Branch has an English speaker, but he was off last week when I was in.  I made the mistake of not asking for him to email me when he is back, and I cannot use their enquiry form to contact him as it wont take my UK number!

Not having a Spanish sim card and mobile number was our biggest hurdle to opening the account. We learned from this forum that others had used HITS to get a sim card.  They will not post it to you so you need to contact a supplier such as Tellitec:  [email protected]  Holly is English and will post the sim card to you.  We also bought a Motorola G8 power lite mobile phone with dual sim so that we did not to keep changing UK/Spanish sim cards, brilliant mobile for the price. It's essential that you sign up for the HITS Keep Your Line Service as your Spanish mobile number is linked to the Wefferent account.  It's €5 for the first year and €3 thereafter.  The Wefferent account has its own app and a free debit card.  You can make payments and transfers via the app.

Once you have the Wefferent account open, if you make a transaction physically at the bank instead of online there is a €7 charge.That said I have made transactions twice at the bank and have never been charged.  You can pay Non-resident taxes online using Banco Cajamar website and we use https://www.spanishtaxforms.co.uk/ for this - considerably cheaper than a Spanish Gestor or solicitor.  We use Wise to transfer money from the UK to our Wefferent account, again this has been brilliant https://wise.com/invite/u/martynf1

There are NO commissions/fees, with Wefferent and it overcomes using IBANs from banks based in the UK or other countries in Europe.  I strongly recommend it, Banco Sabadell my previous bank was seriously hacking me off!

Thanks again for your help.  Yes Sabadell are currently ripping me off too. I have around 40K Euro in an account there and they're no doubt lending it out at hefty interest rates and charging me heftily for lending it to them!!!  Its about to end I can assure you...and I've told them so...and they don't even bother replying to emails.

I'm also looking at Wise as a possibility.  I already have an account with them, iused previously for transferring funds. They apparently can now  handle direct debits (which after all are the only reason we need bank accounts is Spain at all...for water, electric, rates, car tax etc).  Even Cajamar cannot take over direct debits from another bank like banks in the UK can, so all the work running around Companies I have DD's set up with would have to be done anyway!