# Do I need a Spanish bank account?



## Pete12 (Oct 12, 2020)

Hi,
I've been living in Spain for over 10 years now but am getting increasingly fed up with banks here. I am with ING and while they were OK for many years, just recently they started to block every single transfer I receive from abroad (€-zone), requiring me to call their help line to unblock it. It's really tedious. Also I am auntono and use Stripe process my card payments (always have) so I easily receive a dozens transfers per month from outside Spain. As ING insists that they have to do that I am wondering whether I actually need a bank account in Spain at all? I mean I really do not want to spend my days on the phone with my bank just to receive a foreign transfer. And the quantities are in the lower 3 digits usually, so nothing huge. I already mentioned that I am autonomo and 100% tax resident here, but given the free flow of capital in the EU and the ease of SEPA transfers can't I simply use an account in another European country? Does Hacienda allow this?
How about for standing orders (such as from the seguridad social, or the suministros), can I use a non-Spanish IBAN for this? Does anyone have experience with this? Thanks.
Pete


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

You should be able to use a transfer service like Transferwise to collect payments and then they will make a SEPA transfer to your Spanish account. Transferwise also has a business account you can set up.

I'm not touting for Transferwise other than as a "happy customer." There seem to be quite a few people here on the forum who use their services and are satisfied with what they offer.


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