# Banks and Money Transfer



## ElleK (May 3, 2017)

My family and I are emigrating to the Almeria province this Summer and I have a couple of questions that I haven't been able to find the answer to online, well not with any sort of anecdotal experience which I always think is beneficial.

We currently bank with Santander in the UK and believe that we can organise a bank account in Spain via our branch here. However, is correct that in Spain you can only use the ATM of your specific bank free of charge? Our nearest Santander in Spain is 10km away, but there is a Cajamar Rural in our town/village. Obviously if there is a charge it would make more sense for us to open an account with Cajamar instead.

I would be grateful to hear of any experience with transferring money to Spain. When our house sale completes we will want to move the money to our Spanish account, can anyone recommend a company or point us in the right direction of some relevant information? I've tried a few online brokers but finding it all a tad overwhelming. To have some positive experiences of a particular company would be helpful. We've learnt the hard way about how much the banks sting you for when we bought our property in Spain.

Many thanks,

Elle


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

OK, these are only my opinions and you'll probably get many more so be ready .....

Santander UK has no affiliation with Santander Spain, so you ought to look at other banks in Spain as well. In fact, I think Santander Spain has very high charges unless you meet their 123 account criteria.

ATM's work on a network basis so you need a bank with ATM's on the same network and near to you. There is now (apparently) an issue with using a UK card and trying to use it in ATM's here - you get charged quite steeply.

I would suggest you look at Sabadell or one of the savings banks (Caixas).

To transfer funds from UK, look at TransferWise or CurrencyFair, they offer the best rates with minimal charges - again IMHO.


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## ElleK (May 3, 2017)

snikpoh said:


> OK, these are only my opinions and you'll probably get many more so be ready .....
> 
> Santander UK has no affiliation with Santander Spain, so you ought to look at other banks in Spain as well. In fact, I think Santander Spain has very high charges unless you meet their 123 account criteria.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your input, I will look at the banks you mentioned now. My parents have POA for us in Spain, so I'm hoping with that, our NIE numbers and relevant house paperwork and electricity/water bills they will be able to open an account for us in advance. 

I think I have looked at TransferWise, but I will check out CurrencyFair too. 

Thanks again.


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## tebo53 (Sep 18, 2014)

I have been using Transferwise for some years and never had any problems. Money is usually transferred within 2 days.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I have recently transferred my account from Banco Popular to Sabadell, with their Expansion Account and find both their service in the branch and their online banking system infinitely better. I have to either have a salary or pension of at least €700 per month paid into the account (or transfer that amount myself from my UK account, which is what I do as my pension provider will only pay to a UK account) to qualify for the free banking and they pay a small amount of cash back on direct debits for utility bills. I paid in a cheque bancario (proceeds of my house sale) this morning and there was no charge for depositing it (normally Spanish banks would charge hundreds of euros for this if you don't have a fee-free account).

I use Currency Fair for transferring money between the UK and Spain and have always been completely happy with the service. They charge a flat fee of €3 per transfer, irrespective of the amount involved. The funds always arrive in my Spanish account within 24 hours, and that's with a standard transfer, so there is no need to pay extra for their faster service.


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

Avoid Santander Spain. Cajamar are pretty good. TransferWise is fantastic for sending money over but you can't send more than £2500 in one transaction. They also have a decent rate and it's very fast. If you have a lump sum , unless you're using it to buy your property in Spain I'd keep it in a uk bank and transfer when necessary. If you have to transfer a large amount Currencies Direct are pretty good unless you use TransferWise to send various transactions of £2500.


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## ElleK (May 3, 2017)

Thanks for all the responses. 

I have had a look at Sabadell and the Key Account they offer, but not sure how beneficial it will be, more research needed I think.

Dunpleecin - Thanks for your reply, I'd not even considered leaving money in our UK bank account, this is definitely an option now we are more aware of these transfer companies and their lower fees. Our only large outlay will be a car when we arrive, which is proving another minefield in regards to most prices being based only upon taking finance, which we won't be doing. We did look at buying a Spanish registered car here and taking it over there, but from threads on here and other forums we decided it sounded like far more trouble than it's worth!


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## stevec2x (Mar 24, 2012)

Dunpleecin said:


> Avoid Santander Spain. Cajamar are pretty good. TransferWise is fantastic for sending money over but you can't send more than £2500 in one transaction. They also have a decent rate and it's very fast. If you have a lump sum , unless you're using it to buy your property in Spain I'd keep it in a uk bank and transfer when necessary. If you have to transfer a large amount Currencies Direct are pretty good unless you use TransferWise to send various transactions of £2500.


I transferred much more than that 6 months ago, TW asked for ID, and were happy to proceed after that


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

stevec2x said:


> I transferred much more than that 6 months ago, TW asked for ID, and were happy to proceed after that




Brilliant thanks for that. I spoke from experience about 18 months ago so worth knowing thank you.


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## Me&MrsJones (Sep 25, 2016)

I dont know if you have resolved this matter but we have been through a number of Currency Transfer companies, most of whom have let us down in one way or another or just keep pestering us for more transfers!

We now use Cambridge and if you PM me I am more than happy to share the contact details with you (I am not sure if I can post their contact details openly on the forum sorry!)

They are very close to the 'live rate' (it will be worth you knowing XE is mid rate) and depending on the amount you wish to transfer they can provide you with a transfer rate between 30-50 'pips' behind the live rate. For example, if NetDania is showing a live rate of 1.1839 and you choose to transfer £5000 then you will get it at 1.1800

They dont charge any other fees, they make their money through the difference in the way they trade... which is mind boggling and not worth getting in to!

Hope it Helps


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## ElleK (May 3, 2017)

Me&MrsJones said:


> I dont know if you have resolved this matter but we have been through a number of Currency Transfer companies, most of whom have let us down in one way or another or just keep pestering us for more transfers!
> 
> We now use Cambridge and if you PM me I am more than happy to share the contact details with you (I am not sure if I can post their contact details openly on the forum sorry!)
> 
> ...


I will send you a PM now, thank you.

I have been speaking to Sabadell and so far the experience has been very positive, they've been very helpful and we are in the process of opening up a Key Account with them. They've said it will be straightforward to switch to the Expansion Account once we are up and running. 

We've been given a completion date of early July so things are moving quickly this end.


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## Simon22 (May 22, 2015)

ElleK said:


> I will send you a PM now, thank you.
> 
> I have been speaking to Sabadell and so far the experience has been very positive, they've been very helpful and we are in the process of opening up a Key Account with them. They've said it will be straightforward to switch to the Expansion Account once we are up and running.
> 
> We've been given a completion date of early July so things are moving quickly this end.


I have had nothing but good service from Sabadell, very helpful in the early stages and continue to keep us happy now.


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## ElleK (May 3, 2017)

Simon22 said:


> I have had nothing but good service from Sabadell, very helpful in the early stages and continue to keep us happy now.


We are now set up with them, have access to our online banking and will collect our cards when we arrive in August, just got to give them 3 weeks notice. It's honestly been such an easy and pleasant experience, everything done via email and with one person directly.


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## Me&MrsJones (Sep 25, 2016)

Hi ElleK

I may have missed it if you PM'd me but I don't recall seeing anything.

We too are with Sabadell and their service has been fantastic. Be aware of the commission charges if you are on a straightforward account and not the Expansion account. If you have the Expansion account you need to deposit €700 per month to avoid charges... which can be achieved by withdrawing the amount from your bank on say the 1st of the month and then putting back in to your account on the 8th of the month!

Hope it Helps




ElleK said:


> I will send you a PM now, thank you.
> 
> I have been speaking to Sabadell and so far the experience has been very positive, they've been very helpful and we are in the process of opening up a Key Account with them. They've said it will be straightforward to switch to the Expansion Account once we are up and running.
> 
> We've been given a completion date of early July so things are moving quickly this end.


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