# Bank Account



## NickH01 (May 4, 2014)

Hi.
My wife and I are looking to move to the Elche (Elx) area of Spain early 2015, with a view to this we want to open a bank account in Spain. We are in Spain in the next couple of weeks so wondered how we go about opening an account; what documents do we need, how much money to open an account etc. We then plan to add a bit of money as and when to pay for bit and bobs associated with house purchase and to show the 6000 required when we move out. Any suggestions as to which bank is the better, or are they all pretty much the same?
Your thoughts and advice, as always, greatly appreciated.


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## StewartL (Sep 5, 2013)

For a non resident bank account all I needed was my passport and driving license. I opened the account with just 20 Euros and then started making my wire transfers into the account. 
As for any suggestions to which bank although I am not going to recommend any specifically but what I did was review the area where I was going to see how many branches & ATMs the banks had in the area. Then I selected a couple of banks with large network of branches & ATMs and then reviewed the accounts they offered and in particularly the charges. Unlike the UK there are few no-charge bank accounts so you will be charged for most transactions and use of ATMs which are not serviced by your particular bank's ATM provider. From this and reviewing how I want to use the account I decided which one provided me with all the requirements for the most reasonable charges.


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## NickH01 (May 4, 2014)

Thanks Stewart, much appreciated


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

La Caixa or Cajamar. Either take around 1 - 2 hours to open an account and €50 to put in!! Both offer accounts with no charges so make sure you ask for those (or at any bank); if you don't you can be sure they will give you an account with charges. For an account with no charge there is usually a minimum amount you are required to keep in there - last time I checked it was €1000


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## Crab eater (Sep 13, 2013)

Hi, I can strongly recommend Banco de Sabadell. They have a really good English online banking website and App. More info at >>. https://www.bancsabadell.com/cs/Satellite/SabAtl/


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Any bank is as good as the staff at your local branch.


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## Allie-P (Feb 11, 2013)

We physically opened a non residential account with Barclays, in December 2012, during a short holiday in Spain. We moved over full- time in February 2013.

They required proof of UK address x 2 - Council tax bill plus 1 other utility bill and proof of income. We were both working, about to retire, so we were able to provide recent wage slips and the requested UK bank statements. 

€50 was all that was required to open the account. This gave me the time, whilst still in the UK, to notify our pension providers of our Spanish account details.

Everything was up & running, when we applied for Residencia in March 2013. We were able to provide the required proof of income, via our Spanish account.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

What ever you do or whichever bank you go with, make sure that the person you are dealing with knows what he or she is doing opening a *non-resident* account. Our first attempt was with Santander and the Manager didn't have a clue and cocked it up so that the Banco de España blocked us and we could not open an account with any bank for three months.


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## NickH01 (May 4, 2014)

As always lots of great advice on here. Thanks for your help.


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