# How long do Spanish bank transfers take?



## Rockpea (Sep 11, 2015)

It's all getting very real now! Our house purchase is nearing completion and we need to transfer our euros from our Sabadell personal account in Spain, to our Lawyer's bank account.

We're having to do it in three batches due to transfer limit, and I'm waiting to hear the date the funds must be in our lawyer's account by. I've looked online to see if I can find out the clearing time for bank transfers in Spain, but have drawn a blank.

Can anyone give me a clear steer on this please? I know in the UK now, the 'faster payments' scheme means money only takes minutes/hours to arrive... and I *think* this was an EU directive, which hopefully means it's the same in Spain?

Thanks
Rp


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

When we have money transferred to our account it normally happens the next day but we have also experienced 4 day delays.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Rockpea said:


> Can anyone give me a clear steer on this please? I know in the UK now, the 'faster payments' scheme means money only takes minutes/hours to arrive... and I *think* this was an EU directive, which hopefully means it's the same in Spain?
> 
> Thanks
> Rp


It really all depends where it's going. Santander (UK and Spain ISTR), for example, haven't signed up to SEPA and so don't offer that service. For them it can take a week or more.

If it is one SEPA bank to another, then it should be within 24 hours (if all goes well).


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## Rockpea (Sep 11, 2015)

Thanks folks!


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

snikpoh said:


> It really all depends where it's going. Santander (UK and Spain ISTR), for example, haven't signed up to SEPA and so don't offer that service. For them it can take a week or more.


Can't see how they can opt out as it is an EU directive.


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## smitty5668 (Feb 25, 2015)

gus-lopez said:


> Can't see how they can opt out as it is an EU directive.



me neither.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

gus-lopez said:


> Can't see how they can opt out as it is an EU directive.



I quite agree - but they have!


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## Rockpea (Sep 11, 2015)

It does seem odd that they can opt out!

We bank with Sabadell and our lawyer is with Caixa - having searched online, it seems they're both in SEPA so hopefully that's good news


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I use CurrencyFair to transfer money from my English bank, and it arrives in my Spanish account the next working day - sometimes the same day.

Check them out as they offer a better exchange rate than bank-to-bank services.


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## Dedaneen (Jul 6, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> It really all depends where it's going. Santander (UK and Spain ISTR), for example, haven't signed up to SEPA and so don't offer that service. For them it can take a week or more.
> 
> If it is one SEPA bank to another, then it should be within 24 hours (if all goes well).


So if there are problems with the two above, which banks do you folks use and whats the best and most popular?


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## smitty5668 (Feb 25, 2015)

sabadell for us, also heard good reports of bank kinter.


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

Rockpea said:


> It's all getting very real now! Our house purchase is nearing completion and we need to transfer our euros from our Sabadell personal account in Spain, to our Lawyer's bank account.
> 
> We're having to do it in three batches due to transfer limit, and I'm waiting to hear the date the funds must be in our lawyer's account by. I've looked online to see if I can find out the clearing time for bank transfers in Spain, but have drawn a blank.
> 
> ...


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## Rockpea (Sep 11, 2015)

Alcalaina said:


> I use CurrencyFair to transfer money from my English bank, and it arrives in my Spanish account the next working day - sometimes the same day.
> 
> Check them out as they offer a better exchange rate than bank-to-bank services.


Thanks Alcalaina! We'd already moved the money from the UK into our Spanish account, so this was a national transfer. But thanks for the recommendation, I'll check them out as a potential alternative for when we move money from the UK


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## Rockpea (Sep 11, 2015)

Oh and in case you're all on tenterhooks wondering how our transfer went, it was in our lawyers account the next day


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