# open a bank account - solbank



## naphtali (Feb 8, 2012)

Hi .we hope to rent in spain soon ,and we want to open a bank account with solbank,how do we do it.before we move over.can anyone help.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

naphtali said:


> Hi .we hope to rent in spain soon ,and we want to open a bank account with solbank,how do we do it.before we move over.can anyone help.


you need to go into the branch i am affraid.... solbank is a good bank... if you need to do it from the uk then your best bet is to go to someone in the uk with spanish branches like santander, barclays or halifax

other than that, its a 15 minute process when you are next over to go into the branch and open a local account which i would always recommend


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## jules 123 (Apr 26, 2011)

.... although SolBank is now part of Sabadell.


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## naphtali (Feb 8, 2012)

Thanks steve.been a great help,Do you know how much money,I need to open an account..I tried lloyds bank,and they wanted£ 2000.and we can not touch it .


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## malagaman2005 (Apr 23, 2008)

naphtali said:


> Hi .we hope to rent in spain soon ,and we want to open a bank account with solbank,how do we do it.before we move over.can anyone help.


Before we moved over 7 yrs ago, we opened our Solbank account through their London office, all done over the phone and by post. When we arrived in Spain our bank cards etc were ready and waiting to be picked up from the branch we selected. Things might have changed but maybe worth giving the London branch a call.


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## jules 123 (Apr 26, 2011)

naphtali said:


> Thanks steve.been a great help,Do you know how much money,I need to open an account..I tried lloyds bank,and they wanted£ 2000.and we can not touch it .


This link lists the type of accounts available:

https://www.bancsabadell.com/cs/Satellite/SabAtl/Accounts/1191332200838/en/


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

naphtali said:


> Thanks steve.been a great help,Do you know how much money,I need to open an account..I tried lloyds bank,and they wanted£ 2000.and we can not touch it .


Well, when I first came out and got a non resident account i think the minimum was €1 !

At that time I just wanted to open the account so I had it to send money over from the UK and I think i put something silly like 100 in but there isnt really a minimum with banks here in spain for standard accounts.

Since then when I have moved banks I have actually opened accounts with zero and then credited them later.

I used Solbank (sabadell) at first, then went to Bancaja, dropped them in the crises when they were about to go bust and went back to Sabadell (Sabadell Atlantico) and cant really fault them. They are forever offering me things like credit cards, loans and things and their service is pretty good


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## rach3429 (Jan 22, 2012)

Hi, I've opened an account and you need minimal amount so not a problem but I would warn you that although they can at times be helpful and generally have atleast one person who speaks English, their charges are extautionate and probably one of the most expensive banks for charges.
I constantly have random charges going to the bank and I haven't a clue what they are for.
Once when I asked, I was then advised that solbank charge you each month if you have no transactions in a month and many other charges for different things.

As now you have to be present to open a bank account, I'd get over here and do a bit of searching and asking questions about charges and see which bank is local and best for you.

Regards


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

rach3429 said:


> Hi, I've opened an account and you need minimal amount so not a problem but I would warn you that although they can at times be helpful and generally have atleast one person who speaks English, their charges are extautionate and probably one of the most expensive banks for charges.
> I constantly have random charges going to the bank and I haven't a clue what they are for.
> Once when I asked, I was then advised that solbank charge you each month if you have no transactions in a month and many other charges for different things.
> 
> ...


I'm sorry, I dont know how you have come to that conclusion because its not true.
I have had a bank account with SOL for 6 years, and I dont pay ANY charges to them for anything. In fact they pay me a small percentage of utility bill payments that are made through d/d on the account. So overall they pay me to have an account there!

I'm thinking maybe that doing it by distance you have opened a non residents standard account, I dont know. The standard account is Prestige, and I think it costs about €70 a year iirc, with various extras thrown in. Then you pay a quarterly charge for credit / debit cards if you take them, but iirc the first one is free. Those were the only charges we paid originally

With the expansion account you pay nothing for anything


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## malagaman2005 (Apr 23, 2008)

Stravinsky said:


> I'm sorry, I dont know how you have come to that conclusion because its not true.
> I have had a bank account with SOL for 6 years, and I dont pay ANY charges to them for anything. In fact they pay me a small percentage of utility bill payments that are made through d/d on the account. So overall they pay me to have an account there!
> 
> I'm thinking maybe that doing it by distance you have opened a non residents standard account, I dont know. The standard account is Prestige, and I think it costs about €70 a year iirc, with various extras thrown in. Then you pay a quarterly charge for credit / debit cards if you take them, but iirc the first one is free. Those were the only charges we paid originally
> ...


I've been with Solbank/Sabadell for 7 yrs now and yes, even with it being a residents account, they still charge a lot for cards, direct debits and maintenance charges. I have considered the expansion account as at the moment my civil service pension is transferred via Currencies Direct without charges. My worry is that Solbank would cover their costs/fees by giving a lesser exchange rate and thereby seemingly running the account with no charges to the customer. When I asked at my local branch what the exchange rate on that day was to compare with CD they couldn't tell me for some reason so didn't go any further with it. Can you convince me Stravinsky that the exchange rate given by them is competitive with currency brokers?


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

malagaman2005 said:


> I've been with Solbank/Sabadell for 7 yrs now and yes, even with it being a residents account, they still charge a lot for cards, direct debits and maintenance charges. I have considered the expansion account as at the moment my civil service pension is transferred via Currencies Direct without charges. My worry is that Solbank would cover their costs/fees by giving a lesser exchange rate and thereby seemingly running the account with no charges to the customer. When I asked at my local branch what the exchange rate on that day was to compare with CD they couldn't tell me for some reason so didn't go any further with it. Can you convince me Stravinsky that the exchange rate given by them is competitive with currency brokers?


Well you see, when you move your pension with currencies direct its actually Currencies direct that control the exchange rate, not SOL bank. But did you know that Capita Hartshead are generally regarded as very competitve, i.e. having your pension paid direct to Spain rather than going via a currency company.

So by changing to Expansion your rate of exchange will not change because all SOL are doing is receiving in a € amount, (for which they dont charge) and if you have utilities paid via d/d, then they pay you 3% (iirc) of the payment back to you every month

I reiterate ..... I am in the same position as you by the sounds of it and I pay no charges on credit cards, or my bank account and my CS pension comes to the account exactly the same figure as Currencies Direct sent it


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Stravinsky said:


> Well you see, when you move your pension with currencies direct its actually Currencies direct that control the exchange rate, not SOL bank. But did you know that Capita Hartshead are generally regarded as very competitve, i.e. having your pension paid direct to Spain rather than going via a currency company.
> 
> So by changing to Expansion your rate of exchange will not change because all SOL are doing is receiving in a € amount, and if you have utilities paid via d/d, then they pay you 3% (iirc) of the payment back to you every month
> 
> I reiterate ..... I am in the same position as you by the sounds of it and I pay no charges on credit cards, or my bank account and my CS pension comes to the account exactly the same figure as Currencies Direct sent it


Up to a total (for all d/d) of 20 euros per month.


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## malagaman2005 (Apr 23, 2008)

Thanks for that Stravinsky, you've said exactly what I wanted to hear,methinks another look at the Expansion account is on the cards !! Just one more thing, if I remember correctly, in order to change to the Expansion account, they insisted that I had to take out Solbank insurance, your views on that one please Stravinsky?


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

malagaman2005 said:


> Thanks for that Stravinsky, you've said exactly what I wanted to hear,methinks another look at the Expansion account is on the cards !! Just one more thing, if I remember correctly, in order to change to the Expansion account, they insisted that I had to take out Solbank insurance, your views on that one please Stravinsky?


That's one of the alternative requirements for sure, but the other alternative to that is you just have to have a regular sum paid in every month, which of course you do in the form of your pension.

Having said that I have always had my car insurance with Mapfre through SOL. If you tell your SOL advisor what you want to pay they may well be able to do it. I told them I wanted a reduction last year and they managed to get it down by €150


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## malagaman2005 (Apr 23, 2008)

Thanks, I'll make some enquiries with them


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

malagaman2005 said:


> Thanks, I'll make some enquiries with them



By the way ...... if you have a CS pension then you may well have a state pension. If you de register for tax in the UK, your CS pension will still be taxed there because it is always taxed at source. You will benefit from the tax allowance in the UK. The state pension will then we taxed here in Spain, and you take advantage of the Spanish tax allowance. All quite legal under reciprocal tax agreements.


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## malagaman2005 (Apr 23, 2008)

Fortunately I've a few years to go yet before I get my state pension but appreciate the advice anyway


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## malagaman2005 (Apr 23, 2008)

Just a quick update, asked at my branch and was told I would have to take out at least one of their insurance policies to qualify for the 'Expansion Account'!! I pointed out that I could find no mention of this in their paperwork advertising the account and would probably move to another bank who charged less fees for cards, maintenance etc. She went off to speak with the manager and returned to say that, as a gesture of good faith, they would change my account to the Expansion one, result!! So it does pay to ask, thanks for your help Stravinsky


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

malagaman2005 said:


> Just a quick update, asked at my branch and was told I would have to take out at least one of their insurance policies to qualify for the 'Expansion Account'!! I pointed out that I could find no mention of this in their paperwork advertising the account and would probably move to another bank who charged less fees for cards, maintenance etc. She went off to speak with the manager and returned to say that, as a gesture of good faith, they would change my account to the Expansion one, result!! So it does pay to ask, thanks for your help Stravinsky


I guess its just a sales ploy to try and get you to take out something extra with them. Well done anyway


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## naphtali (Feb 8, 2012)

snikpoh said:


> Up to a total (for all d/d) of 20 euros per month.


Hi.Thanks for help ,do you know how much there take off pensions ,what I mean is.we will have our pension ,sent from uk to spain.will it be the same..


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## 4stephanie (Jan 9, 2013)

Not easily . I had to get my NIE at the local police station on arrival and then pay the relevant fee to have the paperwork stamped before I was able to open any bank account. The process takes about 3 weeks once youre in the country, so not too long to set up. Would recommend taking a friend who can speak Spanish as I struggled with my limited Spanish to fill in the forms at the Police station. Best to have your passport details, you are also asked your mothers and fathers full name/dob/and place of birth even if they are still not surviving for their records.


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