# Euro Bank Account?



## Aileen&Hazel (May 21, 2012)

Hiya, moving out to Alicante region, Spain in August and don't know who is best to go with it terms of a euro bank account! 

I have an account with RBS but they have no spanish or any international equivalent. I'm looking into setting up an account here so that i can then set up a spanish account with that banks' equivalent. 

I've heard that Abbey, Bradford and Alliance and Leicester are all linked to Spain's Santander, and that HSBC have a spanish equivalent.... but don't know where to turn!

Who do you reckon is best to go with in terms of convenience and efficiency? 

Thanks
Aileen & Hazel


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## JaveaExile (May 31, 2012)

Aileen&Hazel said:


> Hiya, moving out to Alicante region, Spain in August and don't know who is best to go with it terms of a euro bank account!
> 
> I have an account with RBS but they have no spanish or any international equivalent. I'm looking into setting up an account here so that i can then set up a spanish account with that banks' equivalent.
> 
> ...



I would go for a Lloyds interntaional account


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I left Lloyds International recently because they kept stealing money off me! I won't go into detail but they have some very sharp practices.

Although it is tempting to find a bank with a familiar English name, their Spanish equivalents are entirely separate businesses and are governed by Spanish banking laws. There is no particular advantage to using them in Spain.

I suggest you find a bank near you, for the sake of convenience, with an English-speaking manager. One of the nice things about banking in Spain is that you can still go into the branch and have a chat with a real person, and they have a lot more discretion than in the UK. Santander, BBVA and La Caixa are top of the rankings, according to the ratings agencies, but I would stay away from Bankia ...


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## JaveaExile (May 31, 2012)

Alcalaina said:


> I left Lloyds International recently because they kept stealing money off me! I won't go into detail but they have some very sharp practices.
> 
> Although it is tempting to find a bank with a familiar English name, their Spanish equivalents are entirely separate businesses and are governed by Spanish banking laws. There is no particular advantage to using them in Spain.
> 
> I suggest you find a bank near you, for the sake of convenience, with an English-speaking manager. One of the nice things about banking in Spain is that you can still go into the branch and have a chat with a real person, and they have a lot more discretion than in the UK. Santander, BBVA and La Caixa are top of the rankings, according to the ratings agencies, but I would stay away from Bankia ...




The banks you have just mentioned have just been downgraded.
When i said Lloyds its not the Spanish branches its the OFFSHORE arm of them 
you get a Euro, Dollar, and Sterling account with them


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

JaveaExile said:


> The banks you have just mentioned have just been downgraded.
> When i said Lloyds its not the Spanish branches its the OFFSHORE arm of them
> you get a Euro, Dollar, and Sterling account with them


Depends whether the OP wants a working bank account to cover direct debits etc.. Would an offshore account be appropriate for that? I thought they were more for investments. *They don't even give you a debit card, do they?
*
Just checked and they do offer a current account, but the fees are €20 a month!


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## JaveaExile (May 31, 2012)

Alcalaina said:


> Depends whether the OP wants a working bank account to cover direct debits etc.. Would an offshore account be appropriate for that? I thought they were more for investments. They don't even give you a debit card, do they?



No its a normal day to day account, have debit card, cheque books and covers direct debits.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> I left Lloyds International recently because they kept stealing money off me! I won't go into detail but they have some very sharp practices.
> 
> Although it is tempting to find a bank with a familiar English name, their Spanish equivalents are entirely separate businesses and are governed by Spanish banking laws. There is no particular advantage to using them in Spain.
> 
> *I suggest you find a bank near you, for the sake of convenience*, with an English-speaking manager. One of the nice things about banking in Spain is that you can still go into the branch and have a chat with a real person, and they have a lot more discretion than in the UK. Santander, BBVA and La Caixa are top of the rankings, according to the ratings agencies, but I would stay away from Bankia ...


that's exactly what I did - I walked into the one nearest my house - the language thing isn't an issue for me, but although it's not an 'expat' bank, one of the staff speaks excellent English

a lot of the 'biggies' make a big deal out the 'free banking' - but I get no fees as long as I have a regular payment put in


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

JaveaExile said:


> The banks you have just mentioned have just been downgraded.
> When i said Lloyds its not the Spanish branches its the OFFSHORE arm of them
> you get a Euro, Dollar, and Sterling account with them


La Caixa was not downgraded.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> that's exactly what I did - I walked into the one nearest my house - the language thing isn't an issue for me, but although it's not an 'expat' bank, one of the staff speaks excellent English
> 
> a lot of the 'biggies' make a big deal out the 'free banking' - but I get no fees as long as I have a regular payment put in


Me too, walked on the road to the nearest Spanish Bank and opened an account.

We had an account with Halifax both in England and in Madrid, the charges were prohibitive and the exchange rates punitive. So we closed them.

I now transfer my ill gotten gains, with a London firm who give me an excellent rate of exchange with no commission, to my bank here who do not charge for the transfer.


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## Solwriter (Jan 10, 2012)

gus-lopez said:


> La Caixa was not downgraded.


Actually it was - a surprise to me too.

However....
Spanish banks defy Moody’s downgrade makes interesting reading.
As does Two tiers, one crisis for Spanish banks


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

Solwriter said:


> Actually it was - a surprise to me too.
> 
> However....
> Spanish banks defy Moody’s downgrade makes interesting reading.
> As does Two tiers, one crisis for Spanish banks


When La Caixa were downgraded some while back along with a few others everyone thought that it was due to the same market conditions /debts, It wasn't. They were downgraded at that time due to the imminent purchjase of Civica for 1 billion & the markets pessimism that they were going to find a black hole that the due diligence hadn't shown up. Added to the fact that La Caixa had already bought out another bank earlier in the year also made the markets wary. Obviously there's nothing untoward emerged & they have sufficient capital to cover the increased provisions the government are demanding so didn't get downgraded last week.
They are now the biggest retail bank in Spain & Europe.


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## Solwriter (Jan 10, 2012)

gus-lopez said:


> When La Caixa were downgraded some while back along with a few others everyone thought that it was due to the same market conditions /debts, It wasn't. They were downgraded at that time due to the imminent purchjase of Civica for 1 billion & the markets pessimism that they were going to find a black hole that the due diligence hadn't shown up. Added to the fact that La Caixa had already bought out another bank earlier in the year also made the markets wary. Obviously there's nothing untoward emerged & they have sufficient capital to cover the increased provisions the government are demanding so didn't get downgraded last week.
> They are now the biggest retail bank in Spain & Europe.


Agree 
I was just trying to find where JaveaExile's downgraded information came from.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

La Caixa is taking over CajaSol so will soon have a bigger presence in Andalucia. But lots of local CajaSol branches will be closed in a couple of years´time.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Has also taken over Caja Canarias


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

Apparently Rajoy was hoping they'd take over Bankia !


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## Aileen&Hazel (May 21, 2012)

Thanks for all the advice. Went with Lloyds in the end today after a good few hours in Barclays and HSBC, going round in circles and seeing blank staff faces! Lloyds managed to set it all up there and then within 20 minutes, and our nearest branch in Guardamar is perfect fo us!

They seem like the best value for money in terms of what they offer, but i'll be wary of our finances to make sure we've always got what we're supposed to in the account! 

We're going to use HiFx to transfer our funds so reckon we're in good hands.

Muchas Gracias!
Aileen and Hazel


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Aileen&Hazel said:


> We're going to use HiFx to transfer our funds so reckon we're in good hands.
> 
> Muchas Gracias!
> Aileen and Hazel


Very sensible. The so-called "free" transfers offered by some banks have very poor exchange rates.


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## stevec2x (Mar 24, 2012)

*currencyfair*

Has anybody tried the currencyfair website for changing their sterling into euros? 

...seems like such a simple idea? Essentially , two people with both sterling and euro bank accounts swap money with each other in the same currency, cutting out the cost of actually getting the banks to convert between the two currencies. They claim to swap at very near the interbank rate and charges are low.

Cheers


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## CapnBilly (Jun 7, 2011)

stevec2x said:


> Has anybody tried the currencyfair website for changing their sterling into euros?
> 
> Cheers


I've been using it for about a year, every month with no problems. There's been a big improvement recently as they can now receive sterling via Faster payments, whereas it used to go through the BACS and take 3 days. 

Last month I got better than the market for £1200. Sterling sent at 9am. Deal done by 10.30, transfer ordered by 10.35, in my account next day, transfer charge €3 irrespective of amount. 

You can also put the rate you want and wait. You can leave it for an hour or whatever, and change it if you want, or just take the best rate currently on offer, which is generally about 50 pips under the market. All limit orders are cancelled at 9pm on Friday night, as it closes until late Sunday.


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## stevec2x (Mar 24, 2012)

CapnBilly said:


> I've been using it for about a year, every month with no problems. There's been a big improvement recently as they can now receive sterling via Faster payments, whereas it used to go through the BACS and take 3 days.
> 
> Last month I got better than the market for £1200. Sterling sent at 9am. Deal done by 10.30, transfer ordered by 10.35, in my account next day, transfer charge €3 irrespective of amount.
> 
> You can also put the rate you want and wait. You can leave it for an hour or whatever, and change it if you want, or just take the best rate currently on offer, which is generally about 50 pips under the market. All limit orders are cancelled at 9pm on Friday night, as it closes until late Sunday.


Thanks Capn! We only arrived in the Torrevieja area 3 weeks ago, it helps to have other peoples opinions (obviously)


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## Lydnem (Jun 3, 2012)

I used to use bancaja when i lived in spain. Very good bank. Yes it is owned by Bankia but they will get the help they need. It is "too big to fail" Howver if you have large lump lums, I would go international just in case, but day to day bancaja are good


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## Trubrit (Nov 24, 2010)

I have used Barclays.es since arriving here 18 months ago and have found their customer service excellent.


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