Thread: Banks

Now that we have a few steps completed in the move to (Almeria) Spain, the next on the agenda is the bank account.

Now ideally this would be good to have setup (or almost) before we move to Spain. I have looked a few banks but still more information cannot hurt.

Any suggestions, banks to avoid? I understand the resident and non resident, side of things.

Thanks in advance.

We use Banco Espania Halifax. We set the account up in the April, whilst on a visit, and cards and cheque book were waiting for us in July. If you have a Halifax acct. in UK then money transfers are free.

And, with the Halifax, you have access to English speakers and correspondence will be in English!

The only negative (if that is indeed what it is) is that there are no branches in Almeria. But That should not pose a problem really.

Contact: Mazarron, 0034 968 595 930

Thanks.

I emailed the Halifax on Saturday for some information and to my amazement a reply was waiting first thing this morning. Now if only my bank here would be that efficient.

Their online banking is pretty straightforward too. So not having a branch is no huge issue either.

Avoid Cajasur! and also other Caja banks. Mostly Spanish speaking, no on-line international transfer option, and Cajasur for example in a very bad financial situation. We moved to Barclays. So far so good.

Originally Posted by MarinaR

Avoid Cajasur! and also other Caja banks. Mostly Spanish speaking, no on-line international transfer option, and Cajasur for example in a very bad financial situation. We moved to Barclays. So far so good.

Not so in our experience. We are very happy with Caja Rural. They claim to speak English and there is usually someone who does in Branch. They have an English Website and online banking which does do International as well. They are never in the news as one of the "Worrying" banks. Well recommended:
Welcome to Caja Rural. Granada

We were with Barclays and think they are totally useless...matter of opinion I suppose.

Originally Posted by country boy

Not so in our experience. We are very happy with Caja Rural. They claim to speak English and there is usually someone who does in Branch. They have an English Website and online banking which does do International as well. They are never in the news as one of the "Worrying" banks. Well recommended:
Welcome to Caja Rural. Granada

We were with Barclays and think they are totally useless...matter of opinion I suppose.

Agreed. We don't live in Granada. I am writing based on our personal experience btwn Malaga and Estepona (also Cordoba for Cajasur) and the feedback we get from clients of Caja banks here, Spanish as well as foreigners. It has a lot to do with branch managers as well, some are more helpful than others within the same bank.

They are all much of a muchness, generally poor service and shoulder shrugs when things go wrong, a high fees associated with standard accounts and a lack of consistency between branches.

Think about things like - where is the nearest cash machine to your home?
Do they have a local branch nearby?
How much to use other banks cash machines?
How busy is it if you have to queue in their branch? (massive variation here).

The practical aspects were most important to me and I now bank with the largest Caja in Tenerife - so plenty of cash machines and Deutsche bank - good international 24 hour call centre and very useful website in English.