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On BBC news site, Lloyds has sold its Spanish arm to Sabadell. Everyone who moved from CAM to Lloyds, looks like you're back again. All these mergers/takeovers etc makes it rather difficult to take advantage of the euro guarantee of savings up to £100, 000.
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I chose the Lloyds bank account because it allowed free transfers from my UK to my Spanish account, but looking at the Banco Sabadell website it allows the same, so shouldn't see much difference, the website looks better laid out and functional as well.
Are there some issues with Sabadell that we Lloyds account holders ought to know about?
Kelju
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There appear to be some differences. The main one is the monthly account charge unless you have a regular salary or pension payment paid into the account. A quick look on the website and if our account is changed I worked out these will be €96 each year for us as we have a holiday home and reside in the UK. After Halifax became Lloyds we lost our local branch and now it looks like we will pay for the privilege. Any suggestions for our third Spanish bank account in three years ?
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We moved to Lloyds in Spain for the free banking and recently moved our UK account to another branch to avoid being sold off to TSB (before the sale was cancelled!) to keep our free transfers so this is disappointing but let's wait and see - they will probably leave the existing account conditions as they are at least for a while
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David
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One of the main points to consider is the EU guarantee of €100, 000 (£85, 000 in UK). If you've sold property or have an annuity or whatever, this guarantee is only applicable to one banking concern. For example, up to €100, 000 in RBS and 100, 000 in Natwest you will only be guaranteed one lot of money as they are are the same bank. If you had 100k in Lloyds Spain and 100k in Sabadell then the merger may mean only one guarantee. I think this is especially important after the recent events in Cyprus plus the UK banks are not exactly the safest either. If you are lucky enough to have more than the 100k (and I'm sure there will be quite a few) just make sure it is split betwen banks that have nothing to do with each other.
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Am not 100% sure of the wording and how it is worked out, but if a bank wont sign up to a particular insurance system that covers your money in it's bank, and they own many other banks you could find your money is not covered, even if you go with quite a few different banks, it is worth checking out the correct wording and who owns just what, or you could lose everything.....No good saying you wont these days.....No good saying i trust my bank...... and don't ask a banking person.
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Got my letter this morning 12.50 euro a quarter charges plus 10 euro card charges and a 0.50 euro per transaction over the 5 free allowed, used to be free at lloyds if i kept avarage 600 euro balance in account over the year
Bend over once again and take the spanish medicine :(
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My old name was misty but for some reason couldn't log on under that name
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Got mine today as well, only glanced over it but I thought it said something along the lines of if you keep 150€ in the account all the time it's free, did think later "Why it used to be 600€" but as I say only took a very quick glance.
Dont like anything with "Dell" in the name.
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1. Change over date is 15th March 2014
2. Maintenance fee is 12.50 euros per quarter
3. Admin fee is 0.50 euro per entry, with the first 5 entries/month exempt
I'm not sure if transfering money in from the UK is included as an exempt entry
Sabadell is not offering free banking as lloyds did if you have €2k in credit
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Baz the letter is very confusing but it is most likely to have been designed to be so, as I read it the 150 Euro part is that if you dont have that amount in your bank at quarter end they wont take the charge but will take the full year amount of 50 Euros (maintaince charge) at the year end not 4 x 12.50 Euro.
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My old name was misty but for some reason couldn't log on under that name
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Got mine too, they have an account with free banking as long as you have 700€ a month going in, I/E pension wages etc
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Apply for the Expansion account and pay 700€ per month in
Just put in 800€ then withdraw 700€ every month then pay it back in the next month do this every month and you will be keeping to the terms of the account .
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Papag.
Had a better look and for sure they worked this out very well, basically you have to have an "Average" of 150€ in your account for the year or as you said you "MAY" (Thats nice of them) pay the 50€ year end, so it looks like if we still keep the 600€ in for 12 months all is okay, the rest of the charges affects us as and when?
They also wont give the low interest account the 1% now, thats now a zero% account.
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So, what's the alternative to Banco Sabadell?
Is there a Martin Lewis website for Spain?
Kelju
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Cajamar is the best bank in Spain. No charges if you are a pensioner and low costs if not. Sabadell charge hefty fees for credit and debit cards.
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Time is the school in which we learn
Time is the fire in which we burn.
Delmore Schwartz.
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Agreed "mickeyfinn" we moved from Lloyds to Cajamar six months ago (because of the Sabadell takeover) and we are very happy with them - even bought some shares, now that's confidence for you.
Our community also banks with Cajamar, and as president i did have experience of dealing with them and the workings of their website.
This message was last edited by CostaBlade on 18/12/2013.
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Hi CostaBlade, what is the process for moving bank accounts, is it similar to the UK switching arrangement i.e. easy, or is there a different procedure in Spain?
Kelju
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Kelju, ask for a list of your Direct Debits / Standing Orders etc. Take them to the new bank. Open an account and give them the list. I have always found that they will make the necessary arrangements for them to be transferred.
As bank sometimes charge to close an account, you could either ask what if any the charge is, or just draw practically all the balance and then close the account.
But I would suggest that before opening a new account with any bank that you ask very precisely about all the services you are likely to use with that bank and the costs involved. Never imagine that things are like they were in any other bank in any other country.
Example Solbank (now Sabadell) charged me 0.5% to transfer funds from a Sterling investment account to another bank (the charge was the same no matter which bank I transferred the funds to they would not allow me to withdraw the funds by any other means). The charge came to over £800. Until I wanted to close the account Solbank were ‘wonderful’ they then became the bank from hell!
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Pretty much as John said.
We found it very easy, just open an account, question what charges you will pay, give them a list of your direct debits, and hey presto they did the rest.
But make sure you check you bank statements to make sure all your direcr debits are going out, Cajamar actually forgot to tell the Town Hall to charge our IBI from our new account, luckily we spotted it and went to the Town Hall to change the details ourselves - no problem.
We did leave a balance in our Lloyds account - just in case !! which are are now about to close, before the Sabadell changeover.
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