I have found that spannish banks charge an unlimited .3% of value to provide a bankers draft. I find this to be nothing short of obscene and want to avoid being abused in this manner. A bankers draft in the UK costs £10 no matter how much it is for.

why are they allowed to make such rediculous and unjustified charges and how can I avoid or at least minimise this

anybody have any ideas?

regards

bob

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Hi There - yes it is awful but one of my clients managed to negotiate the percentage down - you have to haggle with them and take no prisoners!

Good luck!

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Hi Bob

At least you have been forewarned about it, we weren't and were displeased to say the least when we discovered a €700 ish charge on our bank statement - AFTER we had completed and without being told, despite paying 1.5 % commission to the bank to arrange the mortgage. We complained and managed to get €400 back. When a neighbour was informed about this charge (and he wasn't getting a mortgage it was coming directly out of his account) he told the bank he did not wish to pay this charge and that he would issue one of his own cheques instead which he asked the bank to guarantee, the bank duly waived the fee entirely and gave him a draft. It definately pays to question fees and look at alternatives in Spain.

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As Rixxy says: ".....negotiate the percentage down - you have to haggle with them and take no prisoners!"

I've haggled my bank's fee down to 0%! Of course, it helps if you have a history with the bank, or if you have other funds invested there, but the point is, as with all bank fees here, it pays to negotiate, and if necessary, shop around. Additional warning - most banks will try to charge an equally (perhaps even more) outrageous fee for depositing a banker's draft! Even when it's one of their own!!

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Barclays charge 0.50% for a draft and there is no negotiation!!! We looked into sending a BACS payment to our mortgage provider to try and prevent the charge, but unlike the UK, there is a 0.25% fee!! Cheaper than the draft, but even so . We have a little bit of good news though. As my Wife is Barclays staff, we can have a draft for €100 irrespective of the amount. Money, money and more money!

Mark

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I had a look on Xe tonight and it is down to 1.3955 . The bulk of our money was sent over in September when the rate was a bit healthier at 1.46 (something). It can't carry on decreasing can it?

Mark

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Wait until completion day Mark & then you'll see the money fly out of your account!!

Really hope everything goes well on the 30th & can'r wait to see the "Good news" post.

Noreen

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Won't have to wait for completion Noreen, most of it is all coming out a few days before!

"The stamp duty tax, notary fee and land registry fee, will be payed by the Mortgage people, as they will be in charge of register the property, so you will need to transfer the funds provision prior completion."

So my solicitor has the easy job of just raising one draft on theday or day before, the rest is gone a few days before that .

Mark

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Ours was all done by the Bank that we took our mortgage with & the only amount they debited the account with on the day was the IVA.

Nothing was taken out before & everything else was paid the day after completion.

We had a few days in Spain the week after completion & it was wonderful knowing it was finally ours.

Enjoy!

Noreen

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Ahhh, but you used a REAL bank though. We are using a Toytown American bank that doesn't have any branches. How does that old saying go? Seemed like a good idea at the time .

Mark

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Usually (in my experience at least) the "provision of funds" is calculated on the pessimistic side to ensure there is more than enough to cover all expenses. The good news is, this means that a couple of months after completion, you may get a little refund - maybe enough to buy a bottle of cava to celebrate your new property with!

Hope that's cheered you up a bit

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Oh Rixxy, I was trying to add a more positive note, and you go and spoil it.

BTW, I think LIDL do a fairly acceptable vino de cardboard for about .59c, and if you don't mind fighting with the Albanians & Kosovans,  you can pick up your weekend groceries from the wheelie bins for nothing. There, that should cheer everyone up.

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