How to transfer small sums of money to spanish bank account

Hi all. Does anybody have a way of transfering small sums of money  ( 200-400 euro ) from u.k. into their spanish bank account and not get charged eye watering fees? ( Alliance Leicester charge was to be £30 )

We did think of setting up a PayPal account with a Spanish email address and sending money into it and then withdrawing it to our Banesto account--anybody tried that, if so did it work/not work ?

Can we get ourselves a Spanish email address if we don't have a Spanish isp ?

Reason for these questions is that on the last trip out we had one of those " I thought you had the cash in your bag " " No, you said YOU would bring it !"  moments  and ended up nearly draining our Banesto account dry.We are now back in u.k. and probably not back to Valencia until April. We have several DD payments in the pipeline ( water/elec/insurance on the house ) and these will put us overdrawn if we don't get some cash into the account.

It would be great to just hop on a cheap Ryanair awayday and take some cash over--but time and cash are in short supply at the moment.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks, Ray

Hi Crostrad

I have not used the Paypal system to make payments personnaly, but my neighbour does on a regular basis, and swears by it claiming that he gets a better exchange rate!  

I understand that you can transfer from a Halifax account to a foreign account for £9. I have a Halifax Electron account to book our Ryanair flights(!) and set up this facility but as yet have not had to use it. I usually take cash out of the "hole in the wall" when we are there and put the cash into the account. You can normally draw €300 per day from my Nationwide Debit account with no extra charges and you get the bank rate of the day not the tourist rate. Certainly suitable for small amounts.

Try (GCEN) Globel Currency Exchange Network.  They have a website that explains everything.  You can transfer your money online. 

We have used GCEN for the past 4 years, we can vary the amount transferred month by month or leave it as a set amount, have moved from a feww hundred to several thousand this way - we have to make sure the money is transferred to GCEN by 25th of the month, and the money is in our spanish bank usually ( weekends and spanish bank holidays permitting!!) by 5th of next month.   It has always worked well for us and GCEN are at the end of a phone here to help.

We have a Nationwide flex account in the UK.  They do not charge anything for your card if used abroad in a cashpoint or for payment for goods.  What we do, is withdraw monies (up to 300 euros each) i.e. 600 per day)) and then simply pay the cash into our Spanish bank account.  Obviously one needs to keep track of the exchange rate etc - but much much cheaper than what you and others seem to be paying.  N.B. this applies only to Europe and like every bank they can change their conditions for using cards abroad!!  Hope this is useful.

Hi - HIFX have an online transfer service - min £250.00.

Moneybookers is cheaper but takes longer and the verification process is lengthy.

Thanks to all for the help. Looks like we will try the PayPal option as due to our current lack of funds we will only be able to trickle money over in small amounts. I will let you know how we get on with it.

Thanks,

Ray

Ray

I noticed from your latest post that you mention going overdrawn on your Spanish account.

Be very careful. I have read posts on this site where people have had their electricity or water cut off because they didn't have enough money to pay the direct debit.

In some cases it has took over 6 weeks to sort out.

I,m not 100% sure how it works in Spain, but (I think) if you don't have enough in your account the bank simply won't pay it and you,ll be cut off. I'm sure that others on the site will be able to tell you if I'm right or wrong.

Hi, we used HiFX to transfer some money. They let you set everything up online so its quite simple! When we're out there we do the Nationwide thing eg draw cash and pay it over the counter into our account!

Hello Crostrad,

hope this idea helps your problem?

I got hold of a Caxton FX card. It is issued by Newcastle building society ( I am not a Newcastle b/s customer).

The Caxton FX is a top up card. You can fill it up where ever you are in the world. Topping it up in Spain using the internet provided by the hotel, the funds are available pretty much instantly.

The benefit of the Caxton compared to others like Bread card and Virgin top up card is that you can get at your money from any ATM abroad TOTALLY FREE!  There is no monthly fee and no limit to amount topped up or withdrawn. If the funds are on the card you can get at it.

I'm a big fan of cheap, but am very fond of free.

Other perks are; you can use it for purchases, you can use it in restaurants etc and you have the same protection against theft damage etc as you would with a regular credit card.

I think it would be useful for your needs in as much as you could draw money from an ATM and pay it in at your branch in Spain.

One word of warning. When we returned to the UK from Spain last October 19th, I took the family for a meal at a nearby restaurant. I still had £82 on the card so used it to pay the bill (£59). Because it was a Sterling transaction, Caxton FX charged me £1.80 for the privilege. So you need to remember don't use it in UK ATM's or for purchases in the UK either.

When I paid the hotel bill in Malaga before we left, the receptionist said I could pay by card in Sterling or Euro's. Fortunately (and it was pure fortune) I opted to pay in Euros. Had I paid in Sterling I would have incurred a charge.

I recommend the card to everyone who travels abroad, because it is easy to use, and its your money, which you have already paid tax on, why should you pay to get access to it????

I got 2 cards, 1 for me and 1 for my wife. The additional card (for my wife) cost me £5. The first card cost £10 BUT, the £10 was credited to my card once it was activated.

Its a win win thing. Hope that helps someway.

Did you use the Paypal option? I need to transfer a small amount to cover the taxes and am not due out until early January. I already have a Spanish Paypal account so that is not a problem.

Mark

edited to add: Would you send yourself a payment request? Doesn't that involve paying a commission to Paypal which would mean the exchange rate is a bit pants?

We do the same as everyone else - keep cash in Nationwide and draw through Spanish holes in wall.

For Spanish direct debits we opened a Halifax Hispania account. Only snag is topping it up with cash as out nearest branch is Madrid, 200 km away. I was at the Madrid branch yesterday as they told me that if I opened a UK Halifax account I could transfer funds within 24 hours completely free of charges. Of course, the exchange rate might be poor.

btw, stay away from Caja Madrid! I asked them for a couple of bank cheques to buy some property.......they would have cost 20 quid in UK as obviously the cash was in the account. I was charged nearly 500 euros for each cheque. Another time I did a telegraphic transfer of a few thousand euros from UK. Sent in euros, arrived in euros. A month later Nationwide informed me that CM had applied for & been given a hundred euros in fees - Nationwide said they had to give CM the money as it was the way international banking worked! I ask you. If I had any problems then take it up with CM. That would be a good way to waste three days and get nowhere. 

Hi GuyT

We have both a Halifax UK and Spanish accounts and up to about a year ago we transfered money to our Spanish Halifax account this way, the exchange rate was slightly better than the M&S tourist rate but not as good as the commercial rate.

For the last year, we opened a Nationwide flex account and withdrew cash in Spain and put into the Spanish Halifax account, this gives us a better rate than the Halifax intertransfer.

The Halifax to Halifax transfer is good if you can not get to Spain to put cash into your Spanish account.

You also have to cost in travelling to Madrid just to put money into your account, that is unless you are going to Madrid for other reasons as well

Regards

Hi Crostrad,

I also use HIFX you can do transfers online from 250 euros to 10000 euros. It's easy to set up and you get live exchange rates as you are doing it.

Damian

I use HSBC internet banking 9 pounds fee, up to 2000pound transfer or 15 up to 10,000. Usedit 3 times this year and after the first it arrives in your Spanish bank account immediately. Last time I drove to bank (10 mins) and it was already their. just remember to tick box that says 'sender to pay all charges' ( the 9 pound fee ). Their are no bank charges this end.

In reply to peteranne's post. Travelling to Madrid is not neccessary to put money into the Halifax. There is a branch at Guadarmar. If you come down lemon tree road from Montesinos on to the 332, past the first roundabout, then take the slip road into Guadarmar, then the branch is on the right as you come in. Turn right at the roundabout and park in the car park. And yes, the Nationwide is currently the best way to bring money over but be aware of banks that make a charge for it , hidden in their exchange rate. With two recent transactions I have done, one gave me 1.08, the other 1.12 so  its worth just double checking. Oh and there is also another branch in Torrevieja, just past the park of nations next to Bank Inter.

H Jencoo

Many thanks for the pm and posting.

I think you have misread our posting slightly as we were replying to GuyT's posting, his nearest branch was Madrid, 200 km away, he is not in the Torrevieja/guardarmar area, we use the Torrrevieja branch to put  money into our account as this is the nearest branch to Los Montesinos.

We have found that the best banks to withdraw cash fom our Nationwide Flex account in Spain is Cam bank and Cajamurcia bank in Los Montesinos.

Regards

Hi,

We have two accounts, a spanish account and an account with the Halifax Hispania. We haven't used the Halifax account yet for transferring money but have transferred money into our spanish account through Moneycorp. This charge a fee but depending on the exchange rate sometimes this can cover the fee. They also can set up regular payments into your account from a  UK  account to Spain and this is cheaper (I'm not sure but I think it's about £4 a transaction). We are looking into making regular payments as well.

Hope this helps.

Hi all happy new year to everyone

                   i transfer money abroad every month using smart currency exchange they charge £5 per transaction, you can set the transfer for 6 mths or 12mths they dont have a minium amount like moneycorp i pay it in to my barclays spanish account in mazzaron who all speak english, there are no charges for this from barclays

                    ALL THE BEST   

Hi all! Happy New Year to everyone on EOS!

Just an update, last week we transferred 500euro to our Spanish bank account. We got a rate of 1.0858 and the cost was £460.83. While the "headline" rate was 1.12 this is the rate on the bbc web-site. While I was online with HiFX checking their "live" rate, I also spoke on the phone with another company I set up a trading facility with called RabbitFX. They offered the same rate as HiFX, but they wanted a £10 charge!! I think Moneycorp, who were the first ones we used, have the same policy of charging a fee for small transactions.

I find HiFX to be very convienient, you get live quotes and its simple to set up a facility online, there are no charges at either end for any amounts and the money arrived in our Spanish account 6 working days after I paid.

Hi peteranne, just came across your reply to my post - thanks - I'd figured the Halifax UK to Halifax Es wouldn't be as good a deal as Nationwide hole in wall. (I wonder why Nationwide don't open a Spanish branch.) In our case we just need a couple of thousand a year in the Halifax Es to cover Iberdrola and Vodaphone direct debits, so it's just a case of rembering to call in at the Madrid branch when we are in town, take cash from their hole in wall and cross the room to the paying in counter.

btw in case anyone using Madrid Barajas doesn't already do this, you can get plenty of free parking anywhere in Barajas town near the Metro which is one stop on the line from the Metro which comes up the airport terminal building - 2 euros. Having over the years donated hundreds to Airport parking we mentioned it to one of our Spanish neighbours who couldn't stop laughing. So for the last few  trips (Ryanair Madrid-Malta last month 6 euros each return total incl taxes, on line check in & payment, no hold bags) we  parked no problem in a free municipal park 300m from the Metro. It was obvious that some of the cars had been there for weeks.

Hi GuyT

We too only put money into our HalifaxES bank account to cover Direct debits for Electric, Suma etc. We usually go over to Spain 2 times a year and put money into our Halifax account, however this year we are going to Florida in April for a change, so we will have to revert to the Halifax to HalifaxES menthod of transfer to cover for Direct debits until we go over again in September.

We are lucky in that we are often pass our halifax branch in Torrevieja so its easy for us to call in and put some cash in, unlike you that have a 200km jourey to Madrid

All the best for 2010

Regards

Hi all, thanks for all the ideas about money transfer. Here's what we did in the end:

I signed up for another hotmail address, and using that address opened a spanish Paypal account and directed payments from PayPal into our Banesto account.

I then sent a request from my spanish Paypal account for money (just for 30 euro as it was a test for the system) to the boss, and she sent the 30 from her paypal account to my spanish paypal account.

I then withdrew the 30 from spanish Paypal into Banesto. After paypal/exchange rates taking their toll we ended up with just over 26 euro into the account. Not great but it's Quick'n'Dirty, and as we don't have a lot of money to spare in big chunks this looks like an o.k way to do it for now.

It beats going overdrawn