Recommended bank accounts in Spain

Hi,

I am looking for personal recommendations for bank accounts in Spain. In particular, I am looking for:

1) Free to receive and transfer money from within Spain
2) Free debit card
3) Free (or almost free) administration costs
4) English banking service (not a requirement for me but definitely a plus)
5) Real offices so I can shout at someone if I have a problem :-).

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After living 25 years here I would be grateful if you find one if you let me know !!!

 

I think the most important rule is to discuss with the manager what the charged will be for everything you may need to do.  The manager can write off many charges.   But if you don't ask you will get a lot of nasty surprises.   Banking in any country is never the same as in any other country,  so don't assume if maybe.

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It will of course depend on where in Spain you are. Now that CAM has been absorbed into a good bank, I would suggest that Sabadell or its various subsets are likely contenders. You will need to put in €700 monthly into their "Expansion" account if you are under pension age, or receive pension payments regularly, but your list would be satisfied.

Always talk to the manager of your local branch to obtain best rates etc.

 

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Are you after a residents or non-residents account? Most will charge for everything if it is non-resident. You need to check different banks as some charge as little as 4 euro a quarter whilst others as much as 25 euro. There are also others who charge nothing if you keep a large balance in.

For the resident account, most have no charges if you pay a fixed amount into it each month or maintain a large balance.

We are with Bankia (was Bancaja). No charges if you pay in 700 a month or maintain a balance over 2000 euro. Online banking in English, never been charged for transfers in and no charge for transactions. The debit card was free when it as Bancaja but now get charged 19 euro with Bankia which was annoying. Also have to be careful using ATMs as some charge. For example Caja Rural tried to charge 10 euro for a 200 euro withdrawal. Luckily I spotted it and managed to cancel the operation. 3 branches in my area if I have a problem and they have English speakers in each of the branches.

We were with Bankinter but they seemed to charge for everything so we binned it.

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