| The Comments |
Hi all,
I have been reading through the threads but to be honest am getting very confused.
I live on La Torre and have a Caja Murcia bank here so will be opening an account with them soon (currently have a Solbank account)
I get paid into my UK halifax account every month, and pay my rent and bills directly from that account (to another UK account).
However, my question is, am I better off using a broker to transfer the rest of my money from my UK account to spanish account every month, doing a transfer direct from halifax and paying £20 each time or setting up a Spanish Halifax account that I can transfer between UK to Spain every month???
Any advice would be really greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance,
Barbara.
0
Like
|
CLICK THIS LINK FOR CURRENCIES DIRECT REGULAR TRANSFER INFO
Free transfers
No hidden cost in the exchange rate!
No commission
Low monthly amount
Peace of mind
Last time we asked we couldn't set up a regular payment between our Banco Halifax a/c & our UK Halifax a/c. Although (one off) transfers are free we've found that the difference between what the commercial rate is & what Halifax give you has widened so not as good as it used to be.
What suits one won't necessarily suit another.
This message was last edited by morerosado on 7/11/2008.
_______________________
0
Like
|
Would I get a better exchange rate with them than transferring directly from my UK Halifax account to Banco Halifax?? If not, it's probably easier for me to just transfer what I need every month from Halifax...
Thanks,
Barbara.
0
Like
|
Barbara, I was editing when you posted to add this below, which answers your question. (Unless Halifax is now offering this facility. They've not advised us)
Last time we asked we couldn't set up a regular payment between our Banco Halifax a/c & our UK Halifax a/c.
_______________________
0
Like
|
Thank you. That actually works for me, as I dont want to set up regular monthly payments. As I work on a basic plus commission (sale) basis, I never really know how much my monthly amount is going to be. Ideally I will make my payments every month and transfer the rest to Spain... I have been here 5 months and spent a fortune getting money out of the cash point from my UK account (silly of me really but you do get caught up in life over here!) But if the transfer rate is rubbish, then I may be better of setting up a basic monthly amount to transfer via a broker!!! confused.com!!
0
Like
|
Just a thought, don't know if it'll work well enough for you, but have you considered opening a Nationwide Flex current a/c in the UK & keeping your money in that ? You then draw your euros out of any Visa ATM in Spain (fantastic rate, just about commercial rate).
We always do this when in Spain. Just received our N/wide statement & this is the record of our rates ... by the way we withdrew at a Caja Murcia bank ATM ( must have a Visa sign on it or you will be charged).
17th June 300€ @ 1.267
26th June 300€ @ 1.260
Under the circumstances how good is that ??
_______________________
0
Like
|
So you withdraw money from Spanish cash points (any amount?) and you do not get charged and get good exchange rates as well? Or does it have to be large amounts? What about paying for things on your debit card? (Sorry 20 questions) haha
Thanks very much for your help.
Babs.
0
Like
|
Re Nationwide, if you have a JOINT A/C you get TWO debit cards. EACH DAY you can have up to £300's worth in euros from the Visa ATM PER DEBIT CARD but you often can only get up to 300€ PER CARD at a time, we found. Never tried to get more as never needed it.
We've never used our Flex debit card to buy goods/services so can't say (EDITED... SEE BELOW) but you don't pay anything to use the N/wide CREDIT CARD in Europe & we have a CC with N/wide.
FLEX A/C INFO IN HERE (Click links on page to get info)
I've Googled for info & you DON'T get charged for using your N/wide debit card abroad (Europe)
LOOK HERE FOR INFO ( SCROLL DOWN TO TABLES )
This message was last edited by morerosado on 7/11/2008.
_______________________
0
Like
|
Babs
We have been using Nationwide Flexaccount for over 3 years now and can draw up to 300 euros per day per card. We have always got a very good rate and you can use most Spanish ATMs. We checked re regular monthly transfers when we first came to Spain but the rate we were offered was less than we could get with Nationwide.
Do not tell Nationwide you will be living abroad though. Flexaccount is for UK residents only. We banked with them before coming to Spain and gave our daughter's address for correspondence.
Jean
0
Like
|
Babs,
Currency brokers always offer better rate than banks. We use Currenty Direct for our Spanish mortgage payment and have find them very good.
Our Spanish bank is Ibercaja. We can withdraw €500 per day on each card. But be ware, altough you can draw cash from most ATMs, but not everyone of them free. Ibercaja card allow us withdraw free from its own ATMs or its partner's. But if we withdraw from the ATM which is outside group then we have to pay fee. We paid €6 for a €200 withdraw once. Machine does tell you there will be x/y fee. A liltte bit like old days in UK, Lloyds card can withdraw free from Barclay marchines but not from NatW machines.
0
Like
|
Ayrez said - We have been using Nationwide Flexaccount for over 3 years now and can draw up to 300 euros per day per card. - You can draw the euro equivallent of £300, some machines set limits on the amounts that you can draw out. If you want more then just put the card in again. We regularly take out 350e on our cards without any problems from our local machine. The Atm located near the Banco Halifax in Torrevieja only allows withdrawals of 150e so I had to put the card in twice.
Do not tell Nationwide you will be living abroad though. Flexaccount is for UK residents only. We banked with them before coming to Spain and gave our daughter's address for correspondence. Someone on another site has given his Spanish address and has his statments and new Bank Cards delivered there without any problems. You must reside in UK to open the account.
0
Like
|
 Hi Babs, Yes I agree with what everyone has said about Nationwide flex account we have been with them for years. Have always used it abroad I do not have any direct debits set up in Spain as yet except for aqua and elec. But community tax I draw money out and pay when over, as we do not live in Spain but go for a few months at a time.  Hope all this helps . Pat.
_______________________
0
Like
|
Thank you Semi for your info.
I saw the notes re being UK resident to open an account and assumed it could not be used if non resident. It just proves what I was told many years ago when starting career "you should NEVER assume" and there is the old quote about assume "makes an ass of you and me"
I think I will give them our Spanish address as it will save long suffering daughter sending out cards.
Cheers
Jean
0
Like
|
You're welcome I hope your talks with the Nationwide are successful
I'm always wary of passing on second hand information and prefer to just comment on things I have experienced personally
I also thought that there was a 300e limit on our debit cards until I read a comment from someone who was able to load up their Spanish account using both their joint account cards and another from a different account. At the time the rate meant that they were able to draw out 400e on each card and could put over a 1k into their account.
These forums are excellant for passing on information but I'm always cautious about what I read/hear.
On the same thread about overseas addresses for UK bank accounts, someone also had retained her Lloyds account.
If you're are going abroad you should inform Nationwide if you plan to use your Credit Card but you don't have to tell them if you're only going to use your Debit Card. I only inform them when I go to florida, I don't bother with Spain as I go out around 5/6 times a year. I only use it for car hire and the occasional purchase.
We have our account to pay the balance in full each month from our Flex Account so if and when we make a decision about living full time in Spain I can't see that there would be a problem with managing our account from the internet there. As long as there's money going into the account of course
I'd be interested to hear how you get on.
0
Like
|
Have just done a search on the other forum and 6 people have Nationwide accounts and receive all communications in Spain
One said that he used the on-line form to change his address and has even received the new gizzmo for using to confirm certain transactions on the internet.
Their credit cards are dealt with by a different company so you'll have to ring them separately if you want to change them over as well.
0
Like
|
With reference to regular monthly transfers. Does anybody know if the named companies like "Currencies Direct" can handle the tranfers in reverse. i.e i want to send euros back to england on a regular basis.
0
Like
|
Moneycorp does transfers between UK and Spain (£4 monthly charge for regular payments) and also Spain to UK. They have offices in some branches of Bancaja here on the CB so should imagine they have branches on CDS as well. Also online at Moneycorp.com
0
Like
|
_______________________
0
Like
|
Thanks for your replies. I have an account with Moneycorp so will ask them on Monday. Also i bank with Bancaja so that can be another avenue for me to try on Monday.
0
Like
|
ive checked all these companies and he best one by far is global currency. let me know if you need further details but they just saved me 5k euros on a rtansfer from the uk compared to currencies direct!
Andy
0
Like
|