Torrevieja Forum

[Wendy]

My daughter is over in Spain next week and is going to open a bank account, she hasn't got an NIE yet, she will need it to pay bills from e.g. electric, water, suma, etc, anyone know which one may be best
TIA

[freddo]

depends on if she is a resident or non resident

[Wendy]

None

[freddo]

She will have to be one or the other is she is going to pay bills here

[dave c]

I didn't think you could open an account at all if you didn't have NIE number.

[Deb64]

Will she not need an NIE number for the utility companies ? you seem to need one for everything now a days.

[strolling_minstrel]

You can open an account without an NIE. However, you can't pay bills or anything through it as the electric, water, SUMA etc all require it.

I don't think there is much difference between the banks on charges for non-residents although there are some with quite mind-boggling charges. We switched from Bankinter because they charged for absolutely everything and were getting silly. Cam (as was) went to Sabadell and they also started charging for everything.

Best to look around and see what each bank quotes. I know the new ruling states that if you open a "basic" bank account now then the rules are they can't charge more than 3 euro a month and that includes charges for debit cards but does not include the non-resident fiscal certificate every two years. Just be aware that most will try and make you open a non-basic account and it seems they can charge whatever they like.

Our neighbour started an account with Bankia as they said they only required 200 euro a month paid in for no charges but have started charging him because they now say that only applies to pensions and benefits. Salary or transfers must be over 700 a month.

Bankia does have a cuenta-on account which they claim is charge free but I'm not sure if that is open to non-residents.

As said, ask around and get it in writing.

[Wendy]

Sorry when I said none I meant non resident.
The solicitor has told her she can open an account without an NIE, he is setting up a rental agreement and said she can pay bills through the account as long as she has this. its a complicated story but she needs to pay all the bills on a property. he will be sorting her NIe and will have her POA too,
Thanks for your replies I will try and get her to ask for a basic account if she can.

[Info]

She should be able to open a bank account with her passport. We were with Banco Popular who are now Santander. Our 6 monthly charge is €37 for the usual D/Ds and on-line euro lodgmet transfers are 50c. They have just applied the 6 months charge and it is the same as it was with Banco Popular. Unfortunately their on-line banking only seems to be through Spanish which mightn't suit everyone. Perhaps a bank that has a branch presence near her might be no bad thing to keep in mind.

Bee

[freddo]

https://www.bancosantander.es/es/partic ... ount-spain

open with Chrome or Edge with Translator opens in English

[Info]

That's handy freddo. How did you do that? I do use Chrome but I just followed the link from Banco Popular when I logged in as Santander are probably going to wipe Banco Popular from the universe shortly

Bee

[freddo]

Bee
I have all my PCs and laptops set up so that whatever page I am using will be translated to English also my smartphone

[Info]

Nice one freddo.

Bee

[royazul]

Bee, the Santander App is in English

[Info]

Thanks Royazul. Yesterday was my first time being redirected from Banco Popular to the Banco Santander website and when I went to sign in to Clientes it just gave Espanol o Catalan. When I just now went to download the app as you suggested it says I already have it so it must have downloaded automatically. I always use the Spanish language version as I found some of the translations to English can be misleading.
Bee