Is there a free bank account in Spain

[knowal]

I've had a bank account in Spain for 16 years.
I started off with the "Banco de Andalucia", but after a while their charges for direct debits (75 Ptas each at the time) began to irritate us. After a discussion with the manager and his refusal to remove these charges and periodical maintenance charges, we moved our account to Cajamar.

We stayed with Cajamar for some time, as they really were free, as promised, until they decided to start charging, for cards and for "maintenance".

Next stop was Unicaja, as I had a personal introduction from a relative to the manager who promised us an account totally free of charges. It was, every time a charge appeared, I just asked, it was taken off. However, lately the manager is ignoring these requests and a charge of €6 goes through every 3 months.
I think these charges are daylight robbery, and the new intransigence is no doubt due to the crisis in the banking system. I read recently that the banks had increased personal charges by a large percentage in the last year or two.

So, has anyone got any solutions? I am going to start touting around soon to try to find a free account, which doesn't start charging after a year or two!

[El Cid]

Why do you expect banking to be free?

Sid

[oliveview01]

They have our account, Unicaja, charge us 6€ every quarter, plus about 36cents if they send confirmation of a direct debit payment, we have managed to stop most of the notifications coming in the post. We also get hit with a charge, I think it is 10 or maybe 15€ a year for each debit card. We get no interest on the account, We only keep money in the account to cover bills. The banks make a lot if money from accounts.
Santander do not charge for bank accounts if a pension is paid in, we enquired recently with Santander, we need to change banks soon.

[anyroads]

Yes I agree,

Why should banking be free ?

If people keep an average balance of eur 1000 in their account, why do they think they can get free banking for their standing orders for utility bills etc ?

anyroads

[swerve]

Free banking in Spain I bet it would be a winner if one of the banks done this. Look at the uk Santander are offering cash if you transfer your current account/ mortgage to them.I bet there taking a lot of customers from the other big bankers (w).

[knowal]

Why do you expect banking to be free?

Sid

I don't necessarily, certainly not for everyone.
However, I keep an average balance of €4000 in credit and was offered free banking by both Cajamar and Unicaja. I want bank managers to keep to their word, that's all, Sid.

Looks as if my first stop is going to be Santander.

[anis]

I think Santander is offering a new one without charges if you have contract or autonomo - maybe wrong - it is called something 200.
Also, Lloyds.es in Fuengirola, have a new account ( if you keep €2500 in at all times) there are no charges plus you get free annual global travel insurance and one credit card - no charge. This card is free of commision and charges if you use it at the servi- red ATMS.
There is also 4% interest for the first 3 months APR then it drops down to some miserly amount but at least you still get something back which is unusual for a current account - you may find this one of interest - we did.
It is called a premier account and you can have internet access to the account.There is free transfer of funds betwwen UK halifax/Lloyds and here too which is helpful. Again, you must provide some proof of income, work, residency, tax or something or other as with Santander's offer. pm me if you need more details
I have no affiliation to Lloyds !!! I just like a good deal

[BENIDORM]

If you are over age 65 Caja Rural Banks give reduced fees with some things free, you also get a 65 euro shopping voucher when you reach age 65 and other benefits..

But what is free?
Somewhere along the line you pay for it..

Regards,
Gordon.

[peteroldracer]

The OH went to the Cajamar ATM in Benamargosa t'other day, and her eyes bulged when she looked at the receipt slip left in the machine by the previous user - withdrawl 400€, balance remaining 48,600€!!
Someone rich enough not to care about loss of interest, obviously!
Of course there is someone amongst our members that lives around there...."Steve" or something?!

[oliveview01]

Sorry, charging 24€ maintenance plus a minimum of 10€ for a debit card X 2 if a joint account and then charge to send statements every time a dd is paid is not good value. We have at least managed to be able to stop most of the post coming. Unicaja make money from our account always being in credit, banks in the UK tried charging for using cash machines, remember the outcry? I do not think paying a minimum of 44€ plus postage is good value, especially when we can only pay certain bills between 8.30-9am!
We used to bank with LaCaixa who charged us, we transfered the account to the local branch, when we moved the account branch, they then charged us again, we pointed this out to the man in the branch, he said so what, this is a charge for this branch, you paid the other charge to the old branch, we closed the account.
We bank with Llyods Bank group in the UK and transfer money to Llyods here in Spain, no charge. Our account here used to be with Halifax, then it became Llyods and our branch closed down! We had statements coming every month but no branch address! I had to ring Madrid to find share our branch was! It is in Sevilla somewhere!!

[olive]

You only have to look at the overmanning in branches to realise banking can't be free.

Our Lacaixa closed our local branch recently and withdrawals from other banks ATMs attract a handsome charge. Fantastic. Nearest branch with ATM is a 40 mile round trip.

Have considered Caja Rural but balked at the likley issues with DD not working after moiving etc. So inertia wins once again.

[anis]

..I forgot to add that one of the cheaper bank maintenance charges is Caja Sur at €8.00 per quarter and €1.00 charge for UK to Spain transfers.
The reason I am fairly up to date with these rates is that I have recently traipsed around nearly every bank for a week trying to find savings interest rates so if anyone wants an up to date list of them I can print them out for you on a new thread - sorry, White horse, I didn't mean to thread creep.
Isn't it odd - that you can't find savings rates on the internet ? Even when you go into the banks, the savings interest rates aren't published and available on the notice boards - you actually have to go and ask the manager. It all takes time. Sometimes you even have to go back to the bank because the manager isn't available.....very annoying.

[Julie]

Hi

We bank with Caja rural de granada, the only charges we pay are 3.99 every three months for having 2 debit cards, also got given things like free scarves and gloves etc, only use it to pay all the bills, normally only keep about up to a grand in it, then when it gets low top it up, never been charged for dd or anything.

[scampicat]

We are with Caja Granada, we get charged about 10 euros maintenance a year plus another 15 euros (I think) yearly for two debit cards. No further charges, other than when you use another bank's cashpoint.We never have more than about 1500 euros in it and top it up whenit gets to about 250.

[Julie]

I have never been charged for using another cash point

[Lyric]

Not advertising but with a regular transfer of more than 700€ then Sabadellsolbank offer their "Expansion Account".
" Zero fees:
no account administration or maintenance fees
No fees on domestic and EU transfers up to €50,000
No fees on deposits of domestic cheques
Up to €20 in refunds every month: every month we refund 3% of your electricity, gas, telephone, cell-phone and internet bills.
We do not return directly debited utility bills (water, electricity and gas). Direct debit of bills takes a maximum of 30 days to set up.
Free cards: both credit and debit cards.
Free withdrawals at all ServiRed cashpoints (more than 32,000) using a debit card and for amounts of €60 and above.
Insurance discounts: on car, home and life policies.
Free alerts package: via text messages or e-mail
We notify you when your salary is paid
We notify you of cash withdrawals of more than €150
As well as purchases and other operations with cards
Tax refunds and other alerts that you select"

Works for my pension which sometimes does not qualify due to exchange rate.

Delete if you want Mods

[Devils Advocate]

In all fairness I don't think the OP was advocating free banking across the board. I'm with him in regards to being charged per dd.....if it happened to me they could stuff it straight away. You pay for banking in many other ways but if you've a current account with money in it earning 0% for yourself yet being lent to others at the same time, then you are paying for this service indirectly. As I say I've never payed (AFAIK) charges for dd's and never would, not a chance ....if the guy runs his current account with 4k in there constantly the bank has a cheek loading a few cents on to each transaction.........win-win for them.

[Lavanda]

We bank free with Santander because we have a 'product'. I save €50 a month into a pension account. However the pension is linked to the stock markets and is currently worth a bit less than the total paid in so far. Our Directora says this will, hopefully, iron out before we opt to take the pension. We are careful to use our cards in partnership bank 'holes-in-the-wall' as a whopping €12.00 commission is charged, per transaction, by non-partnership banks!

[annfoto]

We bank free with Santander because we have a 'product'. I save €50 a month into a pension account. However the pension is linked to the stock markets and is currently worth a bit less than the total paid in so far.

So it has not exactly been 'free' then. Take the amount of money you have lost and divide it by the number of months you have had 'free' banking and that is what it has cost you
You bank manager is being pretty optimistic that things will get better anytime soon. The IBEX35 lost just over 20% of its value since July, if/when Greece blows apart and if it spreads to Spain then it could easily loose a further 30% or more. I think it will take at least 10 years to get back to where it was.

[Martin Page]

The Banca March have a free account - BUT - you have to ask for it and pressure the counter assistant because they wont know about it !
The will go away and um and ah about it , but they will eventually find it !
It requires a minimum of 1500 Euro - but they have one !

No account can be totally free since there is a transaction tax on all payments !

And - Yes Cid - I would expect a current accout to be free - especially an online managed account.