Changing banks - Page 2

A "product" can be something as simple as a basic investment account.  If you want to bank completely online, then you could swap to the Wefferent account which is 100% online and has no charges

Yes, that's  exactly the same as Unicaja.  You also have to 'buy' one of their 'products' to avoid paying  bank charges.  We certainly didn't want this, but because we were already account holders, we were not allowed to change our account to their online non comissions Liberbank account so in the end we changed to Bankinter and so far, so good!🤞

How easy was it to change banks? I've got several direct debits, a credit and debit card with Sabadell so potentially there's a lot to go wrong.

It is interesting to read peoples reports on their own bank but I was hoping for  more information about how smooth the process is. I am trying to decide if I should just continue to cough up the 10 Euro every month or to try and transfer to one of the free banking options.  Incidentally I made an enquiery with Sabadell before covid and at that time it was only neccesary to payin 700 E but after covid you needed the same account but with a plus on the name.  This might explain some of the differing charges as I assume once an account is opened with a set of conditions they may not change things for existing customers

We changed our business account from Caja Rural TO Sabadell here in Vera; moving the funds across was easy enough, but setting up standing orders, i.e. notifying AEAT, TGSS, Iberdrola etc of change of account was a bit of a process.

The question you really have to ask yourself is if overall your are happy with the service provided by Sabadell?  All banks are going to have their own little quirks and everyone is going to say their bank is best.

I’ve been with Sabadell since 2014 and would not countenance moving - not necessarily because they are the “best” bank (for any given value of best) but because the service they provide meets my needs and other than one small blip on the business account following a change in ruling from the Bank of Spain, hassle free.

I also have one of their investment “Garantía” accounts with the minimum 1.000€ in it and that gives me the “product” I need to keep fee free banking.

Yes, it used to be the Expansion account, now it’s the “Cuenta Sabadell” - but I still don’t pay fees.

I like the Sabadell app as well - you can do a lot from it.  Used in conjunction with a Wise account, it covers all my banking needs.

So again, you have to ask yourself if you’re happy with the level of service you get because apart from the wholly online accounts like Wefferent, all the banks have some type of requirement for fee free banking and if you have a lot of direct debits, you are going to have to advise each agency or utility of new account details.  For some, like Iberdrola (if they are your electricity provider) and indeed TGSS, that’s relatively straightforward job done online.  For others like Ayuntamiento for car or other tax, or Codeur for water, it’s a trip to the offices in person.  Don’t even ask about AEAT - I get my Asesora to do that!

HI Qman

Bankinter is offering a no fees acount if you can pay in eihter your pension or a salary. 

No minimum to be kept in the account but you must have at least 600€ each month. 

As for switching their website will do it all for you you'll need copies of bills from any direct debits.

Thanks for your post, it was really useful. Overall,  Sabadell fulfils all of my needs and like you I use Wise for transferring cash into my account. I guess the main bugbear now is the fact that the Mojacar branch is closing but I can live with that. I am interested in getting a Garantia account so save on the bank charge so thanks for the heads up.

Just a an interesting side note on sabadell. I went .97cents overdrawn and received a text from a number that turned out to be a collection agency. The reason for the overdraw was due  to three bills all hitting at the same time that my bank fees were also due. 😒  

When I asked at the bank how a collection agency got my number and the overdraw info all I got was a blank look.

So I'm now with Bankiter a use Revolut for everyday stuff 

Es dauert aber lange bis ihr begriffen habt, was hier in Spanien wirklich los ist. 

Be advised Revolut is in the process of moving clients in Spain onto a Spanish IBAN Number.  This means Revolut will have to comply with Spanish banking laws, including the dreaded "embargo" if there is an unpaid bill or fine floating around.

With regards the Overdraft text ... that needs to be escalated because European Data Protection Laws specifically prevent that.  Also, If your data has been passed along, Sabadell are OBLIGED to tell you in what manner and to who the data has been passed.  Failure to do so can result in very very heavy sanctions for the offending party.

If you can be bothered to fight it, you can send a message to Sabadell Customer Service, telling them of the issue and demanding to know what data was passed along without your explicit consent.

EDPR is a pretty big stick.  As a small business owner, I know I have to make a statement each year as to how client data is handled, secured, stored etc etc etc and display a notice advising customers of that