Best bank for Non Resident - Pre house purchase 2020

Unfortunately the Spanish property transfer system in still in the dark ages. In the UK all the transfers are done electronically whereas in Spain it is still done by bankers draft. With our purchase three bankers draft's where required one for the seller (their profit from the property) one for the sellers mortgage bank ( a rep from the mortgage bank attended the notary to collect it) and one for the Notary which included their fees and the land registry fees. The bankers draft's have to be presented and handed over at the notary office with everybody signing (either yourself in person or via POW) for the transfer to be completed.

yogi bear wrote:Unfortunately the Spanish property transfer system in still in the dark ages. In the UK all the transfers are done electronically whereas in Spain it is still done by bankers draft. With our purchase three bankers draft's where required one for the seller (their profit from the property) one for the sellers mortgage bank ( a rep from the mortgage bank attended the notary to collect it) and one for the Notary which included their fees and the land registry fees. The bankers draft's have to be presented and handed over at the notary office with everybody signing (either yourself in person or via POW) for the transfer to be completed.

Thank you!

This was the answer i needed. Maybe i could close down my sabadell account after completion and then use transferwise for all payments and direct debits.

I believe that D/D's can only be set up from an account with a bank which transferwise is not. My understanding is the accounts that they offer is just a holding account which you transfer monies in to. There is a current thread regarding non Spanish but European based bank N26 which I'm keeping an eye on. Have a read through that.

yogi bear wrote:I believe that D/D's can only be set up from an account with a bank which transferwise is not. My understanding is the accounts that they offer is just a holding account which you transfer monies in to. There is a current thread regarding non Spanish but European based bank N26 which I'm keeping an eye on. Have a read through that.

The direct debits within transferwise allow you to setup £ and € payments. It is currently in beta testing and allows iban numbers starting with BE.

N26 is closing for UK customers in april.

Mooseh wrote:

yogi bear wrote:I believe that D/D's can only be set up from an account with a bank which transferwise is not. My understanding is the accounts that they offer is just a holding account which you transfer monies in to. There is a current thread regarding non Spanish but European based bank N26 which I'm keeping an eye on. Have a read through that.

The direct debits within transferwise allow you to setup £ and € payments. It is currently in beta testing and allows iban numbers starting with BE.

N26 is closing for UK customers in april.

That's not quite right....... N26 are closing their UK operations (£) in April because they will require a UK banking licence. However, UK customers will still be able to operate, and open, Spanish (euro) accounts in Spain.

See https://n26.com/en-es/bank-account

Maybe I can look into this in the future, you need a Spanish address to open an account.

yogi bear wrote:I believe that D/D's can only be set up from an account with a bank which transferwise is not. My understanding is the accounts that they offer is just a holding account which you transfer monies in to. There is a current thread regarding non Spanish but European based bank N26 which I'm keeping an eye on. Have a read through that.

Yogi, I'm sorry but this is wrong.

Transferwise have recently changed their operations and now support direct debits, I know for certain because I have just done it.
None of the utilities I visited questioned it and my direct debits are being paid no problems.
I think I mentioned this earlier in this thread.
Next step is to close my Bankia account when next over.
Moose is also correct the N26 account will not be an option for us Brits unless you circumvent the process by using a Spanish address.

Kenbo wrote:

yogi bear wrote:I believe that D/D's can only be set up from an account with a bank which transferwise is not. My understanding is the accounts that they offer is just a holding account which you transfer monies in to. There is a current thread regarding non Spanish but European based bank N26 which I'm keeping an eye on. Have a read through that.

Yogi, I'm sorry but this is wrong.

Transferwise have recently changed their operations and now support direct debits, I know for certain because I have just done it.
None of the utilities I visited questioned it and my direct debits are being paid no problems.
I think I mentioned this earlier in this thread.
Next step is to close my Bankia account when next over.
Moose is also correct the N26 account will not be an option for us Brits unless you circumvent the process by using a Spanish address.

Great, not sure why they state that it will only be possible with iban numbers starting with BE?

So after you close your Bankia account, you will only have your transferwise account to pay bills, d/d's etc.

Hope this works for me too, I will create a Sabadell account for the house purchase and close it down afterwards.

Mooseh wrote:

Kenbo wrote:

yogi bear wrote:I believe that D/D's can only be set up from an account with a bank which transferwise is not. My understanding is the accounts that they offer is just a holding account which you transfer monies in to. There is a current thread regarding non Spanish but European based bank N26 which I'm keeping an eye on. Have a read through that.

Yogi, I'm sorry but this is wrong.

Transferwise have recently changed their operations and now support direct debits, I know for certain because I have just done it.
None of the utilities I visited questioned it and my direct debits are being paid no problems.
I think I mentioned this earlier in this thread.
Next step is to close my Bankia account when next over.
Moose is also correct the N26 account will not be an option for us Brits unless you circumvent the process by using a Spanish address.

Great, not sure why they state that it will only be possible with iban numbers starting with BE?

So after you close your Bankia account, you will only have your transferwise account to pay bills, d/d's etc.

Hope this works for me too, I will create a Sabadell account for the house purchase and close it down afterwards.

Yes, once the Bankia account is closed I will just have the Transferwise, well I have a Starling account as an option for drawing Euros, oh and a Santander too lol....but for house running costs, paying any trades people, shop purchases in Spain its Transferwise.

As for the IBAN numbers, when Transferwise first started up their bank account was based in Germany and therefore the number was prefixed DE, they are moving their account to Belgium so its BE, its not a problem, the direct debits work.

Have you asked your Solicitor of the possibility of completing your house purchase with Transferwise? Maybe the problem with them is the bankers drafts ??
I think it was PGA who posted that he got stung by Santander's costs for bankers drafts, if your Solicitor insists that you have to have a Spanish account to complete the process maybe shop around for the costing of the bankers drafts and then as you said close it, I think that you will have to do this in person and they will have their first year charges out of you, so maybe another reason to shop around initially.

I can only speak for myself but I have read so many mixed reviews about Sabadell, plenty of people who post on here are with them and have no problems but others seem to say that they charge you just for drawing breath lol, horses for courses I guess, the Solicitor's seem to refer new clients to them ? Wonder who's best interest that is in ? Lol.

Ok thanks for your posts. It seems all bank accounts charge a lot, and yes, it was a reccomendation from our solicitor lol.