Can I open a bank account before I purchase a property?

Hi All At present we do not own a property in Spain but will purchase my parents villa in 2015, can we open a bank account before this ?
If we can what information would be required by the bank to do this ?

Many Thanks

Sandra Ann

Hi yes you can but you need an NIE No which you can get without being here but it is easier if you do it here, previous posts have gone into this.

Cheers

Thanks Scuydoo, will look at previous post, we are over in September so could sort out NIE No then.

I opened a Spanish bank account without an NIE. Just my British passport needed.

Hi Jon is correct It's three years since we got our place and it was all done very quickly but thinking back now we did put the bank account in place before getting the NIE, sorry for misleading you. Passports and bank card from UK and you also have to put money in the account to open it I think we put 250 in, not sure of the minimum but you will need enough to cover charges. When you do buy a property check with the bank how much money you can transfer without getting any charges at this end it may well be beneficial to send several smaller amounts over to avoid a charge.

We did the same, 9 years ago, I have just remembered. We opened the account in Spain just as we had found a property and just before we left Spain to go back to England. We applied for the NIE later, at the London Spanish Embassy, while we were in the UK.

Try to research the banks sandra ann - You may want to choose one that doesn't charge you for just having money in the account. Our first account dwindled down from 100 euros (which we put in to hold the account open) to just over 50 euros when we closed it (as we had found a better bank for us), even though we didn't use the account for anything - There are some recommendations on this forum.

Jan

Hi All, thanks for all the very helpful information, I will have alook at all the discussions on the forum to help us decide on the best bank for us at this stage , thanks for the update Scubydoo no need for an appology it was useful information as I started to look at the forum on obtaining an NIE number , which will be the next step, so much to do

Sandra ann

we opened a bank account 2 years ago and had to have a NIE number, we used a small expat guy. he goes to the police station very early in the morning (about 4:00) and gets the ticket number, he then collects you and takes you to the police station at 9:00 then you are normally the first person in.
he fills out all the documents and you just sign them, you will need passport and 2 photos

I opened an account with Santander at the Arches back in February, this year. No Spanish property owned, rented or address. Used my UK passport and Uk address. Had to put a minimum in, 250 maybe, and as long ax I deposit a regular amount each month, maybe 650, then no charges.

The manager Carsten Tusker, young German chap, very helpful, impeccable English and so polite, was a pleasure to deal with. The account was opened in a few days and the PIN number for my bank card was sent to my uk address. The next time we came over to Spain, the debit card was with the branch and I just went in and collected it. Carsten set up the card so that it automatically comes up in English on the cash machines, I have internet banking with them which is similar to our uk online banking but a little different, however still easy to use. The statements come to my uk address and I pay my Spanish utilities and rent during standing orders. All very easy and straightforward.