Paying for utilities from euro bank account

BNT162b2 wrote:John - some "utility" companies (in my case it was Hidraqua and VegaFibra) will say they can't accept payments from Wise, due to the Wise accounts having a non-Spanish (Belgian) IBAN.

However - they are not telling the truth, and by refusing a Belgian IBAN, they are breaking SEPA regulations.

A quick email pointing that out was enough to have my Wise account details accepted within minutes.

The banks (as banks do) are preying on those who believe a bank is a genuinely fair organisation who are doing the best for their customers.

As someone who worked for one of the UK's "big 4" banks for 30+ years and saw more corruption, lies and poor management than I could ever have imagined, I can assure you that the banks are purely profit-making entities who don't give two hoots about their customers.

I also worked as a project manager at the Milton Keynes campus of a certain Spanish-owned bank for a while. The less said about THEIR operations, the better!

Ditch the greedy bank (it's very easy to do), and grab yourself a Wise account or similar.

sunworshipper wrote:I got a Wise account after closing my Caixta bank account because of their extortionate charges and terrible customer service. I set up direct debits with Iberdrola, Hydragua, Vega Fibre, Telecable, and our Community company and Suma all very easily either on line or just by email.
None of them refused or queried that the IBAN number was from Belgium.
They also give you interest every month on money in the account!

Mayfair wrote:I would second sunworshipper, for ease of setting up and reliability. I have a direct debit monthly from my UK bank to my Wise Euro account and it works perfectly. Cost, a few pence converting from sterling to Euro. Wise messages to confirm all payments and receipts on mu account.

Rietje wrote:What about the non resident tax? I was told that has to be paid with a Spanish bankaccount.

Expat in Quesada wrote:

Rietje wrote:What about the non resident tax? I was told that has to be paid with a Spanish bankaccount.

Hi Rietje,

We will be resident and our solicitors offer a tax calculation service. I assume if we pay them, they can transfer any tax due from their Spanish account. As we will not be working or earning any income in Spain or elsewhere, I assume this tax return would just be a formality with zero tax due. We will ask our solicitors this question.

Cheers.

John.

Rietje wrote:What about the non resident tax? I was told that has to be paid with a Spanish bankaccount.

Expat in Quesada wrote:

Rietje wrote:What about the non resident tax? I was told that has to be paid with a Spanish bankaccount.