Which bank to choose and can we open account from UK?

Can anyone recommend any particular bank, re online banking, fees charged, overall service etc. I was thinking about Santander bank as they have a footprint in the UK, but not necessarily best bank, do any other Spanish banks have UK offices, whereby I could open an account or is it likely that I would have to be in Spain with an address before I can open or be allowed to open an account? I am trying to get things in place before moving (hopefully by December 2022) & also take advantage of the regulations whilst we are still in the post Brexit “uncertainty” with regard to how much income I need to prove at the moment (is it 800 euros per month presently) and talk of around 30,000 euros (although not confirmed) post brexit. After leaving Costa Blanca in 2005, my residencia will have lapsed, so how would I go about reapplying for it, can I do this from the UK or have I got to do it by visiting or actually living out there with an address or could I use a friend’s address? A lot of questions, I know, but all help and advice is gratefully received, thank you. PS, I did have an NIE number and someone has mentioned that it may still be valid, where would i find this information out from and is there an email address / website that I can enquire from?

Santander Spain and Santander U.K. are entirely separate entities and have no relationship with one another at all.

I seem to recall I had to be physically present to open an account in Spain. As for the NIE, I did mine through SGM abogados in Benijófar. I’m sure they’d be able to check to see if your old one remains valid. My understanding was that the NIE was for life.

As a word of caution on Santander as a Spanish bank, their commission to write a bankers draft is hideously expensive. Given most property purchases still require such backward methods, this can be an expensive mistake. I say this from experience at finding them almost twice as expensive as some bank and only finding out at the last hurdle shortly before completion. The thought of paying a 4 figure sum for my bank to write a cheque was frustrating.

Thank you.

Even though Santander UK and Santander ES are separate entities you can withdraw fee free cash from a Spanish Santander branch using your UK 123 Santander debit card. We use this in conjunction with a N26 account for our Spanish direct debits.

Apricorn

In your situation you could have a look at Transferwise which can be opened whilst in the UK, you can have borderless accounts in different currencies and transfer between them.
Additionally I pay my direct debits from their Euro account, you will also find them extremely competitive when you come to transfer funds for any property purchase.

I have a Santander 123 account for free atm withdrawals.

Has anyone successfully opened a BBVA on line account from the Uk . I get as far as the mobile phone number and it tells me it is an invalid number. Has to be a Spanish number???

Secondly I have tried opening an N26 account and it comes up as no longer available in the UK?

Rone wrote:Has anyone successfully opened a BBVA on line account from the Uk . I get as far as the mobile phone number and it tells me it is an invalid number. Has to be a Spanish number???

Secondly I have tried opening an N26 account and it comes up as no longer available in the UK?

We tried to open a fee free BBVA online account while in Spain. You will need a Spanish mobile, we used a Spanish PAYG (HITs). They wouldn't accept our application in branch and the online application wanted to send a courier to collect our identification documents. We decided that this was too risky.

The N26 application needs the online location to be changed to Spain (if applying from the UK). You also need a Spanish address to receive your debit card (mail drop address will do). They do supply a Spanish IBAN suffix ES making it easy to set up your Spanish direct debits. All ID checks are done from any mobile phone and then that phone number is paired with your account.

Thank you for the information, what is an N26 application please?

Thanks Paul.

N26....is an online bank.