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Starling Bank

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 12:01 am
by Babu
I'm looking into stopping my Sabadell acct (with all the fees incurred, although I have no complaint with their services) used solely for covering taxes and community fees and opening a Starling Acct instead where I can gain benefit from spending Euros as a Non Res on exchange rates.
The advice I'm looking for is primarily;
Has anyone made the change, and does the bank manage it for you or do you have to do it all yourself with each DD etc ?
Sabadell charge every 2 years for some kind of non resident registration?? does this not apply to Starling as a British bank and/or do I have to cover this myself if they don't?


Looking for suggestions please.

Re: Starling Bank

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 10:33 am
by oadbyman
I'm with Starling but I am a long term holiday maker, the ability to have pounds and euros on one card works but you still get asked which currency.
I draw money out at deutsch bank with no charges for withdrawal.
Transfer to Spanish bank takes about 24 hours.
There are quirks with the debit card on motorways.
Don't know if you can set up an international direct debit.
Hope this helps.

Re: Starling Bank

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:28 am
by Janetg
I thought with starling you ain’t able to set up Spanish direct debits ?

Re: Starling Bank

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 12:17 pm
by Paul58
Babu wrote:I'm looking into stopping my Sabadell acct (with all the fees incurred, although I have no complaint with their services) used solely for covering taxes and community fees and opening a Starling Acct instead where I can gain benefit from spending Euros as a Non Res on exchange rates.
The advice I'm looking for is primarily;
Has anyone made the change, and does the bank manage it for you or do you have to do it all yourself with each DD etc ?
Sabadell charge every 2 years for some kind of non resident registration?? does this not apply to Starling as a British bank and/or do I have to cover this myself if they don't?


Looking for suggestions please.



N26 bank is also worth a look.... https://n26.com/en-eu/bank-account

Put your location as Spain when applying. You'll get a spanish IBAN to pay your spanish direct debits and a debit card sent to your specified address. All ID checks are done from your phone, you'll need your passport to hand. All fee free.

We changed from Sabadell last year for the same reason as yourself. We changed our own direct debits and checked that these were working OK before closing the Sabadell account. Non resident certificate isn't required. we find it works very well and we use transferwise to fund the account when required (when the rate is good).

HTH

Re: Starling Bank

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 2:29 pm
by Babu
Thanks all, I'll do my homework . . .

Re: Starling Bank

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:13 pm
by Barry martyn
i use deutche bank , i have just set up a free acc by having a saving acc . i put €3000 into an account low risk opened in dec. 19. and has already shown int of €80. i have als a current acc. to pay all bills and use transferwise for all moneytransfers

Re: Starling Bank

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 6:00 pm
by PeteKnight
Babu wrote:I'm looking into stopping my Sabadell acct (with all the fees incurred, although I have no complaint with their services) used solely for covering taxes and community fees and opening a Starling Acct instead where I can gain benefit from spending Euros as a Non Res on exchange rates.
The advice I'm looking for is primarily;
Has anyone made the change, and does the bank manage it for you or do you have to do it all yourself with each DD etc ?
Sabadell charge every 2 years for some kind of non resident registration?? does this not apply to Starling as a British bank and/or do I have to cover this myself if they don't?


Looking for suggestions please.



I had (and still do, to some extent) have the same aims.
I have a Starling account in my name, and a joint account with my wife. I also have a Starking Euro account in my name.

The joint account is what we use when travelling - we just put money in theory and spend it on either of your joint account debit cards and this works perfectly (except my wife gets an alert every time I spend money on 'boys toys'!).

My previous Sabadell debit card had expired and my Spanish house and car insurance were up for renewal (these would have charged the renewal to my Sabadell card). This seemed like an excellent time to put some money in my Starling Euro account and give them by Starling IBAN rather than my new Sabadell card details.
However, this didn't exactly go to plan.

The house insurance did eventually get charged to my Starling Euro account, but my car insurer rang me and explained that UK IBANs often fail (999 timed out of 1000 is what I as told) and that if it did fail then I'd be charged a 50 Euro penalty. As I'd put the house insurance IBAN through about 2 weeks earlier and nothing had yet been charged to my Starling Euro account I wasn't confident that the car insurance would go through, si gave them ny Starling joint account card number to charge it to instead.

I've since realised that there is the option to link my Starling personal account debit card to my Starling Euro account, and this is what I plan to do. I'll then give companies this debit card details number and the debist will come out of my Euro account. Not as neat as IBAN route, as when the card expires I'll have to update the details with each utility company, but probably a reasonable compromise.


At first sight the N26 bank route seems preferable, with a Spanish IBAN, but they've recently announced that they will close all accounts held buy UK customers - because of Brexit!
Whether this applies when you say that your location is Spain, but as you'll be providing UK ID and presumably a UK address then I think you're skating on thin ice.
https://n26.com/en-gb/leaving-uk-does-not-change-our-global-vision-to-transform-retail-banking-for-the-better

Pete.

Re: Starling Bank

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 8:19 pm
by Babu
PeteKnight wrote:.



I had (and still do, to some extent) have the same aims.
I have a Starling account in my name, and a joint account with my wife. I also have a Starking Euro account in my name.

My previous Sabadell debit card had expired and my Spanish house and car insurance were up for renewal (these would have charged the renewal to my Sabadell card). This seemed like an excellent time to put some money in my Starling Euro account and give them by Starling IBAN rather than my new Sabadell card details.
However, this didn't exactly go to plan.

Pete.



That was my concern that it wouldn't be straightforward . . . . as a non-res I don't want additional grief and just want to enjoy my time in Spain but also minimize unnecessary costs . . . I'll investigate and if I find Nirvana I'll share

Re: Starling Bank

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:15 pm
by daz
There’s several banks out there that have fee free accounts with very few or no conditions, other than paying in some money once a month. Which you would do any way for drawing out of the cash machine in euros. I’m with Santander for over 18months, never paid a penny in fees yet. When I changed over, they set up the DD’s. Just visit different banks and ask them.

Re: Starling Bank

PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:30 pm
by Paul58
PeteKnight wrote:
At first sight the N26 bank route seems preferable, with a Spanish IBAN, but they've recently announced that they will close all accounts held buy UK customers - because of Brexit!
Whether this applies when you say that your location is Spain, but as you'll be providing UK ID and presumably a UK address then I think you're skating on thin ice.
https://n26.com/en-gb/leaving-uk-does-not-change-our-global-vision-to-transform-retail-banking-for-the-better

Pete.


Hi Pete,


As far as I'm aware N26 are only closing the UK based accounts due to them having to apply for a UK banking license to operate in the UK after Brexit.
They say that they will retain their European license and their European accounts, so all Spanish IBAN euro accounts should remain unaffected.....in a way, it's just like having an account with a Spanish bank such as sabadell, but no fees.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51463632