How to transfer money from Spain to UK - Advice Please

WilliamB

First I must apologise if this in in the wrong section, but here goes . I have a Santander Bank account in Spain which Ive held for 10 Years now, at the moment I am staying in Thailand and in a few Months I will be receiving regular payments into my Spanish Santander bank account paid in Euros . I all so have a current HSBC Uk bank account which I transfer money from via internet banking to my Thai Bank with no problems. I have been in touch with my Spanish Santander bank via my internet account option, to ask if theres a way I can transfer money from my account in Spain to my HSBC uk bank , there answer was not really , all they could suggests was I write a transfer request giving all the details and a copy of my passport and then Post it to my Spanish bank every time I wanted to make a transfer of money

I all so asked at the same time if it was possible to transfer money from my Santander Bank in Spain to my Thai bank here , the answer was the same , send them a written request.

I could not believe that theres no easier way to make a simple transfer from my Santander Bank account in Spain to my HSBC Uk account , I don't know if I missed some thing when I contacted my Santander Bank Spain , and they got hold of the wrong end of the stick .

I did think about trying to open a uk Santander Bank account to see if I could then arrange an on line money transfer from my Santander Bank account in Spain to a new Uk Santander Bank account, then I noticed you need a permanent UK address , which I now don't have

I have a strange feeling I am missing some thing about the way Santander arrange a transfer and Posting a written transfer request can't be right - can It ?

Can any one here suggest a better way to go about doing the transfer of money from my Santander Bank account in Spain to my Uk HSBC bank account , or even the transfer of money from my Santander Bank account in Spain to my Thai bank account here .

any advice or comments most welcome - Thanks

ERICS_MUM

I've just read this through before hitting the submit button and I'm sorry that it's so long!

99.99% of banks can make electronic international payments in most currencies to most countries, and certainly Santander make tens of thousands per year. You have the option of asking Santander to convert your euros to sterling and then send them HSBC in the UK, or to send euros to HSBC who will convert to sterling. These payments are made via SWIFT (Society for Worldwide International Financial Transactions) to which 99.99% of banks belong.

I should imagine the issue is how you give your payment instructions to your branch of Santander and how they verify your instructions. Do you have on-line or telephone banking and are international payments available on it?

Your best bet might be to open a euro account with HSBC in the UK - they process tens of millions overseas payments per year and are very efficient. They offer a full range of euro accounts, electronic payments and other financial services in just the same way as do banks in the eurozone. It belongs to the 2 main euro payment clearing systems.

Santander should also be able to make electronic payments to your Thai bank, but maybe not in Thai Bhats ( I'm out of date as to whether Bhats are now freely convertible outside Thailand). The large Thai banks will have euro banking arrangements in place with a range of euro-zone banks ("correspondents") to allow them to make and receive international euro payments.

Hope you get it sorted, it should be so easy in this technological age !


Linda :beer:

WilliamB

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

I've just read this through before hitting the submit button and I'm sorry that it's so long!

99.99% of banks can make electronic international payments in most currencies to most countries, and certainly Santander make tens of thousands per year. You have the option of asking Santander to convert your euros to sterling and then send them HSBC in the UK, or to send euros to HSBC who will convert to sterling. These payments are made via SWIFT (Society for Worldwide International Financial Transactions) to which 99.99% of banks belong.

I should imagine the issue is how you give your payment instructions to your branch of Santander and how they verify your instructions. Do you have on-line or telephone banking and are international payments available on it?

Your best bet might be to open a euro account with HSBC in the UK - they process tens of millions overseas payments per year and are very efficient. They offer a full range of euro accounts, electronic payments and other financial services in just the same way as do banks in the eurozone. It belongs to the 2 main euro payment clearing systems.

Santander should also be able to make electronic payments to your Thai bank, but maybe not in Thai Bhats ( I'm out of date as to whether Bhats are now freely convertible outside Thailand). The large Thai banks will have euro banking arrangements in place with a range of euro-zone banks ("correspondents") to allow them to make and receive international euro payments.

Hope you get it sorted, it should be so easy in this technological age !


Linda :beer:

Hi Linda and thanks for the quick reply , its appreciated

With my Spanish Santander bank account I do have internet access to see the account and statements Etc , but it seems that there is no option on the
web page to arrange '' any '' type of money transfer be it electronic or other wise. I rang my Santander bank in Spain and asked about arranging an electronic transfer , and was told that it may not be possible and the best option would be to post a written request to them for each transfer , My spanish is not too good , so I was thinking I may have miss understood in my translation. So my main problem is getting money out from my Spanish Santander bank account and into either my Uk HSBC bank account or to my Thai bank account ,

as you say .... should be so easy in this technological age !

theses are my exact thoughts too , but it seems not so for Santander

not too sure what to try next , I would keep telephoning my Spanish Santander bank but the call costs from here are expensive


Thanks

ERICS_MUM

I've just checked the website for Abbey and they also state that requests for international payments must be sent in writing to a branch and passport ID is needed, so obviously this is a Santander group policy (antiquated).

So, 2 thoughts:

-e mail one of the Santander board members at Head Office, ask for them to pass your matter on to the senior director responsible for international SWIFT payments.

a) their on-line contact form (mark your message for the attention of one of the board by name)

https://secure.santander.com/formularios/Corporativo/contacto_en.jsp

b) list of HO board members

http://www.santander.com/csgs/Satellite?canal=CAccionistas&cid=1148977291609&empr=SANCorporativo&leng=en_GB&pagename=SANCorporativo/Page/SC_ContenedorGeneral


my sister did this after she got nowhere with her branch of Abbey National re 12 fraudulent debits on her account totalling £20,000+ (taken from the account on the day that Abbey credited £20,000 to the account as part of a loan !). H.O. passed her to a named manager in Abbey's fraud office who got it sorted and paid her compensation.

-if you have time before the euro payments start to come in, look at opening a euro account with your HSBC branch and get the money credited there instead. They will then send you the money as they do already.
(The person/company that pays the euro to you will have to send them to HSBC but bank charges for euro payments are regulated by the European Central Bank so ishouldn't be exorbitant)


Good luck

Linda (35 years in international payments at Nat West)

missile

Santander are very big but not very good and I would never used them. I would be very surprised if you cannot do BACS transfer from your account but I am not really surprised that staff @ your branch are less than helpful

You might want to open an account with a.n.other spanish bank? I can confirm with CAM and Barclays you can do international BACS transfers via on line banking.

You might want to set up an account with one of the many currency exchange specialists e.g. http://www.hifx.co.uk/
Then you could set up a regular S/O on your Santander account to HiFx then onto your bank account in Thailand. It makes no sense to pay charges to change euros to sterling then to BAT.

missile

I wonder if these regular payment are rental income for your property in spain? Please make sure you make a fiscal declaration.

I know of many in spain who have had horrendous problems. Tennant's not paying rent could be the least of your worries. I wish you luck, you might need it!

WilliamB

missile wrote: »

Santander are very big but not very good and I would never used them. I would be very surprised if you cannot do BACS transfer from your account but I am not really surprised that staff @ your branch are less than helpful

You might want to open an account with a.n.other spanish bank? I can confirm with CAM and Barclays you can do international BACS transfers via on line banking.

You might want to set up an account with one of the many currency exchange specialists e.g. http://www.hifx.co.uk/
Then you could set up a regular S/O on your Santander account to HiFx then onto your bank account in Thailand. It makes no sense to pay charges to change euros to sterling then to BAT.

Hi and thanks for the advice, opening a new Spanish bank account looks difficult at first glance due to the fact my current home address is in Thailand, your link to '' hifx'' looks interesting and I have contacted them for more information and advice , just seeing the general overall negative comments about Santander I am not holding out too much hope in arranging a standing order with out actually being able to walk into my Spanish Sandanter branch . I ordered a new Santander cheque book Three Months ago , and ive just been informed that the only way I can get it is to call into my
Spanish branch next time I am in the area, which will be in six Months time. My branch Know I am in Thailand and send my bank statements to me here in Thailand , but won't send my new cheque book .

In this day and age of instant online banking I find it hard to understand why such a large group like Santander do not on their internet banking web site offer its customers the option to arrange an electronic transfer of funds as most other well known banks do.



Over all I feel some what disgruntled with my Santander bank experiences

Again many thanks for all the advice - William

WilliamB

I though I would post an up date , I have been in contact with Two
currency exchange specialists

1. HiFX

2. OzForex

and they both sent me details of what they can offer


1. HiFX

Thank you for your recent enquiry.

Based on the information we have so far from you, it seems we can help you either with the transfer of your Euros to Thai Bhat or into GB Sterling.
On both of those, you will still need to be able to arrange a transfer of your funds from the Santander bank to us. I understand that the current process for transfer of funds out of the Santander bank is far from ideal; particularly since you have to inform them in writing each time you are looking to arrange a transfer.

2. OzForex

Thanks for your email.

We will be able to help you transfer funds from your Spanish account to your UK or Thai banks if Santander will allow you to transfer the Euros to our Euro account held with Barclays in London.

The transfer would be classified as a local EU transfer from one bank to another. You will need to speak to your Spanish bank to see if they will allow you to make online transfers to other EU countries as Euro payments.

We do not debit client accounts so much speak to the Spanish bank to make sure they will allow you to do this. Sometimes banks are more flexible if the funds are paid within the local EU network.

With our service transfers usually take 6 business days from when payment is sent to us till when funds are cleared into you nominated account.

If your bank will allow you to do this our service fee is EUR10 per transfer under EUR5000 and from the UK GBP7 per transfer under GBP3000. Transfers above these amounts have the transfer fee waived.


Both the above email replys seem to relay on some thing that I all ready know is either not possible or to crazy to think about that involves my Santander bank ( seen the above RED parts )

so it looks as if there's no viable way to transfer money from my Spanish Santander bank to either my uk HSBC or Thai Bank with out having to send a written request every time , I would be thinking of transferring money at Monthly intervals , so writing a transfer request on a Montyhly basis is just not some thing I want to do


I am now feeling even worse than before as I thought there was a glimmer of hope that the currency exchange specialists would be the answer .


William :wall:

bendix

Different banks have different ways of operating. My bank accounts in Australia and NZ, for example, have online facilities for transferring funds from there to my bank account in Thailand. At the same time, my UK bank accounts require me to do a seperate application for each transfer, requiring a formal letter, proof of ID etc. It's a nuisance, but not a big deal at the end of the day. Another way is just to use your Santander card in Thai ATM machines.

Someone mentioned whether to send money in Euro or Baht. Go with the sending currency all the time, so in this case transfer in Euro and ask for it to be converted to Baht by the Thai bank. It's a much better rate, for obvious reasons.

WilliamB

bendix wrote: »

Different banks have different ways of operating. My bank accounts in Australia and NZ, for example, have online facilities for transferring funds from there to my bank account in Thailand. At the same time, my UK bank accounts require me to do a seperate application for each transfer, requiring a formal letter, proof of ID etc. It's a nuisance, but not a big deal at the end of the day. Another way is just to use your Santander card in Thai ATM machines.

Someone mentioned whether to send money in Euro or Baht. Go with the sending currency all the time, so in this case transfer in Euro and ask for it to be converted to Baht by the Thai bank. It's a much better rate, for obvious reasons.

Hi and thanks for your comments , I agree that having to comply with the banks request to post them a written request for a transfer of money from my Spanish Santander bank to my Uk HSBC bank account could be considered a nuisance but not a big deal, should my transfer request be infrequent , on the other hand as my transfer requirements would be on a Monthly basis for the next 10 years , the thought of having to post a written transfer request every Month for that period of time I would consider more than a nuisance :mad:

As you say it looks as if the only convenient practical way would be to use my Santander card in an ATM machine here in Thailand .

Thanks for the tip ...

Someone mentioned whether to send money in Euro or Baht. Go with the sending currency all the time, so in this case transfer in Euro and ask for it to be converted to Baht by the Thai bank. It's a much better rate, for obvious reasons

That's some thing I had not thought of :T


Thanks - William

Ps Would you be the same '' bendix '' from a well known Thai related expat forum ( TV ) ?

bazwaldo

I may be out of my depth here with this discussion as i don't know anything about international money transfers and at the risk of sounding foolish,but is it not possible to set up a standing order with your santander account to pay a regular amount on a monthly basis to whoever you want,in your case,your thai bank account.