Excessive charges after Lloyds Bank International sale

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I'm new to the forum (today, Wednesday 30th July) and desperately need help.

In early 2005 my wife and I opened an account with the Halifax Bank (we already had a number of accounts with RBS). This new account allowed us to open an account with Halifax Hispania, the Spanish branch of the bank, which meant we could transfer funds FREE OF CHARGE from the UK to Spain. This was ideal because we owned an apartment in southern Spain. Hispania was taken over by Lloyds Bank International and the only thing that changed was the branch moved closer to our property but all the charges remained almost non-existant. Since the beginning of this year, Lloyds Bank International has been taken over by the Spanish bank Banco Sabadell. Now EVERYTHING has changed. We are being charged for anything they can think of - since March we have been charged over 100 Euros. I would love to close the account but since our business folded in 2010 due to the recession we had to sell our Spanish property (at a loss of over £100,000) and we have to maintain the Spanish account until the Spanish tax office refund the tax owing to us because it must be paid into that account.

Can I get any redress from Lloyds Bank (and, if so, how) and does anyone know how to "hurry up" the Spanish tax man so that I can close this "!!!!!! Turpin" bank account.

Does anyone know if all Spanish banks have huge charges or can anyone suggest a cheaper alternative (remember, I don't have a Spanish address anymore).

I can't afford to fall out with Halifax Bank (it's now our only bank) because when our business folded we lost all of the RBS accounts we had.

jonesMUFCforever

NO!
You could have opened another bank account elsewhere in addition to keeping the current one open to receive the tax rebate.


The charges would have been sent to you many months before the transfer happened so that if you did not like the new terms you could have walked.


I have no idea how to speed up the Spanish tax system - sorry.

System

The Halifax / Lloyds in Spain were separate from the UK versions - these Spanish sister banks merged then were sold by the UK group.

€100 (about £80) not great but to change banks in person would probably cost more. Unless you close the account (or move to alternative provider) I don't see what you can do other than speak to your 'new bank' about minimising costs.