ATMs in Barcelona

MiraculousM

Hi all

I remember last time i was out there i was charged ATM fees in about 3 banks i tried and gave up and just got some money out with the fees.

Is there any bank that doesnt have these?

YorkshireBoy

Banca March ATM withdrawals were still fee-free 3 weeks ago in Fuerteventura (and also earlier this year in Lanzarote). Probably the same on the mainland?

NoodleDoodleMan

Santander..........if you have a qualifying account and use Santander branded ATMs.

Worth having if you holiday in Spain, including Belerics. and Canaries.

bagand96

There was this post last year where a few people listed their experience of who charged and who didn’t. Santander Charging for withdrawals in Spain The last post is over a year old, so the info might not be correct, but back then:

Sabadell €1.80
Caixabank €3.00 (although other posts said no charge)
Popular ...No fee (someone else reported €1.50)
Euronet ... No fee
Deutsche Bank- no fee
Santander- 5.00 euro fee

It seems it might even vary for some banks by the region of Spain you’re in. I think all ATMs must advise you of the fee though and give you the chance to cancel the transaction, so you can do that and just keep trying until you find a free one.

Also remember you always want to be billed in Euros, don’t fall the trick of the ATM converting it into £ for you, you’ll get a much worse rate.

Last_Man_Standing

I had the same problem in Barcelona this November - suddenly most of the ATMs started charging for withdrawals! I did find one that didn't, but unhelpfully I don't remember which...

Can confirm that Santander does charge, as suggested in the post above^

The most frustrating thing for me is that I was using a Transferwise card, which had money in my EUR account, and the ATMs still tried to convert it all back to GBP for me... That way my GBP would have to switch GBP -> EUR -> GBP -> EUR before it leaves the cash machine?!

NoodleDoodleMan

Santander charge UK customers if their current account does not meet the qualifying conditions (see below) for fee free Santander branded ATM withdrawals in Spain - so they will certainly charge customers of every other bank.

From Santander website

If you have an adult current account and pay in at least £500 each month, there are no fees when you withdraw cash from a Santander cash machine in Spain.

Their Everday Current Account is ideal if you only want the no fees benefit in Spain and the Canary Islands - and of course it can be used a normal current account with debit card 24/7/365.

zagfles

Bankia were fee free in August. Couple of others were too but can't remember who.

londoninvestor

I went in September and was able to find free withdrawals with a bit of persistence. I'm pretty sure CaixaBank was free.

Santander is free for holders of some (not all) of their cards - the Zero Credit Card is useful for that. (So is the account that NoodleDoodleMan mentioned, but the Zero card gives you fee-free withdrawals from Santander in some other countries as well - as well as zero fees on card payments.)

NoodleDoodleMan

The Santander Zero card adds interest when cash is withdrawn at an ATM, regardless of which bank the machine belongs to.

However, that can be reduced to a minimal amount if the resulting debit balance is settled quickly by an online payment, or transfer from another Santander account.