Avoid or Reduce Bank Charges in Spain

adindas

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

Not in my experience, based on paying in the £500 monthly.

If that were not credited monthly, then (presumably) fees will be taken a Santander ATM in Spain etc.

However, I don't see any relationship between the Everyday current account, based on the £500 pay in, and the Santander Lite, which has a monthly maintenance fee.

Is there any indications based on your personal experience how many times subsequently you will need to pay £500 regularly in advance to get fee free conversion fees prior to withdrawing cash in Santander cash machines in Spain ?

Many people with Santander 123 have already met the monthly funding requirement as part of getting the cashback for DD.

NoodleDoodleMan

Is there any indications based on your personal experience how many times subsequently you will need to pay £500 regularly in advance to get fee free conversion fees prior to withdrawing cash in Santander cash machines in Spain ?

Every successive month the account is help I would think ? I can't see Santander allowing Everyday account holders the convenient option of only paying in the £500 in the month immediately preceeding a holiday in Spain, then dipping out again, with a view to a repeat cycle.

I may be wrong on this of course.

Many people with Santander 123 have already met the monthly funding requirement as part of getting the cashback for DD.

The 123 needs a minimum £500 monthly payment to open and maintain, with 2 active DDs, neither of which need be for payments which qualify for the monthly cashback deal.

I reckon most holders are primarily looking for the 1.5% monthly interest on the account balance up to £20,000.

chiny

Even the phrase "2 active DDs" appears open for debate. For a short while, I had, what I thought were 2 active DDs, only to be told that as one of them was paid only once per year, it didn't count, so I lost £££ in interest.

Just had a letter from Santander re my 123 account advising of various changes, including "changes to foreign transaction fees". Insufficient tea has been slurped to make sense of it but it appears to relate to debit cards.

NoodleDoodleMan

Now that you've guzzled your Earl Grey - anything significant in Santander's latest notice ?

stewie_griffin

Caixa Bank have now started charging 2 euro per transaction 😞

NoodleDoodleMan

Caixa Bank have now started charging 2 euro per transaction ��

Getting to be like the "Ten Little Indians" - and then there were none !!!

I have seen references online to Unicaja, Banca March and Liberbank being fee free, however that is ancedotal and the list appears to diminish on a regular basis.

huw01

Used my Santander select card at a Santander ATM in Bilbao this weekend and I’ve got the perfect Visa rate of 1.12 € to£. I then did a test with my Monzo card in the same ATM, I was ready to abort the transaction but to my astonishment I managed to withdraw €20 without attracting a usage fee and my monzo app is showing £17.87 which is again a rate of 1.12. I wonder if the ATM charges differ by region?

londoninvestor

I noticed a Deutsche Bank ATM in Seville this weekend and wondered if it would be fee-free. It was!

biggmick1

Here's an update on what I found on my last trip to Spain & Portugal.

Changes: Caixa Bank. As others have reported, Caixa Bank charged 2 Euros (first time for me)
Santander. Still free using most Santander cards but a whopping 7 Euros on Metro Bank card

Charges for banks in order of the fee.
Liber Bank Free
Unicaja Free
Cajasur Free
Deutsche Bank Free
Santander Free (using Santander Zero credit card, 7 Euros otherwise )
Caja Rural Granada 1.50 Euros
Bankia 1.75 Euros
Sabadell 1.80 Euros
BBVA 1.87 Euros
Caixa Bank 2 Euros
Santander 7 Euros (Unless you're using a Santander card)

I also noticed some of the banks are also charging a % fee on top of the fixed charge (Bankia charged 1.75 Euros + 2.37%)
Also just out of curiosity I tried a couple of the stand alone ATM's that are not linked to a specific bank
Cash Zone 2.50 Euros
Euronet (they are everywhere in tourist towns) 3.95 Euros

Portugal. I tried about 3 different ATM's while in Portugal and the only one to charge was the stand alone Euronet machine.
Euronet 3.95 Euros

Don't forget theses fees are nothing to do with your own bank or credit card company, only the bank you're getting the money from so be aware your bank will also charge on top of these fees unless you have an account that doesn't charge in Europe, Metro, Santander (in Santander ATM's) , Halifax Clarity card and others. Th big banks are generally the worst for fees.

NoodleDoodleMan

Thanks Big Mick,that's useful intelligence.

Santander were 5 Euros fee last time this was flagged up - what a bunch of rip off artists.

Maybe they are trying to "persuade" Brit holidaymakers to open a qualifying current account in the UK to avoid such fees ?