Direct Debits In Spain

greyteam1959

I need to set up some direct debits to pay my utility bills in Spain.
I do NOT want to use a Spanish bank account to do this.
Do any of the 'New Age' online banks allow this ??
Revolut or similar set ups ??

[Deleted User]

Open a Spanish bank account?

greyteam1959

!!! wrote: »

Open a Spanish bank account?

And what bit of:-
I do NOT want to use a Spanish bank account to do this.
Did you not understand ??

System

You just need an account that allows SEPA Direct Debits.

Some GBP current accounts will actually allow this e.g. RBS/NatWest.
Revolut, Starling or even a Barclays/HSBC Euro accounts are also options.

afis1904

Starling and Revolut also both have very easy to use multicurrency accounts.

[Deleted User]

If you’re living in Spain why not open an account in the country you reside in?

What makes you believe you can and should be able to open a UK account?

wmb194

Perhaps Fineco Bank? It's Italian but has an address in London and has an app, online banking and debit cards.

Apart from opening an account via a refer a friend offer I have no personal experience of its DD capability but its website reads, "EURO Direct Debits
Set up fast, easy direct debit mandate in euros within the European area for free and pay service providers in Europe for utilities, healthcare, loan repayments, school fees and much more. Directly in Euros and wherever you are."

Btw, you have to be careful when transferring money from your account with it as, including with sterling transfers, it uses Sepa and the recipient bank may charge a fee although in my experience Nationwide won't.

colsten

I'd say Starling.

I wouldn't touch Revolut as they don't have FSCS protection.

Barclays or NatWest are unlikely to give you the same keen GBP-EUR exchange rate & fees as Starling do.

Fineco is an awfully cumbersome bank, and has all sorts of opportunities for pitfalls, such as SEPA charges.

One of the stumbling blocks you may encounter with non-Spanish accounts is that their their IBANs don't start with ES - meaning that the bank is outside Spanish jurisdiction. I would cross that bridge if I came to it, but hopefully it shouldn't be an issue, even after Brexit.

eDicky

colsten wrote: »

I'd say Starling.

I wouldn't touch Revolut as they don't have FSCS protection.

Barclays or NatWest are unlikely to give you the same keen GBP-EUR exchange rate & fees as Starling do.

Fineco is an awfully cumbersome bank, and has all sorts of opportunities for pitfalls, such as SEPA charges.

One of the stumbling blocks you may encounter with non-Spanish accounts is that their their IBANs don't start with ES - meaning that the bank is outside Spanish jurisdiction. I would cross that bridge if I came to it, but hopefully it shouldn't be an issue, even after Brexit.

I agree that Starling would be the best UK bank for SEPA direct debits from its euro account, without the inevitable adverse rates and fees of the 'mainstream' banks.

OP insists on limiting himself from the obvious choice of a Spanish account, without specifying what would be acceptable. An account with any European bank, in Germany or Rep of Ireland for example, can be used for SEPA direct debits in Spain or any other euro and non-euro European country (possible exception of UK).

colsten

eDicky wrote: »

OP insists on limiting himself from the obvious choice of a Spanish account, without specifying what would be acceptable. An account with any European bank, in Germany or Rep of Ireland for example, can be used for SEPA direct debits in Spain or any other euro and non-euro European country (possible exception of UK).

Assuming the OP is a UK resident, it might not be so easy now to get an account in an EU 27 country. It has got progressively more difficult for UK residents to get one even whilst Britain was still in the EU, and it won't get any easier once Britain is a 3rd country for the EU.

We don't, however, know where the OP is resident, or what their nationality is. Nor do we know what the aversion to using a Spanish bank account is.

teamgb

We have a bank a/c with Santander in Spain, we have four direct debits set up to pay our bills and it costs us over 130eurs a year. We do not use the a/c for anything else, we do not have a debit card because they charge for them.



That is 130 reasons not to have a Spanish bank a/c.


We have just opened a Starling bank a/c to transfer our d/d and so far it is working well and it costs us nothing. We have a free debit card and it is easy to convert £ to Eurs.



We will close our Santander a/c when we next go to Spain.