European Banking / Direct Debits paid in Spain

Printbuyer

Hello, I wonder if anyone can help me?  I'm really struggling with this.  I own a home in Spain and since our departure from the EU, a number of facilities providers have started to refuse payments from NON EU banks.  Therefore Starling / Revolut are no longer the answer.  Banks like Sabadell in Spain have also started raising their fees for Brits, as we are now not part of the EU, so the problem is two-fold.  Is there a solution?  Many thanks.

Guy

greyteam1959

Use TransferWise then for your Spanish DD.
IBAN code begins BE.
I use them for all my Spanish DD.
Look at opening a Cajamar Wefferent account in Spain.
No fees or charges & no monthly pay in requirements.
Only snag is as a non resident you have to go into a branch to open the account.

colsten

There should be no change since the UK is still part of SEPA.

What problems are you encountering with payments from Starling (GBxxxx IBAN)? Have you tried Transferwise (BExxxxx IBAN)?

[Deleted User]

colsten said:

There should be no change since the UK is still part of SEPA.

What problems are you encountering with payments from Starling (GBxxxx IBAN)? Have you tried Transferwise (BExxxxx IBAN)?

The UK is no longer part of the EEA/Single Market.
EEA banks are no longer required to treat UK transactions like domestic transactions.
Bienvenido poco Inglaterra

colsten

dahj said:

colsten said:

There should be no change since the UK is still part of SEPA.

What problems are you encountering with payments from Starling (GBxxxx IBAN)? Have you tried Transferwise (BExxxxx IBAN)?

The UK is no longer part of the EEA/Single Market.
EEA banks are no longer required to treat UK transactions like domestic transactions.
Bienvenido poco Inglaterra

Nothing to do with the Single Market or EEA.

As I posted earlier, the UK remains in SEPA. Therefore there should be no charges over and beyond any exchange charges.

nyermen

Whatever the situation should be, it sounds like something has definitely changed - my companys payments to some countries with smaller staff numbers (and so no dedicated legal entity/company accounts) are made from the UK.  This month each employee in one EU country (they get paid mid month there) all got charged a fee by their banks for receiving their salaries.

Hazzanet

Against article 9 of the SEPA regulations to refuse it, according to Revolut:
https://blog.revolut.com/fighting-against-iban-discrimination/

wmb194

Another option might be Fineco, an Italian bank that offers accounts in Britain and IIRC has an office in London. It offers Sepa DDs and accounts in multiple currencies. One thing to watch for though are incoming fees on withdrawals to British banks as it sends them as Swift payments (Fineco doesn't charge for this) but you can avoid this as some banks/BSs won't charge to receive Swift payments e.g., Nationwide.

M_J_H

This is quite a significant problem not being talked about in the mainstream media. Whilst it may be affecting many individuals, it must also be affecting businesses, both in the UK and in Europe who aren't being paid.
My monthly transfer into my (Spanish) Sabadell Account from my Starling Account attracted and 18 Euro charge from them.

In reply to the problem with Direct Debits from my Starling UK based, SEPA compliant Euro Account, after a couple of weeks of asking:

"Thanks for getting in touch. I work in the payments team at Starling

Since January 1st and the UK’s departure from the EU, we have become aware that UK customers with UK based EUR accounts may be experiencing problems setting up and/or paying direct debits to EU service providers.

Even though the UK is no longer part of the EU, it is still part of the Single European Payments Area (SEPA) and is considered a ‘third country’. As a result of this, there are changes to data requirements for payments to and from the UK. EU banks are legally required to provide the address of the paying customer to UK banks when requesting payment on behalf of a service provider from their UK bank account.

If a service provider refuses to accept your bank details when you sign a direct debit agreement because the IBAN contains the country code ‘GB’, they could be committing IBAN discrimination, which is against the law. (Article 9 of the SEPA Regulation).

**What can you do if your direct debits are failing or you can not set up / amend a direct debit**

1. Make sure your service provider has the correct address for you on file and let them know that your Starling account supports SEPA Direct Debits and this should be sent to their bank for onward processing

2. If they still refuse your bank details they are in breach of Article 9 of SEPA Regulation, and we suggest you follow up with a formal written complaint.

3. If you do not receive a satisfactory response to your complaint, you can report the alleged breach to the relevant competent authority.

We’re sorry for this inconvenience but unfortunately we are currently dependent on the service providers accepting the IBAN as required by SEPA Regulation. We are continuing to look into how we can improve your experience and we will keep you updated on any changes.

Well thank you very much Starling , you are really on the ball and looking after your customers.

How about you acting on behalf of your customers? And how many time did I point out to you that they were working last year?  And that the reason was not insufficient funds which you said was the problem.

I understand the FCA might be trying to do something about this situation.

colsten

The FCA has no powers over financial transactions outside the UK, so I wouldn't pin my hopes on them. It is also not Starling's responsibility to sort out whether you get charged at the other end. Your issue is with whoever is charging you.

EU providers should not be charging for SEPA payments, as Starling have mentioned. However, it doesn't appear to be illegal, or even against SEPA rules, if they do. You could ask the European Payments Council for their position on it. I would also not pin my hopes on a swift resolution, as I don't believe the issue is seen as a priority issue.

In the meantime, you could investigate whether Transferwise would be of any use to you. Be aware they don't have FSCS protection, and they are charging for sending Euros to Euro accounts, though their Euro Direct Debits are apparently free. Most importantly, they have a BExx - IBAN, i.e. one that will be recognised as an EU IBAN.

[Deleted User]

colsten said:

dahj said:

colsten said:

There should be no change since the UK is still part of SEPA.

What problems are you encountering with payments from Starling (GBxxxx IBAN)? Have you tried Transferwise (BExxxxx IBAN)?

The UK is no longer part of the EEA/Single Market.
EEA banks are no longer required to treat UK transactions like domestic transactions.
Bienvenido poco Inglaterra

Nothing to do with the Single Market or EEA.

As I posted earlier, the UK remains in SEPA. Therefore there should be no charges over and beyond any exchange charges.

That's not correct - as the UK is now a non EU/EEA member of SEPA , the Spanish bank doesn't have to apply domestic pricing. It can if it so chooses but it's not obligated to do so.