Banco Santander Spain - Non-Resident Account (EUR)

AHC96

Thought it might be useful for some to know that Banco Santander (Spain) offers a totally free Euros account for non-residents. It has a Spanish IBAN and BIC. Comes with a virtual debit card. 

You must be over 18, have a passport and live in the UK (or a few other countries). 

Took 1 hour from application to having the app set up and receiving my first payment to the account. 

Can't post the link to their website as I'm too new. 

sausage_time

Potentially very useful, thanks!

lr1277

Interesting they allow residents of the USA to open such an account.

Seems to me due to US regulations most UK banks don't want anything to do with US citizens. Might be to do with FACTA reporting, but I admit I am reaching.

I wonder what allowed Banco Santander to make this offer?

Edited to add: I suppose the 2nd interesting point is that many of countries elgibile for the offer, already use the Euro. So their residents should be able to get Euro accounts with IBAN codes?

friolento

lr1277 said:

 

I wonder what allowed Banco Santander to make this offer?

FATCA doesn't prohibit accounts outside the US. Just the account providers must adhere with onerous reporting requirements if the account holder is an American citizen.

friolento

Link: https://www.bancosantander.es/en/particulares/cuentas-tarjetas/cuentas-corrientes/cuenta-online-con-pasaporte

Thank you to the OP, useful information, I'll be applying right away


EDIT: I got too excited. The application process is well dodgy. It didn't like Chrome at all, so I resorted to Edge. Once there, it restarted itself twice without warning, once at the very end of the application. I'll try again tomorrow. It also helps if you can speak a little Spanish as you get bombarded with Spanish / a mixture of 'creative' translation from Spanish to English.

PloughmansLunch

I've got one of these and it took a fair while to open after application - if you require a physical debit card you will need to supply an address in Spain otherwise it's Apple/Google pay only.

landsberger64

I opened one of these, and the application didn't work on any laptop I have, or any browser. It did on my phone, and although I set the account language to English, I had to navigate 90% of it in Spanish (nothing too difficult). I did the KYC and 12 hours later, I had a Spanish bank account with an ES IBAN and having tried a few low cost transfers, it seems to work quite well. The app is now predominately in English, with occasional forays into Spanish and adverts in Castiliano as well. I don't have a physical debit card, but a virtual Apple Pay/Google Pay one. Works for me.

It may come in useful when I am on the European mainland dodging charges now being levied by companies for non-EU/EEA cards.

Sam_666

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82115950#Comment_82115950

Absolutlly pointless for what you want to do. Plenty UK CC with no fees for use in EU.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82117385#Comment_82117385

Neither of us knows exactly what they want to do, but with regard to "dodging charges now being levied by companies for non-EU/EEA cards" (e.g. Danish businesses levying surcharges for such non-EU/EEA cards), a UK card clearly doesn't resolve that, by definition! Likewise, given the mention of transfers, implying between bank accounts, a credit card, UK or otherwise, is hardly going to be the answer to that…

landsberger64

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82117385#Comment_82117385

Not really - already found "charge free" cards levying fees in Portugal, Spain, Denmark and Germany - not charged by the CC company or your bank, but by the card machine operator.

I've also found that SEPA/IBAN transfers to and from the account are considerably quicker than other Euro accounts I hold

Worried_fool

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82117385#Comment_82117385

Except… many merchants in the Euro zone (especially Spain) use DCC fiercely, while cash machines have high charges for non-EU cards. A card based in an EU country would be a way round these problems.