On several occasions my bank in Spain has paid direct debits without authorisation, including most recently paying the IBI on a property sold over a year ago. In this instance the official demand was in the name of the current owner. When I have queried these payments the bank has told me that demands from official bodies e.g. the Hacienda or Ayuntamiento have to be paid even though no authorisation has been given and previous authorisations cancelled. Can anyone confirm that Spanish banks do have this right to make unauthorised payments.

Thanks

Yes this has been my experience to! When I challenged my bank to produce the signed authorisation they eventually admitted that it did not exist. In my case it was a solicitor claiming money for fiscally representing me - which he did not.

There is a different culture in Spain regarding DDs - different to what we are used to in the UK (elsewhere??)

Another point worth noting however is that SOMETIMES these are not direct debits they are charges being levied by the Hacienda (tax office) for example - which yes have to be paid by law and they will just demand them from your bank. If you are genuinely not liable for the charges the tax office will refund you.

I had charges taken by SUMA (the Alicante municipal tax collection service) from an account which I could not understand. However a quick trip to the SUMA office revealed it was for a property which I had owned and sold 3 years ago but it was a genuine tax liability for rates (IBI) which I had been unable to pay at that time because the property had not been entered into the system!

Its just all part of the Spanish experience!

The Spanish financial institutions are obliged to provide to The State certain information that they have on individuals and are also obliged to carry out instructions on behalf of those authorities.  Such instructions can involve a block on bank accounts or direct payment of a fine or debt etc.

What tends to happen is that the authorities often send a list of debtors to these financial entities to see if any of the debtors are customers of any of the banks.  If the debtor has sufficient funds in the account the bank is often told to block the account (retenci?n por embargo).  If the debt remains unpaid after a period of time, the money is automatically transferred to the authorities.

I have friends who have had a ?retention por embargo? placed on their accounts from Ayuntamientos of areas that they?ve never visited nor know where the place is.  Hacienda are renowned for doing this.