Elisa - 10 February 2010 04:28 PM
What is the best thing to do bank account-wise when you move from England to Spain. I am going to be working freelance but getting paid in euros. Is it better to open a Spanish bank account and have money paid into that or have it paid directly into my English account. If I have a spanish bank account, is it expensive to transfer money from England to Spain. How expensive is it taking out cash from the cash machine with a debit card. Final question : sorry - have so many at the moment as i;m on the rollercoaster of being in the process of moving to Spain in March.
Having a current account in Spain will cost you something - we pay a few euros a year for ours, plus an annual charge for a debit card - but it will make life much easier, and if you receive euros and spend euros, you obviously don’t want the cost of changing currency. There are fees of between 1.50 and 3 euros for using a cash machine if it isn’t your own bank, although it’s normally free if it’s the one in which you have an account - for this reason it’s worth choosing a bank with lots of ATMs, or one which is well represented where you are (smaller banks are very regional in Spain.) Transferring money from UK to Spain is normally much better value with an exchange company than your normal high street bank - I use HIFX but I’m not advertising them, just google for one. Also many banks in Spain will accept a cheque in sterling over the counter, which could be cheaper still.
