Banks in PP

[Lorenzo]

I wondered if a discussion about banks in PP might be of interest to anyone?

There are indeed lots to choose from. The service I've had from two of them in PP has varied so widely, I thought I'd drop a line or two down about it.

I've had an account with Banco Santander for a couple of years now. It's largely worked ok although the charges for bank transfers seem a bit steep. I had vainly hoped that they might link up with the Abbey in the UK (which they own) and allow customers to move money to & fro' between accounts. Sadly, I am told that isn't possible as their 'systems' are incompatible.

When I got my apartment in PP, I had arranged for Banco Santander to pay my electricity bills by standing order. Everything was set up for this and then the problems started. When I went out to PP towards the end of the summer last year, I found several missive from Gesa threatening to cut me off and a note saying that Banco Santander had refused to pay the standing order mandate. Then followed endless visits to the bank and phone calls to Gesa. All claimed that they had fixed the problem. The chap in Banco Santander in PP spoke to GESA at some length on the phone but despite his reassurances, he was unable to sort the glitch out.

I even asked Spanish friends to phone GESA to find out what the problem was and to check that payment had gone through. It had they assured us - only to discover on a later visit to PP that nothing had been paid at all from the start. The letters threatening to cut me off were there again!

My sister had opened up an account in PP with Banco Halifax Hispania who recently opened up just behind the church. She said that she was getting great service from them so I opened up an account there too. All I can say is that within just half an hour, the problem had genuinely been sorted out. What a relief and Matthew, one of the great staff there, even came to let me know personally that it had all been sorted out. Even the Banco Halifax statements confirm that this is the case.

One of the big plus points is that you can link your UK Halifax account on line and view that account as well as your Banco Halifax account. Sister says that you can move money between the two but I haven't tried that yet.
I would certainly recommend the great service from Banco Halifax in PP!

 

[Sparky]

Very interesting Lorenzo, we will be looking to open a bank account when we come out in the winter. So any feed back will help us to choose a bank we can be confident about.

 

[pp ace]

Banks

Endorse good words about the Halifax in PP

Excellent service and lovelly people who cannot do enough to help

 

[PeRu]

We have banked with Solbank for over three years now, and from day one have found them very friendly and easy to deal with.
Steffev Shoner the Director (Manager) and his team always have time for yoou and go out of their way to be helpful.
They assisted us through the process of buying our property, which was invaliable.
The Branch is situated on Juan XXIII, near the traffic lights opposite Reataurant La Parra.
Hope you find this of use.

PeRu

 

[sandy]

We have two accounts in PP, the original one is with Banca March and we found them really helpful. Never had any problems at all. Also, our solicitor set up all the direct debits for us, and any mail from the utilities goes direct to her rather than us, so if there was a letter threatening disconnection, she would then inform us in England. Of course, we intend to alter this when we move out to PP next year.

The other account is with the Halifax, and again the staff seem really helpful. Transferring money for free between the two is a good bonus!

 

[Sharonh]

Our account is with Sa Nostra - always very helpful.

 

[supamac]

Banks

We joined Bancaja in PP last year when we bought our place and I have to say I'm pretty impressed. Mortgage offer within days (once they'd got scanned bank statements, payslips, credit report etc) and since then a really personal service. I have authorised by email for them to pay my agent for everything from furniture, to decorators to bills. I can see an English webpage to keep an eye on my Bancaja account while here at home and last week, our son had his card swallowed by the ATM and couldn't get money. I phoned Fabio Palumbo (German with an Italian name and perfect English) who is simply the best in customer service - he asked for an email and gave our son 300 euros from our account within half an hour. Their service extends to Fabio offering to set up an additional higher interest account. Once he realised I was sending money once a quarter to service the mortgage etc, he suggested that he should hold my money in the higher interest account and then he'd move it across to the current account for bills and to cover the monthly mortgage payment.
Not sure it's ever been that easy in the UK.
Su

 

[whaleywanderer]

I endorse what Su says regarding Bancaja. We too bought our apartment late last year and our lawyer set up our account at Bancaja they have been so helpful. Apart from being able to phone and email them for transactions it's great being able to do everything online also.
Personal service is great (it's a shame the banks in the UK arn't the same). Up to now the banking transactions all seem to be free, which is what they told us when we set up the account, but I expected there would be some hidden charges somewhere (as in the UK).
Bancaja is not far from the church in the main square, walking towards the military base.
I would definately recommend them.