Who is best to bank with in fuertuventura

Hi, 

I personally used Sabadell in Caleta as recommended by my lawyer and also the estate agent. They have a branch in the Atlantico centre.

The staff are super friendly and very knowledgeable, they speak English too which is a bonus. I have my house insurance and a current account with them that includes a debit card. I pay my standing orders through them and to date has been trouble free.

To be honest you should te ask your solicitor for advice on this .

Best of luck 

George 

Hi George 

Thank you for your reply very helpful for this information.

regards 

Chris

We use BBVA online account. Third bank we tried and are more than happy with them. However, free banking is only available to new customers who are already residents.  It might therefore be necessary for you to go with another bank until you are a resident and can then apply to BBVA

Our first bank was Sabadell who charged us 100€ for about 3 months banking, with no transactions, and they were extremely rude to us when we queried it and then asked to close our account. Also, it was at times very difficult to get into the bank (in Caleta) as their doors are always locked and they can't always be bothered to buzz and let you in.  One time the bank was empty but a queue was outside, they didn't even bother looking out.  Next one was Caixa who told us we HAD to take out health insurance and that was a legal requirement (that was a lie) and then tied us to them for a year. Very difficult to close our account).

With regard to exchange rate, never transfer foreign currency direct to a Spanish bank, it will cost you an arm and a leg!  We have used 3 different FX companies and all were good.  We just rang round for the best rate.  It might be better to do it in one go if you can as you might get a better deal, although we did it in, I think, 3 transactions.  Just ring a few FX companies for quotes.  Now we just use Wise as we only have smaller amounts, but get a quote from Wise too.