Tourist bank account

I’m a non-resident and have had a holiday home for 10 years. A few months ago I closed my Banco Sabadell account mainly because I had to pay a quarterly fee of €40 for 4 x direct debits but also because the local manager was unacceptably rude when I asked him to waive the fees

I switched all my EUR a banking and DD’s to Wise because (and this is the important bit) by the end of October ‘25 all Spanish entities (be they utilities providers, local authorities or payees/merchants of any description) cannot continue to insist that Payor banks must have ES IBANs

Hitherto it had been common practice to insist on a Spanish bank Payor/ES IBAN and ignore updating systems to comply with the then EU regs

In other words any Payor bank located within the EU must now have its DD’s set up 

Wise is a multi-currency neo-bank based in London but their IBAN is Belgian

The only downside is - if you prefer to make payments in cash - there is a monthly cash withdrawal limit

In my case I use the Wise app to make contactless payments for well over 90% of all payments so it’s not an issue

My electricity, broadband and two Malaga Province DD’s were all set up without a hitch 

I have moved my banking from Sabadell to N26 who offer Spanish IBAN accounts and have had no problems.  Also no fees.  If you are intent on opening a Spanish bank account be very wary.  There are always hidden charges that you don’t expect.  Good luck.

It's easy to open a Spanish Non resident bank account, just go into your chosen bank with your passport and another form of ID, i had to take a utility bill. (I've never heard of a tourist account before) I agree that it's better to use a Wise account for everything as Spanish bank non resident accounts are charged bank fees each quarter that can be expensive. 

By rights you cannot apply for a padron until you are a full resident in Spain. There is a possibility that your padron application may be refused.

Steve 

Thanks for the response. Cliffee

Hi,

whatever bank you decide on, be aware that for a non resident account, you have to provide the tax return of your home country once a year to prove you do not work in Spain. If you fail to do so, the bank will block your account. This happened to us. We were not aware we had to show our tax return, as our bank (Unicaja) had neither informed us about this, nor had they given us a warning before blocking the account. Inquire about it with your bank.

Hi

Use Wise Spanish banks are a nightmare on every level, as a non resident you cannot use N26 and Wise is the next best thing.

I escaped Sabadell and my stress levels reduced on the back of it.

The last time I was in a bank a Norwegian guy was kicking off as he had waited 1 and a half hours only to be turned away, he stated “this is like the 1970s what a joke of a system” I smiled knowingly, glad I was about to escape to Wise!

regards 

Al