With regards to Citibank, I recommended it because my sister does a lot of short term international travel (4-6 months each time) and uses Citibank. She has been pleased with their services. I personally do not like Citibank...before moving here I opened a special account with them for ex-pats (since I plan to be here longer than 6 months ;)). After I filled out the paperwork and sent it in, they mailed to me (to my address in Spain) the "membership package" that had a listing of all their services and the costs. I closed my account as soon as I saw that they were going to charge me $15 a month just for the "privilege" of having such an account with them. That information was not on their website. The only way I could bypass that $15 charge was to maintain a minimum balance of $10,000. Yeah right. That kind of money I have in investment funds not a savings account!

Presently I have my account with Caja Madrid and as previously mentioned, it has offices all over and a wide network of ATMs. I am pleased with their services, but am not sure of non-residents being able to open an account with them. You may need to request a NIE (Número de Identificación de Extranjero) when you get here. You can solicit this number from the Comisaria de Policia Sección de Extranjeria here in Madrid en la Plaza de La Remonta.

However, some banks will just need your passport number. It´s a question of getting here and asking around, or asking the banks online first before coming...

Good luck!

[ 01-01-2002: Message edited by: Chica ]

Thanks for the great posts here, I was going to post a similar topic about banking as well. I was thinking about Citibank, and am very happy to obtain some opinions here, now, Citibank is OUT!
Anyway, instead of posting another thread, may I ask a question here to add to the discussion?
My suegros have given us a rental property in Madrid and we need to open an account that we will be able to access from both countries. We are completely lost about which bank, penalties, if any, and ease of access if we need the money here in the States. We are going to keep this as a "savings" and not dip into it, except for emergencies. We have no plans on moving to Madrid in the near future and don't want my suegros to do too much. Any suggestions?

If you are staying for a long term in Spain, then it's definitely worth to open an account in a Spanish bank. Otherwise, you'll be charged a commission everytime you withdraw money from your account in the US.

Each bank has its own policy about accounts for non-residents and they may have different requirements. Some of them ask for the Tarjeta de Residente whereas others don't.

As for the ATMs, there are 3 systems here:

ServiRED
4B
Red 6000

Both Caja de Madrid and La Caixa used to be part of the Red 6000 system but now they moved on to the ServiRED network. Bearing in mind that the are the biggest savings bank in Spain and that La Caixa has plenty of branches all over Spain, this turn ServiRED into the largest ATM network.

However, both savings bank do charge commission if you use their cards in ServiRED ATMs different from their owns ATMs. But they just charge 50 pesetas for it.

Red 6000 has become the smallest system after La Caixa and Caja de Madrid left and I wouldn't advice using a Red 6000 card since it may be difficult for you to find a Red 6000 ATM in certain places.

4B is used by several banks, including Santander Central Hispano, which if I'm not mistaken, is the biggest bank in Spain (or is it the BBVA?).

If I had to choose my bank depending on the ATM network it uses, I would go for one tied to ServiRED. Among them, La Caixa has always provided me a very good service.

Lots of good, correct information posted. I am a long-time resident (while officially a non-resident). I have never had difficulty opening an account. Passport is basically all that is required. As a non-resident, you will not earn interest (at least I don´t)but you are given a bank card which will give you access to your funds. As others have said, to avoid incurring charges, you must use a bank within the same "chain", as 4B, Servired, Euro6000, etc. It is usually easy to find one in any city throughout Spain. Don´t worry - you´ll have no problems.

I quick note: my understanding that "Mastercard" is not usually accepted in Spain. ***So if you're US "checkcard" uses the Mastercard network, you may want to verify it'll work often in Spain*** My personal impression, but a bank officer did inform me of this on trying to take out funds on a card this last week.

I guess there is some truth in Visa's US ad slogan - "It's everywhere you want to be."

MasterCard, or "Maestro" as it is called here is also used. Lot's of ATM machines accept it without fee (mostly Santander Central Hispano). I have one Maestro card myself.

American Express is also accepted in some places BUT keep in mind that both cards are marginal. VISA is much more extended. You will have no problem to use any card they are everywhere accepted (of course not in villages of 10 inhabitants :p) the only problem is how much it will be charged to you for using it.

Fernando

Thanks Fernando for clearing this up.

Well, one more reason NOT to bank with Citibank. My incorrect info on Mastercards in Spain had come directly from the Spanish clerk at Citibank. Maybe his excuse so he didn't have to transact on my Citibank Mastercard.

I would say that almost all merchants I delt with wanted my Visa and not my AmEx or Matercards. Visa must give most a better "charge" rate.

I've never seen an ATM in Spain that doesn't accept Mastercard. In fact, most of them take a wide range of cards even those which are not available here.

As for paying at shops, again I think all TPVs (the machines used there) are able to take either Visa or Mastercard. However, these TPVs don't take American Express unless the shop owner specifically requested since they are charged twice the commission Visa or Mastercard charges them for every operation (ie, you may find places that don't take American Express).

Just as a curiosity, 60% of the debibt/credit cards in Spain are issued by Visa.

JJP,

Actually the majority of check cards issued today are both Visa/Mastercard logged, to insure you will get maximum usage just about anywhere. If anyone has one that isn't, they can usually request it from the bank they deal with.

Also, most of the Visa & Mastercards are doubled up today so they can be used as both. As I rummaged through my cards, and my wifes, I found that all of them are dual application.

On AmEx and Discovery, we found they were a nuisance even having the darned things anywhere we went. About 2/3 of the time they weren't even acceptable, and we had to turn to our trusty Visa cards.

In reference to having a Spanish checking account, that's not a bad idea, but if you're going to be operating mainly off of funds in the U.S., or any other home country, why not leave the majority of the money in that account, then transfer small amounts via an ATM card to the Spanish account, so you can continue to accrue interest on the account? Since the ATM will allow for instant transfers, you can replenish the account as you want, and not have the hassle of dealing with paper, and it can more than likely be done via the Internet if you'd like. To me, it would be simpler, and since there is only a single transaction fee which is very small, it would seem a lot cheaper than going into the bank and getting ripped for their commissions.

Wolf (Who has found that you probably should leave home without the AmEx card... )

[ 01-04-2002: Message edited by: Wolf ]

Mastercard is accepted in Spain, but it is worth noting that many places I made purchases couldn't (or wouldn't) take Mastercard. The Citibank ATM - but not the teller/bank-clerk - would take my MasterCard, but only because of the "Cirrus" link, and not because of Mastercard status.

Antonio, you're right, other ATMs would have taken my card had I had a PIN number .

My traveling belief is to limit cards I take with me - I think Visa makes the most sense while enjoying Spain. If the store takes plastic, they'll surely take Visa.

Note: American Express still offers some good services (good rates on currency, travel advice and post office service) to their card-holders in AmEx European offices.

[ 01-11-2002: Message edited by: JJP ]