Hello everybody!

I've been absent from these boards for a long time, so apologies.

Well, after several years of loving Madrid from afar, it looks like I may well be moving there at the end of this year, due to the work commitments of my fella! If this doesn't happen, I would still like to buy property out there so I can rent it out.

My question is this: How does a jolly foreigner go about opening a bank account out there from afar, using her UK address as the point of contact? My friend recently bought property in France and just needed proof of income and a love letter from her bank.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Christine

i have an account with cajamar http://www.cajamar.es/en/ i just went in with my passport and sent up a bank account and went back 3 days later and colleceted my card. I use to have all my statements send home to ireland in english but now they are sent to my house in spain so no problem what so ever.

You don't say what city you might be moving to in Spain, but it would be a good idea to investigate what banks are there. We just opened an account at Caja Duero in Salamanca....and receive our statements via email...here in the US. Very simple. But you need to contact the bank directly for their specific requirements.

Hello, and thanks for the replies.

I may well be moving to Madrid. If not, I will be buying property somewhere in the south, on a buy to let basis.

I have been looking at la Caixa and all I need, apparently, is my passport, P60 and wage slips / bank statements.

Oh, I am so excited about this whole thing - it's like an adventure for me.

I used Bankinter. Found them to be pretty good with english speaking persons available at all times.

www.bankinter.es

I've also heard good things about Bankinter, especially for those of us who work outside of Spain and are interested in buying a house there. We happen to have a Caja Madrid account with a mortgage and they are more than happy to deal with foreign incomes. We do our banking online as well.
I'd first focus on the best mortgage conditions; it's easier to get a good mortgage if you are a customer. They vary a lot depending on what your looking for, fixed vs. variable, length and repayment terms, pre-payment penalties, loan origination fees, etc. Once you find a good mortgage, set up your account there.
We just bought a flat in another european country and they wouldn't even give us the time of day unless we were customers. It's frustrating, especially when (at least for us) the language is still a problem.

Well, after all my faffing about, I actually realised there is a branch of la Caixa at Waterloo, near where I work. I am such a twit, sometimes!

This type of investment is a classic (UK nationals buying property in Spain) it is an active business line of most spanish banks. A possibility that hasn't been mention are the spanish subsidiaries of UK banks... such as www.barclays.es