Could someone who lives, or has lived, in Spain tell me about Spanish bank practices?
I have a Euros account with Citibank in Barcelona. Citibank España is not very transparent about their service charges. I put some Euros, via wire transfer, into my account awhile back, and was charged a 12 Euro fee that nobody told me about when I opened the account. No, that wasn’t a fee by my US bank, which is Everbank. I buy Euros from them and they never charge a fee to transfer the funds to Europe.
Apparently, they also have fees for depositing Euro checks – even certified checks – from other banks. The bank officer I talked with, by email, could not tell me exactly what those charges would be either. And, I speak and write good Spanish. She said that “the charges are not known until the check is received” (“Las comisiones no se saben hasta el momento de recibir el cheque”) What the heck does that mean?
Is it common in Spain to charge you for depositing checks? I can understand there might be a fee for depositing a check in foreign currency, which has to be converted, but a fee for a certified check in Euros, drawn on a bank in the Euro Zone?
Citibank in London also offers Euro accounts, and they do not charge any fees for either incoming wire transfers or depositing checks. What makes Spain so different?