The Latest Spanish ‘Tax’ is starting to show its teeth

[kgpocParticipant]

I am referring to the new banking fees being invented by the newly minted Cajas turned banks! WOW they are starting to mount and companies in ‘real’ Spain are starting to take action. Many in my circle have started commenting on it and I finally saw it first hand and decided to review my bank statement for the last 2 years & 2 months.

I advised a few youngsters in a Database solution for a corporate customer that worked out a few months ago. This week the owner of the company asked me for a bill, I sent one and very shortly after he invited me for a coffee and gave me the money ‘sans’ receipt and even more important done without a bank transfer. The bank wanted 50 Euros for something that last year cost 5. The owner said things were going back to the way it was 20 years ago. No money trail, no declaration and they are storing all the cash people bring to them for payment, nothing is going into the banks..

As for my own research 2 years ago, here is my finding. Like many of you I assume, I keep a large balance to get the fee less banking rights (or so it was prior to last year)
2011 – Total Charge for the year 6 Euros just for a Credit Card.
2012 – Total Charges, now 60 cents for every transfer I initiated so Gas and Electricity every 2 months, plus 6 Euros for both Bank card and the usual 6 for Credit, so 19.20 Euros. 300% increase.
2013 – My initiated transfers are 1 Euro now and the bank cards are 10 euros each and my caja brokerage account is charge 1.20 a month (they have no input into it, I do not use a broker and have never spoken to anyone in their office) .

Watch out what this is going to do to the the official growth numbers.

[AnonymousParticipant]

We have three bank accounts in Spain, the mortgage one, a credit card one and then another which my husband has had since a child. We’ll be trying to pay off the credit card asap and when we go to Spain this year cancelling two of them (unfortunately not the mortgage one just yet…) but it’s so expensive to pay nearly 100 euros per year per account in fees!

The accounts are all with small ‘cajas’. Just don’t ever try to cash a cheque with one of them as it’s an enormous fee!

[Author]

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