La Caixa

[bertdove]

Went to La Caixa in GA today.  Branch closed.  Notice on door saying business transferred to Calle Muelle in Santa Pola.  No warning, no communication.  Unbelievable.

Bert

[Aficionado]

Glad I'm not with them, at least when Deutsche Bank jumped ship to Alicante we got notice, by both post and email.

[chris and jackie]

Hopefully Sabadell will stay!

[Derek]

You don't need a local branch in this day and age. I do everything online with BBVA and have zero bank charges. I have better things to do with my time than to queue in a bank to be served.

Derek

[bertdove]

Agreed.  The only problem is access to cash without incurring ATM fees.  I use my card for most payments, but you need cash for some tradesmen and for tips.

Bert

[BeachLife]

I am aligned with Derek - BBVA works OK for me (apart from what most be the miserable desk guy I have seen in my life)

Online app works fine - I have not been charged for transactions or using the bank, money withdrawals (only at BBVA c.p's) are free and Cash in from the UK via Transferwise is painless


In any event as we all have noticed most (if not all) places are now allowing contactless payment so I used far less cash over there than ever.

You don't need a local branch in this day and age. I do everything online with BBVA and have zero bank charges. I have better things to do with my time than to queue in a bank to be served.

Derek

[BeachLife]

I have read (El Pais) that Bankia and CaxiaBank are now in negotiations to merge together to further consolidate the reduced number of banks in Spain. This merger of the two will make it the largest Bank in Spain.

Little known Stat for you - in 2008 there was 55 banks now there is 12. Bankia was a formed back then to consolidate a large number of those "failing" banks

[wilson]

I have read (El Pais) that Bankia and CaxiaBank are now in negotiations to merge together to further consolidate the reduced number of banks in Spain. This merger of the two will make it the largest Bank in Spain.

Little known Stat for you - in 2008 there was 55 banks now there is 12. Bankia was a formed back then to consolidate a large number of those "failing" banks

In nearly 20 years we have been on a banking merry go round, initially we opened a Halifax Hispania account which gave free transfers from Uk account, around 2008 Halifax became Lloyds Spain at some point we became Bancaja which became Bankia which we then morphed into  a Sabadell account.