I wondered if a discussion about banks in PP might be of interest to anyone?
There are indeed lots to choose from. The service I've had from two of them in PP has varied so widely, I thought I'd drop a line or two down about it.
I've had an account with Banco Santander for a couple of years now. It's largely worked ok although the charges for bank transfers seem a bit steep. I had vainly hoped that they might link up with the Abbey in the UK (which they own) and allow customers to move money to & fro' between accounts. Sadly, I am told that isn't possible as their 'systems' are incompatible.
When I got my
apartment in PP, I had arranged for Banco Santander to pay my electricity bills by standing order. Everything was set up for this and then the problems started. When I went out to PP towards the end of the summer last year, I found several missive from Gesa threatening to cut me off and a note saying that Banco Santander had refused to pay the standing order mandate. Then followed endless visits to the bank and phone calls to Gesa. All claimed that they had fixed the problem. The chap in Banco Santander in PP spoke to GESA at some length on the phone but despite his reassurances, he was unable to sort the glitch out.
I even asked Spanish friends to phone GESA to find out what the problem was and to check that payment had gone through. It had they assured us - only to discover on a later visit to PP that nothing had been paid at all from the start.
The letters threatening to cut me off were there again!
My sister had opened up an account in PP with Banco Halifax Hispania who recently opened up just behind the church. She said that she was getting great service from them so I opened up an account there too. All I can say is that within just half an hour, the problem had genuinely been sorted out. What a relief and Matthew, one of the great staff there, even came to let me know personally that it had all been sorted out. Even the Banco Halifax statements confirm that this is the case.
One of the big plus points is that you can link your UK Halifax account on line and view that account as well as your Banco Halifax account. Sister says that you can move money between the two but I haven't tried that yet.
I would certainly recommend the great service from Banco Halifax in PP! :-)