Pintores Españoles

There are two types of bank accounts for foreigners:

Resident bank account: You can open an account in euros or in a foreign currency (depending on what the bank offers).

Nonresident bank account: If you don’t have an NIE card and you come from another country, you are considered nonresident. Based on the regulations of the Bank of Spain, nonresidents can hold bank accounts in euros or in foreign currency. As identification, you must have a valid passport or the ID number of your country of origin. You also have to justify your nonresident status when you open the account (or within 15 days). This is because for a nonresident account, the bank does not withhold a percentage of the interest earned. Generally every six months, the bank does a check to confirm your nonresident status. If you acquire resident status any time after opening the account, you must notify the bank and give them your NIE. The fees for a resident account are cheaper than for a nonresident account.

The regulations are clear, but be aware that when you go to a local bank to open your account, the employee probably won’t speak English, and won’t have experience in this type of account, or may offer you an account that does not earn interest. Furthermore, they may charge you extra fees -eg. setup costs - for this type of account; they may also tell you about “setup fees” that never happen anyway.

Paying the utilities and rent is typically done by granting the ability to debit your bank account. Checks are rarely used. A landlord may ask for the rent in cash—that’s so they don’t have to declare the rent on their income tax form. Undeclared money is called dinero negro or dinero en B—fairly common in Spain.