Do banks in Spain have any problems with Paypal accounts? I will be leaving for Madrid in two months and I want to be able to open a bank account in a bank that has no problems/issues with Paypal.
Does anyone here who takes paypal recommend a particular bank?
Thank you so much,
Natalia
Posts: 3 | Location: Spain | Registered: 26 June 2002
hi natalia, i am a paypal member and have been using them for a few years now.
no probs as far as witdrawing money (sending from paypal) into a spanish bank account.
takes about 5 business days and works like a charm.
in case you are interested, i use "la caixa" here but you can choose any bank, none of them will have issues with paypal as they do not know where the funds come from nor do they care, they simply receive the money.
I use a Spain Paypal account with La Caixa bank account as well and the only major problem I ever had with Paypal is that I opened a Spain Paypal account after already having a US paypal account and they froze both the accounts until I closed one or the other. They were worried that I was not the same person or something. This started a big problem with customer service and faxing and printing and proving proof that I am the same person. Ultimately it was resolved and I have had no problems since. They have since updated their system and you can now add on all of the accounts you need to with one Paypal account. Anyway. Paypal is great until you have a customer service problem and then it becomes a little bit of a nightmare until it is resolved.
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Posts: 881 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 08 November 2002
Great question!!! I too have a paypal account and had been thinking about the possibility of transfering money to and fro!! If I remember correctly their system will do exchange conversions, which would help keep my old bank until I was sure my move was successful.
If I remember correctly their system will do exchange conversions,
�OJO! (BE CAREFUL!) Tony!!!
be prepared to take a BEATING!!! you see, the people at paypal pull the conversion out of their asses not sure how they get it but they are living in their own little world when it comes to converting money.
for example, today i did a sample conversion using the currency converter on my paypal account and got...
quote:
Results: The current PayPal exchange rates are: $1,000.00 USD = �736.22 EUR
... while the average currency conversion site, bank, etc... quotes " 1,000.00 USD = 755.933 EUR".
may not look that bad but losing an additonal 20 spot on every $1,000 can add up. as if the u.s. dollar were not crappy enough, paypal makes you lose even more $$$ when you convert.
no wonder paypal is a multi-billion dollar company.
Thanks for the heads up. I spoke with father yesterday. He was on vacation in Spain for about a month a year ago October. He said that he was able to use the ATM machines and got a better exchange rate than using the teller at his home bank (bank of america). He also said that the fee for the ATM was very similar to what he was paying here.
Anyway, I believe I'll just use my ATM to start and try and find a bank to bank with when I arrive....although the process does not sound like much fun.
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at 
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at 
not sure how they get it but they are living in their own little world when it comes to converting money.
