When you switch bank in Spain, you also need to transfer your automated payments / direct debits (e.g. utility bills) to your new account. We made the process easy and we are available to help you.
Contrary to for example the UK, where you can easily manage this from your account, in Spain you need to contact every provider with your new account details. This is a time-consuming task and often has to be carried out in Spanish.
Bueno has made it easy to switch, we can do it for you!
Currently, our support team can manage the process of updating your account details with your different suppliers. To carry out these updates for you, we need a copy of a recent utility bill as this has all the information we need, such as your customer number and reference. We will also ask for a limited power of attorney (LPOA) to be able to act on your behalf for this task. If you’d like to take advantage of our service, we will email this LPOA to sign electronically when you request our transfer service. In future, we will automate this service.
Important information
We can only assist you for free if you share with us your recent utility bills and local tax payments. Without the bills, we do not have your customer number, nor the reference number required to update your bank details. If you do not receive your utility bills, the best first step is to contact your supplier and ask for these.
We can do this for you, but as it is a time-consuming task. We can only offer this for free to our Premium subscribers (€19.90 month/€199 per year). Alternatively, we can assist you for a time-based charge.
How do Direct Debits work in Spain?
In Spain, you enter into an agreement with each utility provider. This is done by signing a direct debit mandate. In most cases, this is part of the initial contract you sign. The utility company will then charge your account for your usage and your local tax office will charge you for local taxes, such as property and car tax. Your account will be charged until you revoke the mandate, when you change your bank or sell your property/car.
Unless you keep an eye on your usage, it is impossible to know how much you will be charged each month. Bueno plans to solve this with a forthcoming feature: predictions of future costs.
If your account balance cannot cover the direct debit claimed, the utility bill will not be paid. Some Spanish banks offer a credit limit to prevent this from happening but charge €35 per payment, so it is an expensive insurance. Most people prefer to keep sufficient funds in their account based on past usage and a contingency.
Only a few years ago, you could not pay any utility bills in Spain from a non-Spanish account. This situation is slightly better now, but you still need an ES account to pay all bills in Spain, which is what you get as a customer of Bueno. It is currently the only way to ensure all payments will work in Spain.