FXXXXing Spain and the BBVA!!!!

[Guanche]

Toooo angry to even rant at the moment. Having lived here for almost 12 years I have come to the conclusion that this fricken country functions on luck!!

rant to follow

[Guanche]

Well, blood pressure now under control I will continue.

I posted a while ago about the security procedures being forced on the banks by the Government. Why the banks left it so late to enforce the legislation I have no idea but I would suggest incompetence. Well as many others I followed the instruction of the bank and after three (yes three fricking visits to do a simple thing due to incompetence by the bank) we were told that everything is ok. Happy with that information we moved on.

Until today!!! Today I got a letter from the BBVA. It was in the format of junk mail so I nearly threw it straight in the bin. But I didn't, upon opening it my jaw hit the kitchen floor. We have our daughter on the account as a name. She hasn't got a card or access to the account but we were told (by the bank) that it would be easier for her if anything happened to the wife and I.
The letter said that unless she provided the correct documentation by the 30th April.......... yes tomorrow...........  the account would have a temporary block on it and it would be closed within the month.

Panic would be an understatement! Off to the bank. Where after a two hour wait (the bank was packed I wonder why?? I spoke to someone, who was about as helpful as a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I told her my daughter lives in the UK and couldn't get here, that was received with a shrug of the shoulders. When asked if I could  take her name off the account she said 'yes.... but she has to be in the bank' i left with a phone number for the international banking dept a headache and a feeling I needed to hit someone............very hard!!

So back home. There I rang the number I was given. I went through the whole story, and guess what HARD FIRCKEN LUCK!!! The best the bloke on the end of the phone could do was to act as interpreter for my daughter if she could ring our local branch WTF!!! When it was pointed out the my daughter works for a living in a bank and couldn't ring..............Oh I could go on he had no answers for anything, He was as useless as the woman in the bank. It was as if they were going out of their way to be as unhelpful as they possibly could be. At one point he said that all bills/standing orders, mortgages and such will be paid as normal. I was met with silence when I asked how will they be paid when there is no money in the account because the bank won't accept my money coming in from the UK!!!

So as my blood pressure is rising again l'll finish off by saying, tomorrow my account will be blocked, I have managed to redirect most things I get from the UK but my main pension will still arrive, but sent back. From then on I will have to use my UK bankers card and endure the high exchange rate at the ATM's.

[Janet]

oh P, FFS .... BBVA is almost the worst of the fucking lot of them. So what are you going to be able to do? I wonder if Nova'll have any suggestions.

What maddens me almost as much is that in your case DDs will continue to go out but they won't accept transfers in! This is as I understand it what will be the situation with our own bank ... but again as far as I understand it, Santander will be freezing everything if an account is frozen. So there's not even a standardised fucking response ...

You have my total sympathy. They are bastards, the lot of them!

edit: as to why they haven't done anything until the 11th hour about this known issue in the FIVE FUCKING YEARS they've had since this anti-money-laundering legislation came into force, the answer is simple. Incompetence, laziness, arrogance, wilful bloody-minded awkwardness, an "I'm all right Jack because I'm making a fucking fortune while I shaft you for everything I can get" attitude ...

[Perikles]

Simple answer - open an account at OpenBank. Then move everything to them and give BBVA a short lecture on sex and travel. 

[Guanche]

Well I have one hope that one of my BIL has some 'manga' with a friend of his who is a BBVA manager at a different branch. But I'm not holding my breath as bank managers seem to be like sea captains, laws to themselves! I doesn't help that the wife is in France at the moment, I fear I will have to tell her to return before she was due to, which will not go down well.

Not even sure if opening another account will work as I understand everything to do with any changes to a mortgage requires a costly visit to a bloody lawyer. The other DD will be fine apart from the usual tedious trek around everywhere to change the bank details.

I am rapidly falling out of love with Spain 

[Guanche]

Simple answer - open an account at OpenBank. Then move everything to them and give BBVA a short lecture on sex and travel. 

I would love to P but they have me by the short and curlys! I would get a bill of thousands just to change my mortgage. So it's not really an option.

[Perikles]

Not even sure if opening another account will work as I understand everything to do with any changes to a mortgage requires a costly visit to a bloody lawyer. The other DD will be fine apart from the usual tedious trek around everywhere to change the bank details.

You keep that BBVA account purely for the mortgage, and move everything else. Everything can be done on-line without having to soil yourself talking face-to-face with some virus in a bank. Sorry Nova 

[Guanche]

You keep that BBVA account purely for the mortgage, and move everything else. Everything can be done on-line without having to soil yourself talking face-to-face with some virus in a bank. Sorry Nova 

Can't P they will close the account permanently in a months time if the ID requirements are not met, which they won't!

Its a fucking nightmare and no mistake. I just spoke to my daughter who's worked in banking for most of her adult life and she couldn't believe it.  Its quite apprent that the face to face staff havn't been told anything  except ID card passports and eletronic signature next! So I can't really blame the staff.

[Perikles]

Can't P they will close the account permanently in a months time if the ID requirements are not met, which they won't!

To be honest, you need to consult a lawyer about this. If they close an account which is being used to pay a mortgage due to a technicality which the bank has been aware of for five years, then I don't see how they would be able to claim you were defaulting on the mortage. First off, a mortage is only in default after 3 missed monthly payments, so you have some time left (4 months). Then, you could sue them for breach of contract, which must include a clause which determines that they must provide a method for paying your mortgage (I'm guessing).

I should chill out if I were you - issue a denuncia against them with the Bank of Spain for 5-star incompetence. etc.

[Nova]

I wish I could suggest something but I haven't a clue what BBVA are doing!  All we're bothered about is getting the customers' ID scanned into the system by any means possible.  The facility has been added for customers to upload their own scans or photographs of their ID directly from their online banking or mobile app or by email to the dedicated central email address.  I have been getting customers to email me their scans or photos of their ID for me to submit to digitalization through the branch system and some of my colleagues have been collecting submissions through their personal Whatsapp!  To Santander it wouldn't matter whether your daughter were in the UK or Swaziland as long as somebody were able to email us something that resembled her passport!  That would be enough to prevent the account from being blocked.  At this point they don't even care if the ID expired a decade ago!  Santander don't even seem to be interested in the ID of "authorizados" at all, just the "titulares".

Sorry, I'm as baffled as you are