Santander is to close 140 branches, putting 1,270 jobs at risk, the Spanish-owned bank said.The lender said the closures are in response to how customers are choosing to carry out their banking. Santander has consulted unions on the proposed changes and will seek to find alternative roles for the 1,270 staff members affected, wherever possible. The bank expects to be able to redeploy around a third of that number. Susan Allen, Santander’s head of retail and business banking, said: “The way our customers are choosing to bank with us has changed dramatically in recent years, with more and more customers using online and mobile channels. “As a result, we have had to take some very difficult decisions over our less-visited branches, and those where we have other branches in close proximity. More ...... https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/santander-branch-closures-spanish-owned-101010907.html

Hi, does anyone have any experience with EEO's? We gave the keys to a Spanish property back to the bank at the height of the crash in 2008, came back to the UK and started to rebuild, and didn't think much about it again - a "live and learn" experience. We have just had a letter from some UK lawyers acting on behalf of Banco Sabadell, with what seems to be a fairly generic letter, with a few details and some slightly strange language like "Banco Sabadell understands that your failure to make payments may have been an oversight on your part" - a 10 year oversight! They are claiming 85,000 euros which we assume is the mortgage, less proceeds of auction, plus various costs and interest. Letter gives us 2 weeks to repay in full, or respond to letter, to avoid "continued legal proceedings". The letter then suggests they may make a charging order against our UK property - "your credit rating will be affected negatively" They also suggest they will report the debt to UK credit agencies. Come to an agreement with Sabadell to repay the debt and they won't report anything to the credit agencies. And lastly they would seek a bankruptcy order to force a sale of any properties in order to recover the debt. I have read some slightly worrying things about European Enforcement Orders and how they can supposedly be used to carry out a judgement in another country in the UK without any appeal or legal intervention in the UK, providing the case in Spain was uncontested. Statutes of limitation don't seem to apply, due to (possibly unfair) contract terms in many Spanish mortgages. So, my understanding is that if the Spanish lender was granted an EEO that was uncontested, they could seek to recover debts originating in Spain by making charges against an individual's assets in the UK, including other property. I read a news clipping from 2010 where it seemed that this was happening to a couple from Wiltshire, but I can't find the result of that case. And I'm struggling to find any more examples since then. The letter seems speculative, and possibly designed to scare people into coming to payment arrangements, particularly if a number of years down the line there are people who have built up some equity again. But, it does mention an ability to make charges against assets, without mentioning any specific legal processes, which must mean an EEO, so it is slightly concerning. The irony of the Spanish banks all being complicit in inflating the property bubble and lending to anyone with a pulse, and then being bailed out is not lost on me..... cheers

Hi I'm looking for best way of helping friends in Spain reclaim ppi.. Do I need to get them to authorize me .. Or can they get new sar sent to Spain and issue claims?? Thanks

Hi All, its been a while, but i have a question i need answering. A Spanish Company have supplied goods to a uk company a sole trader, the company is spanish and has a spanish address. They have a uk agent who acts for them as an individual and works on commision. The Agent has issued a claim against the uk company sole trader via MCOL for non-payment of invoice, the reason it was not paid was the items supplied were at fault and the UK agent refused to accept a return. The agent has issued on behalf of the spanish company although the company who is owed the funds is a spanish entity. how does Juristiction stand? should they be using the european money order route? On The POC the Agent lists the name of the spanish company not his own name. can this get this struck out?

I wanted to ask if anyone could give me some advise on unpaid Spanish Community charge debts. We handed in our keys back to the bank in Spain 2007 and we understand the bank did not repossess the property until 2009. We purchased the property in 2005 and paid some of the community fees but the amount they are saying is well over what they are saying. The Uk debt collector contacted me last year and I disputed the amount but I have received another letter today saying we are still liable as the property was not repossessed until 2009 we are still liable for the unpaid community charges from 2005-2007. We have not received yet any official Spanish court information for the unpaid community charge or any letters from a UK court. Does any one know if they can take UK proceedings against us as we have not got this amount of money to pay this amount and are also disputing the amount as well. If any one has any advice please could you reply

Hi My mum has a mortgage on a small apt in Spain. The repayments were affordable but two years ago rose to an almost unbeareable level. The banks will not remortgage due to her age and are not prepared to enter into negotiations about the repayment level. Has anyone had dealings with companies that advertise they can help you out of similar situations? From what I gather they negotiate with the banks on your behalf, you pay a fee but you get out from under a huge mortage with no liability. Id be interested to hear of any such stories. Thanks

I lived in Spain until 2008 and had 2 investment properties being rented out. When the market Crashed in 2008 I abandoned them and moved to Thailand. I've been back in the UK for 2 years and have good Credit with a Bank Credit Card and 2 arranged Overdrafts all well serviced. I applied for a lease car this week and was turned down for Credit. So I re-registered for CreditExpert and low and behold the Spanish Bank has issued a default for these properties. But the Default was issued in Dec 2012 a full 4 and a bit years since I stopped paying the Mortgages. Firstly I didn't think a Spanish company could put a default on my UK Credit file. And secondly I know they can try and enforce it here but the costs for them might outweigh it. I would obviously like to get it removed from my Credit File or at least put a notice of correction on my Experian report what would my options be for either please? I have not been in Spain since 2008 and had no other assets or money there so there is no way I could have been making the payments till 12/12 Also the default is registered at an address in the UK I sold in 2006.

In april last year my wife and I were in fuerteventura on holiday for 2 weeks.On day 5 my wife had sickness and diarrhea I got some medicine from the chemist and tried that.It never worked and she was getting worse so I contacted the hotel desk and they sent a doctor.He gave her some medicine and said she had gastroenteritis.The next day she was still getting worse and sent for him again he then reffered hes to hospital.He sent for a ambulence and she was taken to hospital.She was put on a drip for 5/6 hours and had some blood tests done and said it was gastroenteritis.When she left the hospital she still had the sickness and diarrhea.The doctor that was sent for was paid some of the money there and some when we returned home.On return to the UK she went to see her doctor and was rushed into hospital where she was diagnosed as salmonella poisoning.A couple of weks ago I received a letter from the hospital in Spanish but I worked out they wanted about 250 euros I thought it was a mistake as I thought it would be taken care of by the NHS.I got another letter today asking for the 250 euros. I am not going to pay it as she was wrongly diagnosed and I think there was a bit of a hush up there was a outbreak of salmonela in Spain and they wanted to keep this quiet.My wife suffered terribly for a week because they did not treat her salmonela .Should I write to them and tell them where to go. Cheers

Hi, I'm a new member to this forum so apologies if I have posted this in the wrong place. I have just received a letter from a UK company called communityfees.com based in North Yorkshire. The letter is headed Kettlewell Solutions Ltd. Basically, it relates to a Spanish property on a golfing resort that I bought in Dec 2003. However, due to financial difficulties and also the resort not being completed by the developer the whole site started to deteriorate over time. I tried to sell the property at less than half the original purchase price but it never got sold. I tried asking the local Spanish bank, with whom I had the mortgage with, for help but they were unhelpful. Then I started defaulting on the Spanish mortgage as it was becoming unaffordable. The bank then sent a valuation guy (2009/10) to visit the property but as I was in the UK, I got the cleaner to give the keys to the valuation guy so that he could enter the property to do the valuation. After which the keys were kept by the bank/valuation guy. Also, from about 2004 onwards the local communal areas were not being maintained yet I was sent invoices for communal charges. I kept arguing that I would pay only once they did the maintenance work for the communal area. But since 2009/10, I have not heard anything from the bank or the community people until today when I got a letter demanding payment of unpaid community charges along with various other charges like Spanish legal fees of around 3000euros and interest of 700euros, etc. Not sure how I should respond to this letter and also wanted to know if this company are legally authorised in the UK to do this sort of work? Any help is appreciated as I don't know what to do and am very worried about the whole mess that I have got myself into.

hello guys First of all i would like to apologize if my english is not enough good to try to explain my situation but everybody knows we are in England to try to learn William Shakspeares language loool Well 6 months ago I signed a contract with DW gym but they had a problem with my bank account so I couldnt go inside and they didnt take my money out, now i would like to know what is gonna happen: Can they ask me for this 6 months contract? If i not cancel are they gonna increase the debt? What do u recommend me? They still didnt put in contact with me thank u very much for ur help and advices if u need any extra information please do not hesitate to tell me thanks

Can anyone give me any information or advice on the following: I'm trying to get insurance for a left-hand drive van with Spanish number plates in the UK. To register the van in the UK I need a British MOT, insurance and tax disc. I've had no luck trying to get insured with some of the big insurers (Direct Line, Tesco, amongst others) and ended up getting a quote from Bewiser Insurance for £753. So far, so good, it's expensive but what the hell. However, reading some of the customer reviews about insuring a vehicle with this company has left me frankly worried about having anything to do with them. Has anyone had any experience insuring a foreign-registered vehicle in the UK? I'd appreciate any help or advice with this matter.