ING Direct will not accept DNV residence cards, alternatives
that is wild because i literally opened an ING account in June with my DNV card. maybe it depends on the specific person behind the desk that day. i've noticed in Las Palmas that if you go on a Friday morning everyone is way less helpful because they just want to go to lunch. try going back and asking for someone else. or just stick with Sabadell if it's working.
The "luck of the draw" factor in Spanish banking is so real. it should not be this inconsistent but here we are. i bet it was just that one manager being lazy.
Same thing happened to me in Las Palmas last month. They kept saying they're an online bank so they can't verify the TIE chip properly or something. It's weird because some people get lucky, but for the DNV it's a mess. I ended up just going to Sabadell. It's more per month in fees if you don't have a salary deposit, but at least they know what the residency card is.
Unicaja is another good shout for those of us on the islands. I had a nightmare with ING too and they just wouldn't budge on the documentation. The problem with ING is their system is built for locals or long term EU residents. They haven't updated their backend for the new visa types yet. Just take your TIE and your passport to a physical branch of any other bank.
unicaja was okay for me but their app is pretty terrible. if you use apple pay it works fine though.
careful with Sabadell because as soon as your DNV expires or you renew they might freeze the account without telling you. it happened to a friend in Telde. always keep a secondary account like Revolut or N26 as a backup just in case the Spanish traditional banks decide your paperwork is old. did they ask you for your tax return from your home country?
Wait did you have to show them your remote work contract too? some people are saying Sabadell asks for a translated version of the contract if it is in English. i am about to head down there next week and want to make sure i have every single paper ready so i dont waste a trip. regardless thanks for the heads up about the ING branch.
this is so typical of the banking gatekeeping here. i went to that same ING office back in May and they told me the same thing. it feels like the big banks haven't caught up with the legislation even a year later. bbva worked for me but they made me buy health insurance through them before they would finalize the account. it felt like a total bribe.
I think the issue is that ING doesn't have physical branches in Vegas or Mesa y Lopez really, it's just those small stands. Without a human to look at the DNV resolution paper they get confused. BBVA worked for me but I had to go in person. Don't try to do it via the app, it will fail 100 percent of the time for non-EU.
the bbva app is the best in spain by far so it is worth the initial hassle of going to the branch.
It isn't just you. I tried to open an account with them in July and they rejected my digital certificate too. They seem really picky about the residency source. I went with Santander instead. They have an office right near the port and the guy there had seen the DNV card before, so it took about twenty minutes. Just bring the actual physical card, don't try it with the paper favorable resolution.
did they charge you for the insurance? i heard santander forces you to buy health or home insurance just to open the account.
thanks for the heads up. i was about to apply to ing tomorrow since everyone online swears by them. what did you end up using instead? i need something that won't flag my transfers from my uk account every single time.
Good luck getting anyone at ING support to understand what a digital nomad visa even is. They have a script and if your card doesn't fit the exact image in their manual they just hit reject. I've been using Revolut with a Spanish IBAN for my bills in Las Palmas and it's been fine. You don't always need a traditional big bank.