EXCLUSIVE: British expat fears losing his home on Spain’s Costa del Sol after being unable to transfer money to his Spanish account to pay off mortgage

A BRITISH expat is worrying he might lose his house, as he has been unable to send money from his British bank account to his Spanish one.

Anthony Pearson, originally from Deal in Kent, splits his time every year between the English coast and the Costa del Sol.

In February however he realised that his bank transfer from his UK bank account to his Santander one in Spain never arrived.

After numerous phone calls to the bank, nothing worked, so he went to the branch, where they assured him it was just a glitch and manually inserted the money into his account.

Then came coronavirus and the expat, along with his wife returned hastily to the UK.

“Once we were back in the UK, I tried sending €20 to my Spanish bank account three times and the money never arrived.

“I’ve called the head office so many times and they tell me they can’t help me.

“I’ve sent hundreds of emails, one day I sent the same email 50 times, but again, nothing has been done.”

The weird thing is that the money he sends from his La Caixa account doesn’t arrive into his Santander one either.

“It’s not just a UK to Spain transfer problem, I can’t even send money from one Spanish bank account to another.

“The mortgage for the house is through Santander so I have to pay that through my account with them, but I can’t put any money in that account, it’s ridiculous.”

The semi-retired pub owner is worried that the bank will take his house away if he misses the next mortgage payment on May 1.

“It’s so frustrating because I have the money, it’s just not in the right account and I can’t physically put it there, as I’m not in Spain at the moment.

“With the coronavirus crisis, I don’t know when I’ll be in Spain next, so I don’t know when that account will have money again, as Santander are not helping at all.”

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