One seemingly minor but important thing to keep in mind is in Spain they use a “.” to separate thousands whereas some countries use a “,”

To pay utility bills, you have to have a bank account with an IBAN starting with ‘ES’, so you need to have own a Spanish/Spain-based bank account.

Neo banks, or challenger banks, have recently started opening which is a great option for expats. They offer online only and foreign currency account banking to compete with traditional retail banks. Wise and Revolut are two of the most popular examples of these banks. They offer cheap currency exchanges and digital banking in many different currencies and will even send you a visa debit card. That’s not super necessary with Revolut since they offer Apple Pay through their digital card and tap to pay is offered almost everywhere.

If you just want to use your account for international transfers and are willing to use Apple or Google tap to pay for retail purchases, these banks are a great option because most of them have no monthly fees. Revolut, N26, and some others offer premium plans that include some interesting and useful bonus features like travel insurance, electronic items insurance, and more.

Another option is called TransferWise, but it is mostly beneficial to send currency between countries. For example, if you are sending money to your parents or children. If you just need something for your own money management or transferring money to other Revolut users, Revolut is the best option.

There are still some government fees and utility bills that can only be paid with a Spanish IBAN number, despite the law clearly requiring them to accept all IBANs. In this case you should consider an N26 or a BNext account, or you can get yourself a resident or nonresident bank account through one of the traditional retail banks.