Thanks for the excellent work researching these, Mick. It's really good to have extra confirmation and reports. The one item that does surprise me is that Caixa bank let you use their cash machines for free. Reports for Caixa seem to range from 0 to 2 to 5 euros and I can't see much pattern in why they vary.
I will now put all this data into a cheatsheet card and post it here soon.
I too have a Metro Bank card. Did you notice any difference in the fees depending on whether you chose Link or MasterCard, out of curiosity?
Thanks!
It's a minor obsession of mine to stop banks getting away with these rip off charges and hopefully the more of us that are informed and vote with our feet the less it will happen..
I've used Caixa bank in lots of different locations round Spain (Madrid and all the costa's from the French to the Portuguese border) with my Metro card and never even had a hint of a charge (I travel to Spain about 3 times a year).
Caixa Bank is a fairly recent amalgamation of several building society/savings bank type institutions that formed after the downturn of 2008. It's still a non profit organisation overall and any excess profits go to charities and good causes so another great reason to use them even if they did charge. Because of its ethos, perhaps it is more ethical about the charges it makes. Maybe it thinks more about whether they should charge, rather than, can they charge?
I do have a Santander Zero credit card as a "just in case option", which doesn't charge fees at Santander machines in Spain but Caixa have the largest ATM and branch network (closely followed by Santander) so I rarely use it ( it does charge interest on ATM withdrawals, but this doesn't amount to much as long as you pay it off quickly).
My tip would be, if you have Google maps on your phone, search maps for Caixa bank or (whichever suits you) in the area your travelling in and bookmark/Star the branches that come up. Then go to the Menu - Offline maps and download the area you want. You'll then have the info available whenever you want it (whether you have a signal or not) and a guide to get you to your nearest free ATM.
On the subject of noticing a difference between fees on Link or Mastercard. Spain has 2 or 3 different banking alliances (can't remember the names right now & I think they're being phased out anyway). I thought initially when I was doing the research that any charges would be related to the Alliance of the bank but this didn't seem to be relevant when using my Metro card.
For non UK residents
I believe Santander offers it's, no charges at Spanish ATM's, to Santander account holders from other countries as well (but please check the details). They have branches in many other European countries and in Latin & North America. Also if you're only visiting the UK for under 12 months, they have an account that offers No ATM charges in Spain but there is a £1 monthly fee.
I'm not saying Metro bank or Santander are the best options available but they work great for me. I hear even better options are available such as Starling bank. For the best current options have a look at Money Saving Expert's travel advice pages for the latest best deals for travel cards and buying currency.
I'd be interested to hear if it is fee free to use a card such as Metro at the Moneycorp ATMs at Stansted, Gatwick and Southend airports. Anyone tried this? Or anyone with a Metro card willing to test it out?
Here's Caixa and Santander banks logo's so you can recognise their branches and ATM's
Don't forget you can probably use Liberbank, Kuxta and Unicaja charge free as well. And Banca March in the Spanish islands
Edit: I've noticed a lot of people saying they have been charged as much as 5 Euros at Caixa bank machines, which is completely the opposite of my experience over quite a few years and as recently as November 2018 in Madrid, Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia. I generally use a UK Metro bank debit card so I wonder if the charge varies with the country your card is from?