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What title the other person gets. This is where Latin America and Spain differ most in daily practice and least in grammar.
The control text · practical
Buenos días. El día 12 de este mes se me cargó en la cuenta un importe de 89,90 dólares que no reconozco. Imagino que se trata de un error: cancelé ese servicio en mayo y conservo el comprobante. Les agradecería que me abonaran el importe y me confirmaran por escrito que la suscripción quedó cancelada. Si no recibo respuesta antes del viernes, presentaré una reclamación. Quedo a la espera.
Where the two part
Latin American · the base
Professional titles are used as address forms, especially in Mexico and Central America: licenciado, ingeniero, arquitecto, maestro. Don plus a first name is warm and respectful at once.
Peninsular · the contrast
Don and doña survive but titles as address forms are rare. Using licenciado in Madrid would be conspicuous.
10 options
Estimado señor Rojas: · Estimada señora Vega:
The tellHonorific plus family name.
Safe everywhere and never wrong. The right opening when you know nothing about them.
In Mexico or Colombia it can read as not having bothered to find out their title.
Don Javier, · Doña Elena,
The tellAn honorific attached to a first name rather than a surname.
Respectful and warm simultaneously — the closest Spanish equivalent to Brazilian Seu João.
It encodes an age or status gap. With a peer it can read as ironic.
Lic. Rojas, · Ing. Vega,
The tellA degree used as a form of address, in speech as well as writing.
Ordinary courtesy in Mexico and Central America, and its absence there is noticed.
Nearly unknown in Spain and in the Southern Cone, so it does not travel.
Doctor Rojas, · Maestro Vega,
The tellUsed more widely than the qualification strictly warrants in some countries.
Named because the inflation pattern resembles Brazilian doutor — the same social logic in a different language.
Its extent varies by country and is described rather than verified here.
Estimado señor Rojas: · Estimados señores:
The tellThe standard formal written opening, followed by a colon rather than a comma.
Correct in both standards, and the colon is the Spanish convention where English uses a comma.
Slightly warmer than Muy señor mío, so for a legal register it is a step down.
Muy señor mío:
The tellAn archaic-sounding formula still used in Peninsular commercial correspondence.
Correct and very formal in Spain.
In Latin America it reads as antique or as a translation exercise.
A quien corresponda:
The tellAddressed to a role rather than a person.
The right choice when you do not know who will read it, and it removes every address decision.
Nobody at the other end feels personally responsible.
Buenos días. El día 12… — Anchor A, which opens with a greeting and no addressee
The tellAnchor A does exactly this: a time-of-day greeting and straight into the subject.
Neutral and current, and it avoids choosing a title you might get wrong.
Time-bound, and on a first formal letter it can read as informal.
Formality carried by the verb rather than by a noun
The tellThird-person verbs and no honorific anywhere.
Clean, and it is what Anchor A does after the greeting.
In a title-conscious culture the absence is itself a small signal.
Estimado Lic. Rojas → Estimado Javier → Hola Javier, over three replies
The tellFormality descending as the exchange continues.
The most useful thing on this sheet: formality is an opening position, and lowering it deliberately signals goodwill.
Move first and too early and it reads as presumptuous. Let them move, or move with them.