|
Post by Nutty on Jun 13, 2023 13:40:34 GMT 1
I had a bit of a medical ' wobble' in February and after the dust had settled I decided to put in place a more secure method of receiving our pensions here in France. Up until then, they had been paid in Ye Olde British half-timbered Pounds to our UK bank account. Once a month, I'd contact an online currency trader in London, agree a rate with them to convert the £££s into euros, send them the required amount in pounds, for them to convert it into euros and to transfer the resultant monies over to our French bank account. It was a fiddly and error-prone process and if anything happened to me, my wife was not looking forward to taking over the transaction. I thought it best to ask our pension providers if they could automatically send the monthly payments direct to our French bank in euros. To my amazement they all agreed! (including the UK State Pension service - phew!) After some hair-pulling moments it's all now working like clockwork. It took 2-3 months for all the companies concerned to action the request. OK, we might not get the best possible rate but at least it's more secure and perhaps more importantly, it's worry free. If I could make one suggestion to anyone thinking of doing the same, it would be this: I would strongly suggest making all your requests in writing - especially when passing IBAN and BIC codes to them. Avoid the various call centres like the plague. I'd also keep notes of who said what and when. Nutty
|
|
|
Post by jardiniere on Jun 13, 2023 14:08:07 GMT 1
it's more secure and perhaps more importantly, it's worry free. For me this well outweighed the possible disadvantage of losing on the exchange rate. Nothing to think about, it just happens as you say like clockwork. Unfortunately for me this is for the state pension only in my case. Private pension said no. So I do have to think about exchanging every now and then but not every month so not too onerous. Would rather not though. PS I do like your dog Nutty!
|
|
|
Post by lapourtaider on Jun 13, 2023 14:46:29 GMT 1
Been doing the same for my pension for 17 years...😀
|
|
|
Post by crabtree24 on Jun 13, 2023 14:59:35 GMT 1
Me too
|
|
|
Post by gigi on Jun 13, 2023 15:01:26 GMT 1
I had my state pension paid directly into my French bank account, receiving a better rate that way too, I understand.
With the settling in of covid our French bank account was beginning to look very healthy, so I decided to stop the transfers and have the money in our UK bank account instead.
As it’s turned out, health problems have meant that we’ve not spent much time out there since the risk of covid became rather less worrying.
|
|
|
Post by woolybanana on Jun 13, 2023 15:33:51 GMT 1
Just message me the details, gigi and I will look after it for you😜
|
|
Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
|
Post by Aardvark on Jun 13, 2023 18:59:18 GMT 1
I'm not a fan of putting all my eggs in one basket so mine goes into a UK account and I transfer what I need each month to a French one. I don't want everything in the French account that can so easily be blocked or pillaged by EDF, etc. in the event of a dispute.
|
|
|
Post by Nutty on Jun 13, 2023 20:22:05 GMT 1
I've parked some "just in case" money on our UK account.
Given our French bank's multi-layer security systems, I think if any hackers were to penetrate through to our account, they'll have deserved it.
We're small fish though - they'd be after juicier targets.
|
|
Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
|
Post by Aardvark on Jun 14, 2023 9:12:56 GMT 1
The herd mentality is no safeguard these days. A hacker often targets a whole system, not just one or two individual files and very little effort is required if they use "off the peg" malware bought on the Dark Web.
|
|
|
Post by Polarengineer on Jun 14, 2023 11:00:17 GMT 1
Nutty, your dog always reminds me of Clement Freud.
|
|
|
Post by Nutty on Jun 14, 2023 14:30:33 GMT 1
I'll tell him that! Be afraid - be very afraid!
|
|
|
Post by spectrum on Jun 24, 2023 7:20:48 GMT 1
State pension late again the 19th is a holiday in the states.
|
|
Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
|
Post by Aardvark on Jun 24, 2023 9:00:20 GMT 1
Such a shame that a country like the UK hasn't the competence to manage its own pension payments but has to farm it out to a foreign country.
|
|
|
Post by spectrum on Jun 24, 2023 10:54:28 GMT 1
Such a shame that a country like the UK hasn't the competence to manage its own pension payments but has to farm it out to a foreign country. Agree it was only recently that I was told that this is the case, probably on a forum, but I do remember ringing the DWP up just in case there was a more serious problem with the payment.
|
|
|
Post by woolybanana on Jun 24, 2023 11:16:05 GMT 1
The bank which has the contract offered the best value for money so ultimately it benefits your pension. If UK banks were too greedy or stupid to tender appropriately, then that is their fault.
|
|