Higher Interest Rates Abroad and Guarantees

Dawn_W_3

Hi Folks,

The hubby and I are moving to Thailand as soon as we can get the house sold (it may be a while I know). We want to put the money we make from the sale of our house, along with my redundancy money, into a high interest account and basically live off our savings when we get there.

As you can imagine we feel like we're prisioners in this country at the minute as we can't leave until things pick up. Trying to sell the house aside, we're getting a bit worried about the interest rates for savers not picking up.

Does anyone know if we can open a bank account abroad and get higher interest rates than the UK at the minute? And if we can, do the countries that will allow us to do so give us any guarantees like we get here in the UK (up to £50k) if the bank goes bust?

I've spoken to our bank (Nationwide) and they tell me that when we move to Thailand, we can still keep our savings accounts but we won't be getting any tax free benefits. Which is fine. We'll be opening the account with a UK address then changing our address once we move - will this cause us any problems?

Hoping some of you can help!!

Dawn

G_M

I would look into the Thai banks, but especially check what guarantees Thaland's banking system offers (my guess is little).
Be very careful if you are buying property out there firstly as non-Thais cannot own property without a Thai partner (be especially careful of companies that offer to act for you ie own it on your behalf - fraught with dangers) and also as the Thai economy/property market is very unstable.

Try investigating Channel Island accounts (though they were hit badly by the Icelandic disaster). Also speak to the Inland Revenue about your tax status if/when you become non-domicile. You should then get interest paid tax-free but there are strict rules about how often and for how long you come back to visit the UK.

97trophy

Dawn_W wrote: »

Does anyone know if we can open a bank account abroad and get higher interest rates than the UK at the minute? And if we can, do the countries that will allow us to do so give us any guarantees like we get here in the UK (up to £50k) if the bank goes bust?

Dawn

Hi Dawn

A&L IOM are paying 3.45% on GBP deposits at the moment. A&L IOM are fully backed by Banco Santander. Personally, I am OK using them but some on this forum are worried about it.

Another account looking at is the Investec High 5 account.