State Pension payment

loulou41

Hubby's state pension will be paid today 10th July and he has asked to be paid every 4 weeks in his bank account. I have just checked his online bank account and there is no payment. Does anybody know whether the first 4 weeks payment commencing today will be paid at the end of the four weeks. Thanks.

tunesurfer

Sounds about right - but just give them a quick call and ask when payment will land in account. I just had to sort mums out for her.

jenniferpa

Are you asking if state pension is paid in arrears? If so, yes. Only weekly pension payments (can you do that still?) are paid in advance, monthly is paid in arrears.

schiff

If the bank account the payment is going into has a good interest rate (as it should if you are a conscientious MSE-er!) ask to have the pension paid weekly. It might as well be and it gains you a bit of extra interest, as it's in your account earlier.

Might not seem a lot, but it will mount up as it's for the rest of your life.

schiff

margaretclare

schiff wrote:

If the bank account the payment is going into has a good interest rate (as it should if you are a conscientious MSE-er!) ask to have the pension paid weekly. It might as well be and it gains you a bit of extra interest, as it's in your account earlier.

Might not seem a lot, but it will mount up as it's for the rest of your life.

Thank you, schiff! I hadn't thought of that. Mine lands into my smile account, and it does have a pretty good rate of interest. I've actually been getting SRP for some 10 years now and in those days it wasn't possible to have it paid into the bank weekly.

I get SRP plus AA, £694.60 plopped in there this morning.

Having said that, it doesn't stay in there long - chunks of it get transferred into my ISAs (cash and equity).

Margaret Clare

loulou41

Thanks, he has opened a Nationwide 65+ account. The interest is quite good but has to haove his state pension paid into it. Not sure what the situation is now that he is getting paid in arrears.

schiff

loulou

Not important that your man is being paid in arrears. It works just the same. You just have to phone up to ask.

schiff

margaretclare

Hi schiff

Have considered your suggestion, but I think I'll leave it as it is (pension paid 4-weekly). My budgeting is done on a monthly basis, I've never been used to the weekly cash-flow, and I tend to think in terms of months rather than weeks. It might get too confusing.

I just wish they'd pay it by calendar month!

It's an interesting idea, though.

Margaret Clare

loulou41

schiff wrote:

If the bank account the payment is going into has a good interest rate (as it should if you are a conscientious MSE-er!) ask to have the pension paid weekly. It might as well be and it gains you a bit of extra interest, as it's in your account earlier.

Might not seem a lot, but it will mount up as it's for the rest of your life.

schiff

A good idea but hubby is so set in his way and will not do it e.g I told him if he uses the nationwide e-banking for his savings, the rates are much better. Hubby has no idea how to use a computer, although I have persuaded him to go on a course. I guess, it will be hassle for him to transfer money from one account to another. Currently I am doing it for him but if sometimes happens to me, he will be lost. Also I am a bit concerned if the computer goes down and you do online banking, what happens then? That's my concern as I know I will get better rates if I do e-savings with Natonwide compared to their invest direct. Thanks

margaretclare

loulou41 wrote:

A good idea but hubby is so set in his way and will not do it e.g I told him if he uses the nationwide e-banking for his savings, the rates are much better. Hubby has no idea how to use a computer, although I have persuaded him to go on a course. I guess, it will be hassle for him to transfer money from one account to another. Currently I am doing it for him but if sometimes happens to me, he will be lost. Also I am a bit concerned if the computer goes down and you do online banking, what happens then? That's my concern as I know I will get better rates if I do e-savings with Nationwide compared to their invest direct. Thanks

Hi loulou

There are courses around specifically for what are called 'silver surfers'. There are probably clubs set up in your local area - my DH goes to one, and recently he gave a talk to them about banking security (the bank official that he'd invited to speak, didn't turn up).

FWIW we're both just turned 70. DH had never touched a computer until after his 60th birthday. I've learned most of it over the last few years. I wouldn't be without internet banking. I wasn't very mobile most of last year, had major hip surgery in December and it was wonderful to just lie back and get better, when others in the ward around me were stressing about not being able to get out to draw their pensions, do their shopping etc.

You're right to be concerned about doing it all for your husband - the same would apply if he was doing it all for you. You should BOTH have a clue about what's going on in your finances, what comes in, what goes out and when. The beauty of it all is, once it's all set up then it runs like clockwork. It happens just the same e.g. if we were in hospital, if we're away on holiday, and it would run just the same if we were completely incapacitated, as long as we were alive.

What happens if the computer goes down? Well, nothing happens. Once you've set it all up then it runs as planned, until the next time you want to make any alterations/adjustments. You can also access your online accounts from any computer anywhere in the world - we've done it from a friend's computer in Canada. You need your online banking security of course.

We both get state pension money every 4 weeks, and we also get money from annuities every month (and I get a couple of lump sums in July and September). Had I known what I know now, all that would be different!!! We each have online current accounts and from those we both tip into a joint account from which all the household bills go out by monthly direct debit. DH usually has around £200 left at the end of each 4-weekly period and he transfers it into his cash ISA from there. I do it the other way around - I save first.

Your husband really needs to learn a little bit and open his mind to all the possibilities that there are nowadays. As they say, computers don't bite!

Without computers DH and I would never have met, and we fell in love when we were both 62. Nearly 9 years ago now...

HTH

Margaret Clare

schiff

That's a lovely story margaretclare and a very persuasive post for loulou to try to talk to her husband about getting with it.

Having said that I would understand if Mr loulou didn't want to know. It's not something to go into half-heartedly and at 'a certain age' it can be off-putting. I have always felt that, once you retire, you either embrace technology enthusiastically or leave it alone. Though retirement does give people time to do new things. What amuses me greatly is the assumptions that companies etc make, that the addressee of a communication is computer literate. EG: If you want to know more about the benefits available to you once you have reached the age of 80, please log on to our website at
https://www.freewhiskyat80.co.uk.

I've a friend coming round this week to change his gas/electricity provider with me at my laptop. He's 88 and sprightly but understandably he thinks it's too late for him to take up a new hobby! He can also get a bit impatient (which is fatal in front of a computer) so I don't think he's really ideal material for a life-change!

cheers schiff