UK Bank Account when living in OZ

beejaydee

We're about to emigrate to Sydney, and need to keep a UK bank account for our pensions to be paid into. I'm trying to find a current account that pays interest that I can have whilst being resident in Australia. Our tax on our pensions will be paid in UK. Can anyone help me please?

Archi_Bald

Most banks and building societies will allow you to keep your accounts if you go abroad. You can't open a new account if you are not a UK resident - so now is the time to sort things.

The current best current accounts are listed in this article: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-loophole, plus there is Bank Of Scotland Vantage with 3%. Ignore the bits about ISA, that not relevant to you.

As you can't rely on the rates to stay the same, or one outfit always offering you the best rate, you might want to consider opening a few of them. You then have the flexibility to move your pension payments about as it suits you.

chambta

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Most banks and building societies will allow you to keep your accounts if you go abroad. You can't open a new account if you are not a UK resident - so now is the time to sort things.

The current best current accounts are listed in this article: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-loophole, plus there is Bank Of Scotland Vantage with 3%. Ignore the bits about ISA, that not relevant to you.

As you can't rely on the rates to stay the same, or one outfit always offering you the best rate, you might want to consider opening a few of them. You then have the flexibility to move your pension payments about as it suits you.

That is not correct.

guesswho2000

chambta wrote: »

That is not correct.

Agreed, but it'll be much easier to sort it while OP is resident.

Archi_Bald

chambta wrote: »

That is not correct.

what in what you quoted of my original post is not correct?

Archi_Bald

guesswho2000 wrote: »

Agreed, but it'll be much easier to sort it while OP is resident.

Can you detail what you agree to?

RetiredInThailand

Archi_Bald wrote: »

what in what you quoted of my original post is not correct?

The underlined bit?

"You can't open a new account if you are not a UK resident"

And it is just plain wrong. That doesn't stop people on here from rolling it out for an airing every few days though. :sad:

CKhalvashi

chambta wrote: »

That is not correct.

Most banks won't allow you to.

I know that HSBC let me keep the accounts I'd got in UK when I went abroad to study, and that they also let OH keep her Armenian accounts open (which are still open to this day).

They don't (to the best of my knowledge) offer new UK banking services to non-residents, however.

CK

Archi_Bald

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

The underlined bit?

"You can't open a new account if you are not a UK resident"

And it is just plain wrong. That doesn't stop people on here from rolling it out for an airing every few days though. :sad:

Just show us the application forms / websites that do not say you must be a UK resident when applying for a current account.

RetiredInThailand

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Just show us the application forms / websites that do not say you must be a UK resident when applying for a current account.

Why a current account? The OP only needs to pay his pension into it, and personally I would rather get interest on my money.

One at random: http://www.sbiuk.com/personal/savings-account/how-to-open-an-account

There are several more.

Archi_Bald

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

Why a current account? The OP only needs to pay his pension into it, and personally I would rather get interest on my money.

One at random: http://www.sbiuk.com/personal/savings-account/how-to-open-an-account

There are several more.

Firstly, we were talking about current accounts (the term "bank account" is synonymous with "current account"). Not least because not all savings accounts can take payments by BACS, which is what pension providers use to pay people.

Secondly, and you are absolutely right, there is the small matter of getting interest. You may or may not be aware, but there's about half a dozen current accounts that pay some 3-5 times more interest than savings accounts. Before you say this can't last long - of course, nothing is certain. But it has been the case for about 5 years now, and 3 new accounts with 3, 4 and 5% AER have come onstream in just the last couple of months. Also, whether savings or current accounts, you need to keep an eye on the interest rates anyway.

SBI do have a proper sort code and account number (I know that for certain as I have an SBI savings account) but they now pay new applicants a miserly 1.25% AER.