Travelling abroad

jacton

We are planning a two year trip abroad to travel around mainly Europe, to celebrate our retirements but am not sure what we do about our bank account and pensions, my wife is a state pensioner, so would her money still be paid into our bank account and allow us access to our accounts via the Internet whilst on our travels?


Also our bankers cards will run out during this period, how would we get our new cards delivered to us.


Apart from informing our local council that we are leaving the UK for this period (we are not property owners here in the UK but renters) as we are giving up our rental property here, is there any other organisations we would need to inform of our travel plans?


We bank with the Halifax if this is any help


thank you

mgdavid

If you are not resident in the UK and do not have a UK address you may find it very difficult to retain UK bank accounts. You could of course ask your bank(s) what they suggest. They may renew the cards before you go.

Archi_Bald

Card is easy to solve - tell them the dog chewed it up, you lost it , it doesn't work properly etc etc and ask for a replacement.

Lots of UK people now live abroad and many keep their UK bank accounts for various reasons. You must agree with your bank how your accounts get handled whilst you are on an extended trip.

grumbler

jacton wrote: »

Also our bankers cards will run out during this period, how would we get our new cards delivered to us.

Normally cards last for more than two years. Get them replaced just before the trip. However, replacement cards not always have a new expiry date. So, the best you can do is to open a new account and get brand new cards. Use this opportunity to get right cards for using abroad: Cheap Travel Credit Cards (the title is wrong, it's not about credit cards only).
That said, I don't think that any bank, including your old one(s), would like to have a customer that for two years doesn't have a postal address to contact.

TheTracker

You could use a virtual letter box such as http://www.ukpostbox.com/
I've thought about using such as a service even as a UK resident but baulked due to privacy.
Easiest is to use a friend's address.

Yorkshire_Pud

Its worth having a notional UK address even if its a friend or relative as the moment you appear 'stateless' it gives the government bodies scope to say you live abroad maybe in a country where the UK Retirement Pension is not index linked.

Don't try to be too clever to save a bit of Council Tax and don't forget you still want your winter fuel allowance as you sweat in Alicante;)

It will be difficult to get health insurance to cover two years away so staying in Europe may be sensible for most of the time even if you go further afield where you can insure an individual trip and make sure you have both got your EHIC cards up to date!

If you need to replace a lost or stolen card whilst abroad banks will ONLY send it to your registered UK address. Then someone can send it on to you. Fraud prevention!

Must be a book on this kind of thing or its going to be a very painful process organising this trip!

jacton

Winter in Alicante yes you can sweat during the day in the sun but once that sun goes down so do the temperature's, -1 on some February nights earlier this year, and don't forget property in Spain is built not to retain heat so in Winter it really is cold indoors and warmer outside.


Thanks for all your suggestions really helpful

c-m

I was abroad for just a month when my mailbox (outside of the flat) got full (of election junk) the postman returned the letters. This resulted in all my banks trying to suspend my accounts unless my address was updated. At least they emailed and txt me to let me know though.

On my return I told the banks that I would be away again for a long period spanning part of 2015 and 2016, and that RM would only hold letter for a certain period. The response from all of them was to use a friend's address. Which to me (is impossible) sounds like fraud.

But anyway, yes you definitely need to get something sorted.

jacton

Thanks for all your help and suggestions It seem using a friend or family address is the way to go, we still have direct debits that have to be paid whilst we are away hence wanted to keep the UK Bank account open.
We already have the RM postal redirect sorted to a family's address so I suppose it will be ok to do the same with the bank.
Once again thanks all

jackyann

I'm sure you have thought of this, and may feel it is not worthwhile:
I have known people in this situation who rent a room from friend / family. It gives you an address, not only for banks etc. but also for a GP.
Check the exact rules, but I think that if you are out of the UK for more than 6 months you are no longer entitled to NHS care.

You then have somewhere to leave "stuff" and somewhere to drop back to if things get a bit much for whatever reason.

I have, travelling around Europe, met a lot of people who live "on the road / river" but they all have some sort of bolthole in their country of residence.

Have a great time.

c-m

If you're renting a room and paying UK taxes on your UK income does it matter how long you are physically in the UK each year?