[adindas]

I heard from people that to get UK state pension you must reside in the UK ?
Is it correct or people just make it up ??

thank you
ADINDAS

[Bijilo123]

Made up.

[miradav]

Please go to www.direct.gov.uk for all the information on state pensions abroad.

[sunnydays]

The Philippines is one of the few countries where the UK state pension is index linked. Present arrangements are for the pension service to send the monthly cheque to your Philippine bank. This takes about a month and then another month for the cheque to clear for change to pesos.
A better arrangement is for the pension to paid into a UK branch of a Philippine bank and then have it transferred to your peso account here in the PI. HSBC, BPI, CITY, Union. Philippine National bank come to mind.

[miradav]

Just a note, spoke with International Pension Service about electronic transfer to the Philippines, they are looking in to it, as they use Citibank and RCBD. I complained about the length of time it took to get the pension, and explained to them that the courier they use (TNT Post), when the cheque arrives in the PI they then feed it in to philippines postal service, which as we know here is not very good. They said that they will look into it.

[sunnydays]

thanks Miradav.
Civil service pensions can be sent to a Peso account here and the rate is very good. The military one (Paymaster) originally said that they would not transfer to the Philippines but would be adding the Philippines to its list of overseas transfer places in the future.
Two months later I received a letter with a form for the payees Philippine bank to agree to refund over payments to Paymaster in the event of death of the pensioners death. I doubt whether a bank official would sign this understanding somehow??
To consider money in the Philippines its wise to know the account guarantee is restricted to 250,000 pesos here. In the UK the figure is 35,000 pounds. Makes sense to keep the bulk in UK and trickle it over when needed.

[miradav]

Yes I know about Military pensions being transferred, mine as been transferred for over year now, when it was arranged, had no form for the bank to sign for overpayments, must be something new. As a note Xfinitity paymaster uses Citibank so my query to the state pension was why the could not do it the same. One department not talking to another I expect.

[sunnydays]

Good am,
Is your paymaster pension paid into Citibank UK or direct to the PI branch into pesos?
The overpayment form is only required when the pension is paid into the Philippine bank.

Originally Posted by miradav Yes I know about Military pensions being transferred, mine as been transferred for over year now, when it was arranged, had no form for the bank to sign for overpayments, must be something new. As a note Xfinitity paymaster uses Citibank so my query to the state pension was why the could not do it the same. One department not talking to another I expect.

[miradav]

Military Pension transferred from paymaster thro citibank uk to BDO PI.

[sunnydays]

Ok thats why the overpayment form is not required, Paymaster see the UK bank as the pensioners "home". Interesting that you have money transferred via citibank in the PI to BDO, suppose that's because citibank have only a few branches in the and BDO are just about everywhere now.
Thanks for the info.

[miradav]

This is the paymaster's authorised bank for transfer, also the cost of transfer to the PI is Pounds 2.54, which they deduct from source.

[mykii]

Interesting post. Thanks to all the contributors.

[louis52]

Originally Posted by golftees It's very simple to set up.I would advise you to open an account with H.S.B.C. Jersey UK.(where your pension can be sent)Then open a sterling a/c with H.S.B.C here in the Philippines..You can transfer funds on-line from UK to the Philippines with no charge.. in seconds. You then can get a A.T.M. card (P.I. one) and withdraw funds any where in the P.I.through 'Banknet'.(exchange rate very good and no charge) Remember... International bank card withdrawals are subject to a charge of up to 250p in the P.I...and as you know max withdrawals at a.t.m's are 10.000P per withdrawal.

how can you open an account if your abroad already? online?

[louis52]

As a note Citi bank has the lowest exchange rates when its sent from the UK to PI as of today most banks average 69 peso Citi 67 peso world 70.98 go figure

[wisefoxylady]

Right off the top of my head I would suggest looking into opening an account with the Philippine National Bank affiliate in the UK, then also open a local PNB account in the Philippines, execute an auto-transfer agreement with the UK affiliate bank, then execute a letter of instruction to the pensions office to make the deposits straight to the affiliate bank.

Not sure if this has been tried before but in this instance normally the waiting time will be significantly reduced.