swigski

Hi, I know this may seem like a stupid question to those of you who know but I don't !!

I have some money in a UK savings account earning VERY little interest. Have tried to move it into other 'higher' interest accounts but have been told I must be residing in the UK.
With the Ex rate so poor at the moment, I was wondering if it was possible to transfer my UK pounds into my Westpac account and keep them as pounds and earn interest in $'s?? Wait and hope ex rate picks up, then convert.

Is this possible?

Bermudashorts

No. You can't hold money in GBP but earn interest in AUD at AUD rates. The interest rate and the currency is inextricably linked and generally what you lose on currency conversion you gain on interest longer term. This is why most of us cannot get rich on currency speculation.

aglassofwinehelps

Have you looked at opening an offshore account?

swigski

What would be the best location in your opinion?

Bermudashorts

Channel Islands?

DumbFalang

One thing to note for future reference..... you'll be fine transferring money into your Westpac account, but try sending more than AU$20,000 back out of Australia and the ATO will be all over you like a rash asking you to prove where you got the money from

Icarus

Isle of Man

Catch

any sterling account with the big four normally requires a ABN number,which can normally be aquired in "Trust status"

Paul from Poole

You are proberly better off leaving it in England, and waiting for the £ to recover, any gain is tax free and will out strip any interest you might get by bringing it over here. The gamble is will the £ recover????

Catch

quite right,on shore sterling accounts are always usefull if you cannot gain access to a uk account,multiple transactions will attract tax issues though.

koalakim

We are also in Oz and have been trying to open a new savings account after our house sale - what a palarva (right spelling?)!!!!!

With the savings account attached to our current account which pays a whopping 0.5% we set about trying to open an off-shore savings account.

First choice was A&L but having sent off a certified passport the wording was slightly wrong so that wasn't good enough....whilst waiting for our solicitor friend to do new ones I've now found a slightly better one in Halifax which is a little more like a bank account so you can pay a 3rd party (i.e. HiFx) directly which you can't do with the savings accounts as you have to transfer it back into your main linked bank account. It's all very long winded!

However, Halifax now want original proof that the funds came from our house sale which the solicitor only emailed to us. So now awaiting that document to send back to the UK - and I guess the postal strikes aren't helping as it's yet to arrive!

Basically, be prepared for it to take upto a month to try and open an account and make sure whatever account you do it's backed by a guarantee system. I was just reading a previous thread in which some poor chap lost his entire life savings through an IOM account when the banking crash happened. I think now all the ones I've seen are guaranteed.

They want to know all sorts of ins and outs of how you acquired the money, so if it's saving they want to see a record of the savings account etc!

It's a pain so anyone coming out who is going to leave money in the UK just make sure you open accounts before you leave! We haven't had any problems with swapping over to our Aussie address for accounts already opened although some people have had that problem.

By the time I get to open this blasted account the rate will improve and I'll be moving it over! (fingers crossed...)!

Paul from Poole

Our house sale fell through about ten days before we left last November, people were panicking about banks loosing their money so we went round an opened 8 various bank and building society accounts, the house has since sold and the panic is over so we have left some of them dormant. we have been with our main bank donkeys years, and now I just call the manager and get him to transfer money and he sends it anywhere I want. I'm glad we did.
HSBC are good you can open an ozzy from England and vice versa, Just about to do a mortgage with them too so we can leave our money in the UK untill it perks up a bit