UK Bank Query?
 

Hi - I don't know if this is a common problem, I moved to New Zealand in December last year, after selling my house in the UK. We bought just enough funds to keep us going until the wages started comin in, hoping for an improvement in the exchange rate (silly me!) I have the money in a UK bank (first direct) in thier high interest account, which isn't all that high. I have asked them to send me the forms to get the interest paid without the tax (20%) and they seem ok with this. I opened an account with ICICI bank in the UK too, only to read that i have to be of residence in the UK to have the account, which of course i no longer am, i suppose i could use my inlaws as an address, but then they won't pay the interest without the UK tax deducted due to being out the country - as this contraveins their requirments for the the account. It just doesn't make sense bringing the money over 1) Due to the terrible exchange rate 2) I should get my interest paid without tax in the UK 3) you have 4 years of not paying tax in NZ on foreign interest.

So my problem is, where/what should i do with with my savings so it works best for me until the exchange rate improves in a year, year and a halfs time?

Any advise?

Many Thanks

Re: UK Bank Query?
 

Put it in an off shore account. Nationwide International are helpful and reasonable from what I have heard. You can download the forms for opening an account,tele-banking and online accounts. It's the norm to nominate designated accounts should you wish to transfer money in the future.

Re: UK Bank Query?
 

Hi,

We opened an On Call Foreign Currency Account with Westpac bank, that way we could leave it in GBP until the exchange rate was more in our favour. I'm not sure if that's best in the long term, but it was great for us as we wanted to buy a house soon after arriving. One thing I will say though, is that we had a pig of a job getting our money transferred from the UK - not only the time difference, getting the run around from department to department, being endlessly put on hold - on a mobile halfway around the world :curse: It was very stressful and took about 3 weeks of ranting down the phone in the middle of the night :mad:

Re: UK Bank Query?
 

Have you considered transferring your money over here on the Bank's commercial rate? Apparently it's more favourable than the standard exchange rate.

Re: UK Bank Query?
 

Did you manage to discover at which end the fault was? Uk or NZ? I think the ASB is quite good at handling transfers from the UK, funds can be in your account from the UK within a day or two.....

Re: UK Bank Query?
 

Good advise but............look at the smaller print..............for most accounts you have to be a UK resident when you open the account, does not say anything about after.............

We have some dosh in an Abbey National Golden Egg Build Me Up Cash Builder Nugget (or some such trite name) and all interest we earn is tax free.

Sounds good to me!!!

NG

Re: UK Bank Query?
 

yeah, before we left the UK we went into our local branch and had a long chat with them and were assured that when we made the phone call to them to send our money over here, they would send it :rofl: ha, not a chance - when we made the call, we were told that if we just pop into the branch and sign the forms, then it will be released :ohmy: Long story short, (and weeks of being given the runaround) we were faxed the forms and had to fill in a date for the money to be transferred here - if the forms arrived in the UK after the date stated, we would have to start again as they couldn't back date our request :eek: We had no probs from this end whatsoever, it all went very smoothly once the Brits stopped scratching their arses and finally decided that we could have our money back :thumbsup:

Re: UK Bank Query?
 

Before leaving the UK it's a good idea to fill in your bank's fax and phone indemnity forms. Then once in NZ you can fax or phone them to arrange transfers to NZ etc.

I'd recommend using HiFX to do currency transactions as you tend to get a better rate and can also arrange market orders (e.g. buy NZD when the exchange rate hits a particular amount) if you're not in a rush to move the money over. Worked well for us.

Re: UK Bank Query?
 

I'll probably use an XE account, or Moneycorp or similar to transfer the money, it's a better rate than ASB offer usually, especially XE. I've emailed ICICI and told them i've moved here but still have a UK address (the in laws) i just don't want to be paying 200 a month interest if i don't have to, and not paying it now is easier than trying to claim it back from the inland revenue. Either way i won't be transfering another penny whilst the exchange rate hovers around a historic low - there's just no point, i'm guessing it'll be next year before we see it at 3 or over again - once Bollard realises that the NZ ecomomy is not isolated from the US problems and that a country with one of the highest debt levels in the world is impervious to a world wide credit problem! Where does he think the NZ banks get their money from to lend to NZ folk for their plasma screens, trading moon dust with martians? If i here another report that that this won't affect NZ !!!! idiots.

Re: UK Bank Query?
 

I have my cash stashed with L&M. 10% tax on innterest. 6.9% for 3 months term. No tax payable to NZ.


http://www.lmaustralia.com/downloads...view_cpaif.pdf

Re: UK Bank Query?
 

would that not necessitate a transferal to NZ dollars, or do they have a UK branch?

Re: UK Bank Query?
 

No, if you follow the link there are various rates for different currencies.
Transfer takes a few days from the UK.