miradav

Hi All,
New to the forum, just wondering is anybody receiving a UK State pension in the Philippines?
I am resident here in the Philippines and my state pension is due next month, just had the letter of confirmation, but the one thing I don't understand is that they are going to pay it by payable order to the bank. I have no bank account in UK. Only with the BDO here. There is no electronic transfer from UK to Philippines at the present from the Pension Office in UK.
Can anybody enlighten me on this, as the BDO say it takes 20 days or to more clear any type of foriegn transaction.

The funny thing is that my Military Pension gets paid into my account here with no problems.

Dave

coffindodger

Hello mate
I would be interested on any info on this as i will be doing the same thing in a couple of years time.
you may pm me if you dont want to post on here
Thanks.
It my Military pension i am talking about here, thanks in advance.

miradav

Hi coffindodger,

Send me your email address, will dig the info that I have.

Dave

coffindodger

pm / email sent.
thanks in advance.

miradav

will get the info to you soonest

miradav

Hi,
Just find out today that UK State Pension is paid direct to the bank in the Philippines by Cheque(Payable Order). This is a bummer, as we all know here in the Philippines that the postal service is crap, could take up to a month to get to the bank then another 3 weeks to clear. Just looked at the UK Pension site for payment abroad, From October 2009 additional countries will be: Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Colombia, Egypt, Greece, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen. I ask why not the Philippines? No Reply.

Asia-Savi

Hi Dave,
Not sure if you have considered taking full control of your occupational pension as you are now offshore? There are quite a few benefits. I can put you in touch with Pete, who may be able to give you more information.
Cheers

dontheturner

Funny that! I get mine from the UK paid into the Bangkok Bank, and have done since 2007. Get Lloyds or whoever to do a direct debit Maybe contact HSBC?? Don

coffindodger

But the O.P. hasnt a UK Bank account.

dontheturner

But [I] did qualify my comment by saying Contact HSBC, Didn't I? Don

miradav

What I was referring to was that the Pension cannot be transferred by electronic transfer to the Philippines as there not on the list. HSBC is no good to me as the nearest one is in manila, and you have to have a UK account to do the transfer and it is expensive, I do not have a UK account closed it down when I moved here. The pension service in UK do not charge any transfer fees.
Dave

dontheturner

I think, unfortunately, though expense, you could obviously do without, you need to go back, set it up, as most others seem to do, then fly back. I set my son in law up, as my attorney, and he looks after things for me, so you could then have it paid into a Philly bank, as a transfer. - just my two cents worth. Maybe just thinking, you could fly to Bangkok, and set up it up from there, using the Bangkok Bank? Don

Asia-Savi

Would it be interesting to take a lump sum from your UK Pension and exchange part or all that for Batt - avoiding the transfer charges etc.?

dontheturner

Can you do that? With a UK pension - never heard of it. don

Asia-Savi

Yes, former service men are frequently moving their pensions offshore to follow them to their retirement location. Frequently it is done just as pensionable age is reached - to forward plan shall we say. It can be possible to also do this once pension payments have started - its called a QROPS and Isle of Man/Guernsey are popular domiciles for these schemes. Advantages include a tax-free additional lump sum (handy to exchange into local currency) and the ability to pass the proceeds to the next generation without inheritance taxation.