UK Savings Accounts

[mint]

[quote user="woolybanana"]My notaire does it here, no charge, and a good chat thrown in.[/quote]

Don't think I can do that, Wools.

Last time I was at the notaire's, the interview ended with him thumping his desk and going red in the face.  All because I pointed out to him that he'd missed a crucial bit of paperwork from the time of the purchase of our present house.

He tried to flannel us but OH and I stuck to our guns.  He had been negligent but I managed to get hold of another bit of paper that could replace the missing piece via the services of our maire's secretary.

It was no thanks to the notaire that we got out of that one and it was something that could have cost us thousands of euros.

You can appreciate that he wasn't on my Christmas card list and I don't think I am in his good books,[:)]

[Judith]

[quote user="mrsblack"]Thanks Judith. I now know what keeps one busy during the winter months - it is keeping up with the paperwork. I think your comment is useful in that talking , hopefully to the best person can be useful. On my fourth phonecall to one bank I learned to say "what do you think I should do". the answer was offshore , but every little bit of advice and gleanings from someone else's past experience helps to unfog the view and to see a clearer way ahead.[/quote]

Yes, I got to speak to one of the managers looking after the bigger accounts, because no-one else was there that day, and because it wasn't something the ordinary customer service staff could do ... so I think you are right, as in France, if you can get to the right person, it is amazing what can happen.

However, as a rule of thumb, don't shut any [financial] doors in the UK.

Incidentally, I agree with you about the advice given ... very little about financial, health etc, and lots about how to buy.  They also forget to tell you how hard it is to sell if you find you  need to do so.

I've lost track of the number of people who came over, and because they don't have the health care in place, for whatever reason either have to go  back to the UK for anything serious, or indeed, in some cases, for good.

I always say when asked advice, research, research, research before you do anything else.  Some live (or die) to regret that they didn't do so.

[mrsblack]

Thanks Woolybanana,Yes, it is still 50,000 according to an offshore bank who will accept us. However i am working on our 65+bond application at the moment.

When I rang I asked if the Mayor would do as a certifier but was told no and that a notaire was best. I have had all 8 pages certified by an archtect sent back. I looked at the British Consular Office in Bordeaux-the site and it said use a notaire. It also gave a list which emphasised the category of"good standing in the community" and that retired people are acceptable. BUT the NSandI said that specific-English words must be used .

Anyway I was at the notaire's this morning 8 documents cerified  -no English, because that is not a legal language in France ( Of course!). Free and a lovely chat. She said they have had no problems , so here goes, forms printed off and to be sent with cheques. I feel like asking them to send the forms back as they might come in handy. So for we have got ourselves into the health service, negotiated a wideranging free health checkup, OH,s French driving licence and a mutuelle. It seems to be the Uk that is overburdening us with bureaucracy at the moment. Thanks again.

[mrsblack]

yes, Judith, I am now going to follow your procedure and start phone calls with something on the lines of" ours is a difficult situation - could I speak to the manager"

yes, again Judith, you are right  - so easy to buy and it doesn,t seem to occur to people why there is such a lot of choice with houses. We were lucky when we sold our holiday home here when we moved to our full time residence. We were advised to have a raisonable i.e. low price and not to do any work to it to make it look more attractive. our French electrician said not a euro and commented on how much (English peopleI assume) waste on trying to make a house look good.

Jobs again. A friend married to a French national and she with super teaching experience (French) spent two years here with no luck and then they both went back to UK

[mint]

[quote user="mrsblack"]

When I rang I asked if the Mayor would do as a certifier but was told no and that a notaire was best. I have had all 8 pages certified by an archtect sent back. I looked at the British Consular Office in Bordeaux-the site and it said use a notaire. It also gave a list which emphasised the category of"good standing in the community" and that retired people are acceptable. BUT the NSandI said that specific-English words must be used .

[/quote]

Mrs B, I must thank you for telling us about asking whether the maire would be OK.

I always feel that civil service bods in the UK do not understand what maires do in France.  Just off the top of my head and after noting it when tinabee (SUCH a knowledgeable person on here) mentioned it once, the maire is responsible for the municipal police, a representative of the state in their commune, an officer of the état civil and an officer of the police judicaire.

So now I have to go back to my bad-tempered notaire and ask him nicely to please certify these things[:'(]  Perhaps I could speak to his secretary.

I agree with you, Mrs B, the Brits do not need lessons from the French about bureaucracy.

[mrsblack]

Bon Courage, Mint! Our notaire this morning did say to use the mayor and couldn't understand why the UK don't recognise a Maire. After all, she said he is the representative of the State!! Also the Consular site did say to expect to be charged by the notaire , who would in any case be cheaper than the Consulate. Ours made no charge. My OH says this is all to make us wish we had stayed in the UK!

[Judith]

Happily our notaire is a good friend who speaks English, the fact that she is also a rotarian in the same club as me probably helps ... but the other day OH got the mairie (general help rather than maire himself) to sign a certificate de vie.  Was quite used to it, but the only thing she couldn't do was sign his form as it was all in English.  Instead she filled in another one quite  happily (they have them ready printed) in French and he's sent it off, we'll see if if causes ructions in the pension service.  She was also used to forms being multi-lingual and in which case she would have completed the original form.

Hope all works out for you MrsB, it is really persistence and finding the right person to speak to which wins the day in the end.

[mint]

[quote user="mrsblack"]

Bon Courage, Mint! Our notaire this morning did say to use the mayor and couldn't understand why the UK don't recognise a Maire. After all, she said he is the representative of the State!! Also the Consular site did say to expect to be charged by the notaire , who would in any case be cheaper than the Consulate. Ours made no charge. My OH says this is all to make us wish we had stayed in the UK!

[/quote]

Mrs B, I thought I'd tell you the following (fully knowing that you have been through the process) but in the hope that it might benefit someone else.

I sent off two cheques in TWO different envelopes as one was for 2 years and one for 4 years.  I didn't want to chance putting both cheques and forms in the ONE envelope even though they were going to the same address.  Just couldn't trust them to be sufficiently on the ball to notice that there were 2 applications.

Here's what happened for my pains:  1 cheque was returned and the other was actually cashed!  Oh, goody, thought I, at least one cheque was unnoticed by their beady eyes.  When the paperwork comes back with my reference number, I would be able to use the number to apply for the second bond!

Alas, I'd jumped the gun, I duly received a letter saying that they would return my cheque if I couldn't supply the following information in addition to the certified copies of my passport and a communication from the French tax office with my tax reference.  I couldn't help printing out in LARGE letters, AS REQUESTED by YOU, date and place of birth AS ON MY PASSPORT, tax reference number AS ON MY TAX DEMAND.  A primary school-age child could have found the information without asking that I write this out separately.

The only good bit was when I went to the notaire's and he came up and shook my hand and smiled, seemingly having completely forgotten how we left each other at our last meeting! 

[mrsblack]

Hello Mint. Once again thanks to all and Mint -nice to know  - in a way that we were not the only ones to have problems. Everyone out there  - success here at last we have our 65+ bonds and they returned our Mairie certified docs. as well! Sorry, error -our notaire docs. . Our mairie docs were with a savings bank. We now have a separate file for copies of docs. The delay in replying is because i have been a) out in the garden and b) working on our first tax declaration...........

I think the digging is an escape mechanism.

[mint]

Bravo, Mrs B!

I did post on another thread that they have now given me both bonds and I was hoping that you'd have seen that other thread that is called, I think rather disparagingly, as "granny bond".

As I have no grandchildren, at least not of my own, I wondered if that would disqualify me![;-)]

I couldn't think of digging in these atrocious "spring" weather conditions but I did tidy up some bushes and got shot of lots of ivy.

BTW, the tax declaration becomes routine after the first one though for us Brits with UK income, the exchange rate can be tedious to work out.

Bon courage, Mrs B!

[Hereford]

We have just tried to apply for the Granny Bonds and got stuck! At the point you add your address it wants a UK postcode to "find" the address. We do not have a UK address.  Putting a French postcode just gets an error message and we cannot complete the rest of the info.  We went to the NSI page to apply.

Can anyone tell me how they got past this seeming impasse please?

Many thanks

[Pickles]

[quote user="Hereford"]We have just tried to apply for the Granny Bonds and got stuck! At the point you add your address it wants a UK postcode to "find" the address. We do not have a UK address.  Putting a French postcode just gets an error message and we cannot complete the rest of the info.  We went to the NSI page to apply.

Can anyone tell me how they got past this seeming impasse please?

Many thanks

[/quote]

Use the download option to give you a hard copy?

[Kong]

You can't apply on line from France because of the postcode issue. Pickles is right, do as the website suggests, download the form, print it and fill it in and send with your cheque. They will then send you a request for copies of documents as Mint says above. Be ready to visit your Notaire (who didn't charge me or Mint) for certification (of the docs!).

[Jay]

[quote user="CSV"][quote user="Jay"]

"No problem", they said ,"we will send the appropriate form in the post."

[/quote]

It will be interesting to know;

1. If you ever receive the form

2. The account is opened after you have filled it in

I suspect the help desk person was not fully 'aware' of your situation [Www]

[/quote]

Getting back to the original question and CSV's post. We sent off the forms to add my wife to our savings account which I had opened online with NatWest a few months ago. One question on the form asked if we paid tax in the UK or our country of residence.

It took about 5 days for the account to be authorised - no problem as the man said!

[Hereford]

Thank you very for the quick replies, I will download the form and go from there.

H.

[mint]

Hereford, might as well get certified copies of your passport and avis d'impots (oops, no accents) and return the lot.  They are going to ask for these things and it will save them and you another communication.

Just play by their rules and all will be OK.

BTW, must apologise to everybody with my rubbish about 2- and 4-year terms, I mean 1 and 2.  Getting mixed up and muddly but still mainly compost mentis (sorry, the compost bin very much on my mind as I haven't looked in it for months!)

[Kong]

Mint I think you mean 1 and three years!

[mint]

[quote user="Kong"]Mint I think you mean 1 and three years![/quote]

Kong, I'm not even going to bother checking as I am sure you are right 100%[:D]

It's not a big deal after all, is it?  Just 20 k per person for 1 and 2 years?  Got to be some sort of carrot for the general election.  I think Conservative Party might as well read Cynical Party!

As for all that stuff about getting all your pension pot upfront...............just a way of getting tax revenues upfront, non?

Still, just play by the rules and benefit whilst you can because, goodness knows, us UK bods living in France might well have a shock or two in store[+o(]

[Kong]

I'm afraid the pension pot management scheme passed by me. I retired 5 years ago with annuities and small cash sums obligatory. I wasn't (aren't) bothered with gambling the tiny amounts on the stock exchange and invested in bog standard offshore banking at 4%. That diminished to more or less nothing so I jumped at the opportunity to buy grandpa bonds. With luck the interest might pay for a weekend with the grandchildren in the UK.

Next hurdle is recovering the tax deducted from HMRC!