DWP pension paid into fremch bank..........

[cooperlola]

As you may gather from my post, Cartref, this is what we do.  My pension goes straight into the French account and covers all the direct debits, tax, insurance payments etc.  The o/h's stays in the Nationwide and covers day to day expenditure, shopping hols etc. Works perfectly, imo.

[AnOther]

I'm with Coops (not that I'm in receipt of a pension yet) and the advantage of course is that one can closely watch the rate and withdraw on the N/Wide card when it's acceptable. With 2 cards you can withdraw €800 per day and when the rate is right it's not unknown for us to go 2, 3 or even 4 days on the trot.

When I check against HiFX I find I always get a rate near enough exactly as per theirs.

It's farcical actually because we draw the money out of one of the ATMs at our own branch then put it in the envelope and and pay it straight back in. I guess it's possible we could be recycling some of the same notes again the next day [:D]

Is this money laundering ?

[Hagar]

[quote user="cooperlola"]

Hmm.  17th Jan - Cash got direct from hole in wall using Nationwide debit card (pension paid to UK direct).  Rate : 1.322.  Pension transferred direct to French bank account from my pension provider (whose bank is RBS) Rate 1.312.

Go figure....

[/quote]

OK let's figure - that is a 1% difference. I don't know if Nationwide have a maximum cash withdrawal limit but let's say it is £1000. In that case you have saved £10.

But - what do you need that £1000 for? To pay some utility bills?, To pay some local taxes?. To get some petrol out out of the 24/7 unmanned machines. All of these, if not absolutely necessary then far more efficiently, are best paid through your french bank account ( d/d/, cheque, CB).

So now you have to get to your bank and deposit cash. Time, transport costs, hassle ? Is it really worth it ?

For tourists then the nationwide is excellent - for residents  I can't see the point.

rgds

Hagar

 

[Hagar]

[quote user="cooperlola"]As you may gather from my post, Cartref, this is what we do.  My pension goes straight into the French account and covers all the direct debits, tax, insurance payments etc.  The o/h's stays in the Nationwide and covers day to day expenditure, shopping hols etc. Works perfectly, imo.[/quote]

Hi cooperlola - seems our posts crossed - Put like that it sounds very sensible - Indeed we do something similar with HSBC.

rgds

Hagar

 

[cooperlola]

As I say, Hagar, I do both.  I agree that getting cash out and re-depositing it all the time is very fiddly, and I hate not knowing that I might miss a vital direct debit and fall foul of the banking system, or worse.  However, I might feel differently if it was just a short step to the bank, and not a 7km round trip!

[cooperlola]

Oops, Hagar, we did it again![:)]

[Logan]

[quote user="cooperlola"]

Hmm.  17th Jan - Cash got direct from hole in wall using Nationwide debit card (pension paid to UK direct).  Rate : 1.322.  Pension transferred direct to French bank account from my pension provider (whose bank is RBS) Rate 1.312.

Go figure....

[/quote]

Even that comparison does not reflect the true position because presumably you did these transactions at different times on the same day. Rates fluctuate minute by minute. You would need to do a spread sheet over say 6 months to discover which gave true value for money. Your pension can be transferred at one rate at the start of the month and half way through Sterling dives leaving you with a loss against the remainder of your transactions. This could also work the otherway of course but it seems an unnecessary risk to me. You can be sure Nationwide will have the real advantage somewhere. They don't run a business for your benefit despite the ads to the contrary. 

[cooperlola]

No, Logan, but they do not have shareholders. Believe me, I've been looking at the differences for over 3 years now, and Nationwide is never beaten (over RBS, I mean.)

[cartref]

Hi coops,

I'm going down your chosen route. It saves me worrying about d/d's and s/o's etc. I also know that the rest of my income (basically) is all MINE!!!!![:D]

thanks for all your help everyone who has contributed to this post.

cartref

[Hagar]

[quote user="Logan"]You can be sure Nationwide will have the real advantage somewhere. They don't run a business for your benefit despite the ads to the contrary. [/quote]

Actually Logan they do  -- "Nationwide has mutual (as opposed to Public Limited Company) status, which means that they are owned by and run for the benefit of the members."

Bit of an alien concept to some died-in-wool capitalists I know.

rgds

Hagar

 

[Logan]

Well perhaps I should shift my investments to Nationwide and wait to profit from their benevolence. Apologies if I sound sceptical. Mutuel societies also need to compete for our money in the market place and give the same if not better returns. How is that achieved? Lower costs, lower share holder dividends, lower growth, lower investment returns, lower risk. Service over profit. Offering a choice and an alternative. Very admirable socialist concept which on second thoughts is not for me. Died in the wool capitalist - absolutely.[6]

Coops: I have no doubt Nationwide has the edge over RBS for the reasons above but not the DSS system of exchange through Citibank.

[allanb]

Logan: this is quite interesting because it's an exact reprise of a discussion (OK, an argument) on this forum many months ago.   Somebody made the same claim about Nationwide - sorry, I can't remember who it was - and I expressed the same scepticism that you did.  And I got the same explanation, i.e. Nationwide is a mutual and doesn't need to make a profit on FX deals with its customers.

I couldn't prove the contrary and I still can't. But Nationwide has expenses like every other business (no matter whether it's a mutual or not) including a salary for its chief executive, who probably doesn't work for peanuts.

It would be interesting for a couple of volunteers to conduct a small experiment.  One goes into a Nationwide branch with some euros and exchanges them for sterling.   Another goes in a couple of minutes later and buys the same number of euros, paying for them in pounds.  If the sterling amount received by no. 1 is less than the amount paid by no. 2, then the difference is Nationwide's profit.  If it's the same, I will be amazed and impressed.

[cooperlola]

Yes, I feel sure Allanb that that would be the difference - it will be in the euros to sterling exchange (although I have never done this, and if one buys euros in a branch in the UK before coming to Europe, one does certainly pay more, and the rates are far less favourable.)  However, the good deals which we Nationwide customers refer to here, apply only to withdrawals using debit cards whilst abroad - not to currency exchanges in branches.  Oh, and it did apply in Canada and the US too -that's as far afield as I've ever taken my card!

[Chancer]

I backpacked around the world with my Nationwide card and saved a fortune compared to the withdrawals that I initially did with my HSBC cards, every time the exchange rate was slightly better with the NW card but the real saving was not being charged for the transaction.

I actually set off without it (lack of research being my speciality) I got heavily burned by charges in South Africa but the worst was in Venezuela where the machine limit in Bolivars was the equivalent of £15, you could make multiple withdrawals of that amount but each time incurring a £2.50 charge!

I now use the card to transfer all monies to France, I agree that it is ridiculous to draw it out from the distributeur only to pay it in over the counter and it does take some planning for occasions like today for example when I want to pay my car insurance.

Before when I transferred money (and again the NW rate was always better) I had to pay about £20 to the UK bank and then another 10 or 15 euros to my French bank, of course the HSBC offered to take care of that for me too at about twice the cost!

A consequence being that I only have limited funds in my French account to cover utility bills etc and therefore no longer use my carte blue (which was next to useless anyway but thats another story) I recently handed it back in to save the 7.50 Euro per month bank charge, only to find that I did in fact use it to check my balance!

So now I go in the bank, ask for my balance and they give it to me on a post it note, charming really and like the UK when I first started banking, it also protects their jobs (they think) but not convenient for most customers in this modern world.

I would love to just go on line to check my balance but to pay for a service that (should) save them time and money........

[Logan]

[quote user="J.R."]

I would love to just go on line to check my balance but to pay for a service that (should) save them time and money........

[/quote]

Some French banks offer that service free of charge. La Poste for example.

[Clair]

The Crédit Agricole Nord-Midi-Pyrénées started free online account access for balance on 1st Jan. You can now look at the transactions and transfer between your own accounts FOC.

[cooperlola]

BNP internet banking is free for account checks etc now too, has been for a year or so.

[allanb]

[quote user="cooperlola"]...the good deals which we Nationwide customers refer to here, apply only to withdrawals using debit cards whilst abroad - not to currency exchanges in branches.[/quote]

OK, so we need a third volunteer to take part in my proposed experiment - let's call him "No. 3".   At the same moment when Nos. 1 and 2 are playing their little game in the UK branch, No. 3 goes to an ATM in France and withdraws the same number of euros.  I presume he will get a little ticket showing the rate at which his sterling account will be debited, and then we can review the results.

Synchronize watches!

[Georgina]

I just tried to open a Nationwide current account on line and it read that you had to be a UK resident.  So if you move to France, do you still give them a UK address? What exactly, could someone explain, is the reason you have to be a UK resident?   And if you do, do you have to relinquish your account when you move to France?

[cooperlola]

You can retain a Nationwide account abroad if you were a UK resident when you opened it.  I had one for years (great for the old booze cruises when I lived in England) and they happily transferred it to me here.  But you CANNOT open one from a French address.

[AnOther]

[quote user="Georgina"]I just tried to open a Nationwide current account on line and it read that you had to be a UK resident.  So if you move to France, do you still give them a UK address? What exactly, could someone explain, is the reason you have to be a UK resident?   And if you do, do you have to relinquish your account when you move to France?[/quote]

I think you'll find it's basically to do with money laundering and if you're not UK resident (as in on the Electoral Roll) they won't touch you. Think of the hoops you have to jump through to open an A/C when you are UK resident !

Most banks and institutions will neccessarily operate similarly however I believe there are one or 2 (Barclays did somebody mention recently ?) with whom you can open an A/C but then they are unlikely to be offering the same currency exchange advantages as Nationwide so unless you need a UK bank A/C for some other reason it becomes moot.

Banks with whom you already have an A/C are usually quite happy to keep you as a customer and use your overseas address, (Lloyds and N/wide in my own case, both Current A/C's and Credit Cards), although it might be wise not to volunteer the fact that you have actually emigrated [;-)]

[cooperlola]

Even that is not a problem, Ernie.  I asked in my local branch before moving.  Answer : no problem.

[Georgina]

Righto, seems a bit ridiculous as we get paid in Sterling and need this account even though in France. Anyone got a sterling account with Credit Agricole, I know they were offering something to run alongside your Britline accounts.

Georgina

 

EDIT: forget the above I have just looked and they want a minimum of £10,000 in the currency account - yeah right, they think we are all loaded [:D][:)][:)]

[Benjamin]

I have looked back on this thread trying to see if you're talking about a private pension or the UK Satate retirement pension. If the later it is transferred by the DWP to Citibank Ireland who then convert it into €uros at probably the best rate any of us can get and they then credit to your French bank account. So no need to have a Sterling account in France.

If you're talking about a private pension you would need to talk to your pension provider but it's probably unlikely that they would undertake the same payment method as the DWP.

[Benjamin]

If anyone, like me, has been tempted to find out from the DWP website the ins and outs of getting paid in €uros to another European country then don't waste your time because the info isn't available online.

You have to contact them in writing or by 'phone at the following:

International Pension Centre

Tyneview Park

Benton

Newcastle Upon Tyne

NE98 1BA

Tel 00 44 191 218 7777 between 8 am and 8 pm UK time.

They will accept a verbal instruction to change the method of payment.