Banks - UK / France money transfers

[Kristine]

I already operate a french bank account ,which deals with income earned in France.

However I know need to know more about transferring money , ie pension from UK to France. Does anybody know which , if any , UK ,offshore ,or high street banks or building societies offer a free  money transfer service  to which reciprocal french banks .I wrongly assumed that Barclays would operate this service ,but apparently not.

[Quillan]

There is a company that deals with transfering non government pensions at a very ggod rate and low charges. I don't use them (don't have a pension) but I know a couple of people who do and I will try and get some details. I believe you have your pension paid to them and they put it in your bank account in France. I will get the details and post them here for you.

[Gardian]

It's well documented on here. There are a number of good and reliable money brokers who will 'buy' euros for the ensuing year at whatever rate is going at the time, then take a mthly d/d from yr UK bank a/c and send the euros to your French a/c - same amount every mth. You know where you are.  5 working days tsfr.

I use HIFX, but there are many others who are good and reliable.  www.HIFX.com  I think.  They'll take 'their cut' (of course), but they're good people to deal with. Two yrs and never a problem.  

[Kristine]

Thanks for the info , this will however be a government pension,and I was hoping that it could be paid into a UK bank or building society and then transferred to a sort of "sister " bank in France. This then , as it would be a regular monthly swift or similar transfer ,ought to be free. I know that this is how it works in Spain between certain banks, ie Lloyds - Unicaja , Halifax - Banco Halifax Hispana , Nat West - Sol , but am not sure about France, when we lived there we worked and did'nt at that time receive any pension.By the time we return to France to live , we will be receiving a UK pension , and wanted to be able to use the same type ofsystem , if it is available.

[BJSLIV]

Many of the larger government related pension schemes offer a direct payment facility to foreign accounts, and their charges are often low with good exchange rates. Its worth contacting Pension Admin.