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I was wondering how other people using this forum are managing, or plan to manage their UK pension. Do you transfer your pension to Dubai or is there some way it can be paid from a UK scheme to a bank account in Dubai?

I would be very grateful of any information or experiences people have about this.

many thanks

aa88 wrote:I was wondering how other people using this forum are managing, or plan to manage their UK pension. Do you transfer your pension to Dubai or is there some way it can be paid from a UK scheme to a bank account in Dubai?

I would be very grateful of any information or experiences people have about this.

many thanks

I have worked out how I'm going to get a UK pension, let a lone spend one.

Any ideas? They sound kind of neat.

aa88 wrote:I was wondering how other people using this forum are managing, or plan to manage their UK pension. Do you transfer your pension to Dubai or is there some way it can be paid from a UK scheme to a bank account in Dubai?

I would be very grateful of any information or experiences people have about this.

many thanks

Not sure there are many members of the Forums who are of pensionable age...apart from Arnie and Sage that is!

It would have to be paid into a UK account and then transferred to a Dubai account by telegraphic transfer. Unfortunately, the banks here are archaiic and highly inefficient, so it will take days if not weeks to arrive and then there are bound to be problems getting your hands on it.

HSBC should be able to handle it due to their international spread, but they are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard! It would have to be paid into an offshore account in Jersey or Guernsey first.

Surprisingly, Dubai Bank can give you a UK£ account and you can send it there by Swift transfer. However, once its in there you will have a hell of a job getting it back out!

Best of luck!



Knight

this is a difficult one

Although not of pensionable age contrary to DK thinging so (you are messing with a Local again DK - be warned) i can only offer advice to the banking system.

Lloyds and HSBC both offer sterling accounts I bank with LloydsTsb and have a current ac, sterling ac and various offshore accounts.

DK was pretty well spot on with using a swift transfer from the UK but this is costly and can be time consuming. There is no direct link between the big 4 Brit banks and their counterparts in Dubai.

Your options are limited as the pension will be paid via the originators UK account with whomever that may be with.

My advice in the first instance is to ask if you can be paid monthly cheq. If this is possible then ask if they can send via Fedex or a good private courier that has the ability to send "documents". This can take as little as 1 day or upto 5/7 days depending on the level of service.

This cheque can then be deposited in your Dubai Banks "sterling account" and in the case of Lloyds you earn interest from the day you deposit the cheque. You can then transfer your sterling funds into your "dirham" account.

All this carries a risk with in effect playing the exchange rate game with your pension. OK, in the short term and in the current climate this is good for us Brits, but the situation will not always be as such.

My only other suggestion is to consider a Nationwide BS Account in the UK. Their current accounts do not charge for foreign use of Cash Machines. I dont know of any other bank or building society that does not charge cash handling fee's to withdraw foreign currency.

In the short term i believe the cash machine route is the way to go until you can sort out something more perm. I'm having lunch with my business bank manager next week i'll mention this to him and report back if there are other/better ways for you.

Don't know much about pension scheme, but can advice on banks as well like Arnie.

Most of the big foreign banks will have sterling accounts as well as offshore accounts avaliable.

Be careful with the ATM withdrawls though if you are taking from those accounts. The banks can and do charge fees for the withdrawls. Same goes for counter withdrawls.

Any IMT sent over from the UK usually takes about one week if its own bank (ie, HSBC to HSBC). Will take longer if its interbank.

If you get a cheque sent over via courier, it will be a cheque drawn on a foreign bank and this will take at least 20 working days to clear in my understanding.