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How does your UK pension arrive and what code?


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On 9/12/2019 at 9:13 AM, Hotrats said:

I receive my UK State Pension directly every 28 days into my Bangkok Bank account in Thailand. It comes into my local account with the reference BAHTNET. My understanding is the UK pension office send the payments for pensioners living in Thailand in bulk to a central clearing bank here, from where it is distributed to all the individual accounts. Hence the receiving account does not register it as an international payment (with FTT) because it has been received from the local clearing bank in Thai Baht.

"I receive my UK State Pension directly every 28 days into my Bangkok Bank account in Thailand. It comes into my local account with the reference BAHTNET".

 

You don't receive it "directly into your BBL account", Citibank receives it directly from the DWP, UK.  Your Thai bank receives it directly from Citibank in Thailand. 

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On 9/12/2019 at 10:24 AM, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Interesting that the use of English in the UK Pensions Office has fallen to such a low level. Three errors in one short message is quite extraordinary. I've received poor English emails from the UK passport people at the Trendy Building, but they are Thais and you might expect them not to be perfect, but in the UK?

The chances are that is the English grammar of the OP, not the DWP!

Edited by Just Weird
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On 9/12/2019 at 12:31 PM, chilly07 said:

Pension payed into UK NatWest account then to Transferwise for the best exchange rate and lowest fee then into Bangkok Bank always showing as an International Transfer FTT for no additional fee. Don't see where the problem is?

The problem for a lot of expats is not having a UK bank account!

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26 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

"I receive my UK State Pension directly every 28 days into my Bangkok Bank account in Thailand. It comes into my local account with the reference BAHTNET".

 

You don't receive it "directly into your BBL account", Citibank receives it directly from the DWP, UK.  Your Thai bank receives it directly from Citibank in Thailand. 

You are correct, and that's why the transfers never will show up as international/foreign, and no FTT in the BBL bankbook. These are Interbank Transfers. 

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With regard to TRANSFERWISE, in very simplified terms, this (as explained to me) is how their system operates:

 

TW have many accounts held in various countries throughout the world and maintain a healthy balance in each by electronically transferring funds between them in a continually ongoing system.

They have holding accounts in various SE Asian countries eg:‘Singapore’. In turn TW have three partner Thai banks (Bangkok bank, Kasikorn and TMB) that they use to actually route the transfers into Thailand.

So, when we initiate a transfer via TW, the transfer is initiated as the final international part of the route is from that SE country to one of the three partner banks in Thailand.

If you use, for example, Bangkok Bank and asked your transfer to be routed directly to them, your transfer will go directly into your account with an International FTT coding. Likewise if you use the correct procedure with Kasikorn and TMB banks.

If however, you use a different Thai bank, TW will simply route to to one of their partner banks who will immediately initiate a transfer to your own Thai account. This will mean the final leg of the transfer is an internal one between the Thai banks and the coding in your account will reflect this. Likewise if you use BKKB but didn’t register your preferred route with TW and they use Kasikorn or TMB for that transfer it will be shown as an internal transfer.

 

The advantage of TW is that they:

1. Use an account in a local country as a holding account to transfer into Thailand and

2. Have three partner banks so, providing your Thai account is with one of those banks and you have routed correctly, you will get an international (FTT) coding in your account.

 

Other institutions, such as CITIBANK use a similar transfer system with one main difference, the holding bank they use to transfer the funds to each individual’s account is situated within Thailand so the final leg is always an internal transfer between Thai banks and is designated as an internal transfer, even though it originated from abroad.

 

As I said, this is a very simplified version of a complex system but, in principal, is basically correct.

Edited by john terry1001
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8 minutes ago, john terry1001 said:

With regard to TRANSFERWISE, in very simplified terms, this (as explained to me) is how their system operates:

 

TW have many accounts held in various countries throughout the world and maintain a healthy balance in each by electronically transferring funds between them in a continually ongoing system.

They have holding accounts in various SE Asian countries eg:‘Singapore’. In turn TW have three partner Thai banks (Bangkok bank, Kasikorn and TMB) that they use to actually route the transfers into Thailand.

So, when we initiate a transfer via TW, the transfer is initiated as the final international part of the route is from that SE country to one of the three partner banks in Thailand.

If you use, for example, Bangkok Bank and asked your transfer to be routed directly to them, your transfer will go directly into your account with an International FTT coding. Likewise if you use the correct procedure with Kasikorn and TMB banks.

If however, you use a different Thai bank, TW will simply route to to one of their partner banks who will immediately initiate a transfer to your own Thai account. This will mean the final leg of the transfer is an internal one between the Thai banks and the coding in your account will reflect this. Likewise if you use BKKB but didn’t register your preferred route with TW and they use Kasikorn or TMB for that transfer it will be shown as an internal transfer.

 

The advantage of TW is that they:

1. Use an account in a local country as a holding account to transfer into Thailand and

2. Have three partner banks so, providing your Thai account is with one of those banks and you have routed correctly, you will get an international (FTT) coding in your account.

 

Other institutions CITIBANK use a similar transfer system with one main difference, the holding bank they use to transfer the funds to each individual’s account is situated within Thailand so the final leg is always an internal transfer between Thai banks and is designated as an internal transfer, even though it originated from abroad.

 

As I said, this is a very simplified version of a complex system but, in principal, is basically correct.

You are correct. Recently TW added a new reason for a transfer:

Funds for long term stay in Thailand. So if you you're sending money to BBL,K-Bank or TMB, the chances your money gets routed to wrong bank is even smaller. 

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8 minutes ago, trubrit said:

Apparently they checked with the local council and I wasn't on record for paying council tax at my daughters UK address that I was using .

Read this:

How to open a borderless account

Ready to see how much you could save using a TransferWise borderless account? Here’s what you'll need to do:

  1. Create your account. There’s no fee, but you might need to provide some documents to verify your identity to keep your account safe.
  2. Select a currency. Set up balances in any of dozens of currencies, with just one click.
  3. Add money to your account. Top up your account via debit card or bank transfer, or give your account details to anyone who wants to make an international payment to you.
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1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

The chances are that is the English grammar of the OP, not the DWP!

 

That crossed my mind but the OP was quoting, and if they were doing that then they made an appalling job of copying what they had in front of them. Nothing would surprise me from UK 'institutions'. I once received a letter by email from HSBC containing enough grammatical errors for me to contact them and confirm it wasn't a phishing letter. Dumber and dumber. I do wonder how things will be 30, 40, 50 years down the line by which time, I'm beginning to think, most people will be illiterate.

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4 hours ago, Max69xl said:

Swift codes are international, every bank has an 8 digit Swift code. That code is always used when transferring money using the Swift system.

If an European bank transfers money to an account in Thailand,and let's say that bank are routing their transfers through Bangkok Bank, then transfers to Bangkok Bank will show up as international in the statement, and in the bankbook it will say FTT. In every other bank the transfers will show up as Interbank Transfers (SMT in some banks bankbooks).

I do not know what you are trying to say, my comment made no reference to codes in bankbooks.

I use TMB and this is the Swift code TMBKTHBKXXX, every TMB bank in Thailand has the same Swift code and if you look up the Swift directory you will find that code is for the head office in Bangkok. Yes Swift codes are international and most countries use 11 character, this is the Swift code for my UK account HBUKGB4154F, the last 3 characters being the branch in Barnsley. Europe and the middle east use IBAN, Swift is only used for transactions that would go outside the IBAN areas

Fifteen years ago I was a self employed IT consultant and was working for a company where one of my tasks was to investigate failed BACS payments. the most common problem was operator error with lack of software validation. Validation is much better these days and all swift codes must be represented by 11 characters whether they have them or not.

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My RAF pension is paid on the 15th monthly and this month the 15th is Sunday.

 

I got an sms about 4:30 pm today saying that the pension had arrived though I wasn't expecting it until Monday. I set up my transfer with TW to transfer it to BBL and it should be there on Monday afternoon.

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The UK pension Service pays my pension to Bangkok Bank here via Citibank. Bangkok Bank will supply a credit advice/slip. This shows your name account number ordering institution ( state pension Tyneview Park) and and amount received in Baht. Payment via Citybank/ Bahtnet. In my bank book it shows simply TRS. I obtained a copy of one months transfer from my bank here there was no charge. Not having renewed my visa I just have to hope this information will be included in the bank letter confirming monthly income from occupational pension. I shall ask that it is.

 

 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, john smith said:

The UK pension Service pays my pension to Bangkok Bank here via Citibank. Bangkok Bank will supply a credit advice/slip. This shows your name account number ordering institution ( state pension Tyneview Park) and and amount received in Baht. Payment via Citybank/ Bahtnet. In my bank book it shows simply TRS. I obtained a copy of one months transfer from my bank here there was no charge. Not having renewed my visa I just have to hope this information will be included in the bank letter confirming monthly income from occupational pension. I shall ask that it is.

 

 

 

 

One one thread (I think it was this one) Ubonjoe pasted a bank letter from one BKK Bank in Chon Buri which was what the IO there wanted and more importantly, was happy with.

 

I have attached it here.

Example-BankLetter-Monthly-Deposits.pdf

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On 9/12/2019 at 4:29 AM, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Totally agree. I'm lucky though that I can quickly pop over into Laos and be back home in time for lunch when I have to make a completely pointless but required 90-day exit.

How do people revert/ change from a retirement extension to the above visa? Can it be done from outside your home country? How much money is required.  Whats the procedure?

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27 minutes ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

How do people revert/ change from a retirement extension to the above visa? Can it be done from outside your home country? How much money is required.  Whats the procedure?

 

If you're married to a Thai, simply get a multi-entry O visa based on marriage when you next need to renew. If you apply in Savannakhet or Saigon then there are no financial requirements other than the 5000 baht/$200 respectively cost of the visa. Other embassies/consulates in the area will not issue a multi entry without you showing money in the bank, 400,000 I believe, and there are rules attached to that. Some refuse to issue multi entry visas at all. They all make up their own rules, no matter what the law says.

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On 9/11/2019 at 6:57 PM, crazykopite said:

I don’t do it but many do and that’s pay an agent to sort out your extension of stay I don’t know how they do it but somehow they can get around all this financial requirements.if things get any tougher I might have to look at doing it myself next time . At the moment my U.K. pensions go into my U.K. bank and I live off my 800 k immigration deposit then three months before reapplying I send the amount needed to take it back up to the 800k it’s a merry go-round but it saves me transfer costs by doing it once rather than every month . I just had a friend who has now got issues with his monthly pension due to the incorrect transfer coding he is currently in KL as he’s going to go down the multi entry route like me he is not sure about using an agent 

I don't know how they do this either, but I assume the agent makes the transfer and the user (you) pays the agent the money and some fee.  The grey area is I reckon, if somebody dug into it is that nothing really shows that you got the original money from a foreign in transfer

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22 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Nonsense. I've maintained and used a Nationwide account for at least 30 years. In that time I've lived in Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt and now Thailand

The key is being able to show some UK address isn't it. I am sure you, like me, did not have any issue in years gone by. Recently the UK banks have got tougher wrt confirming addresses. I used my mother's home for years until she passed, then changed to using my sisters place.... making that change was quite onerous, so when sister moved home I decided it surely shouldn't be any more difficult to use my Thailand address. How wrong I was... but ultimately got there in the end. 

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50 minutes ago, jacko45k said:
23 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Nonsense. I've maintained and used a Nationwide account for at least 30 years. In that time I've lived in Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt and now Thailand

 

50 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

The key is being able to show some UK address isn't it. I am sure you, like me, did not have any issue in years gone by. Recently the UK banks have got tougher wrt confirming addresses. I used my mother's home for years until she passed, then changed to using my sisters place.... making that change was quite onerous, so when sister moved home I decided it surely shouldn't be any more difficult to use my Thailand address. How wrong I was... but ultimately got there in the end. 

That is certainly not the case with NBS. The only time that I have used a UK address as my official registered address was when I was actually living there.

 

During my frequent long term overseas stays, I have always used my local address and they have been fine with that. That includes sending me new bank cards as required.

 

In the current climate, it is necessary to have a UK address to open an account, but one does not have to be permanently resident there to continue holding and operating that account.

 

Bankers 'terms and conditions' require that the address that an account holder provides must be one at which they can be readily contacted. Providing an address in one country and living in another one is clearly in breach of that requirement.

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16 hours ago, john smith said:

The UK pension Service pays my pension to Bangkok Bank here via Citibank. Bangkok Bank will supply a credit advice/slip. This shows your name account number ordering institution ( state pension Tyneview Park) and and amount received in Baht. Payment via Citybank/ Bahtnet. In my bank book it shows simply TRS. I obtained a copy of one months transfer from my bank here there was no charge. Not having renewed my visa I just have to hope this information will be included in the bank letter confirming monthly income from occupational pension. I shall ask that it is.

 

 

 

 

Bankbooks can be quite irrelevant. I only ever have one consolidated deposit with one consolidated withdrawal a year, done just before going to immigration. The transactions are coded 001SUMCR and 001SUMDR.

I have done the combo for a few years and immigration have only ever been interested in the information from the bank, I normally get a letter plus an itemised statement. Immigration  have never asked to see the bankbook. I would certainly need something from the bank to confirm source of funds.

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1 hour ago, Moonlover said:

Bankers 'terms and conditions' require that the address that an account holder provides must be one at which they can be readily contacted. Providing an address in one country and living in another one is clearly in breach of that requirement.

The terms and conditions are at the discretion of the bank.

A few years back I got an email asking me to go to my HSBC branch in the UK. I said I was out of the country and would go as soon as convenient, which was about 6 months later.

The guy told me there was a question mark over my address which he said appeared to be a post box in disguise. I said he was quite right that it was an online mail handling service and went on to explain my situation. He said that it was not bank policy to have accounts for non UK residents but as I had my pension paid into the bank they were prepared to maintain the account. When I explained the problems with rural post and how the online service worked he was more than happy to keep the address as it was.

He took a note of my Thai address and details of my Thai bank account, the only point being that they would not send cards to Thailand. I normally have my son collect the cards from the branch, and everything has been ok since.

Edited by sandyf
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20 minutes ago, sandyf said:

The terms and conditions are at the discretion of the bank.

A few years back I got an email asking me to go to my HSBC branch in the UK. I said I was out of the country and would go as soon as convenient, which was about 6 months later.

The guy told me there was a question mark over my address which he said appeared to be a post box in disguise. I said he was quite right that it was an online mail handling service and went on to explain my situation. He said that it was not bank policy to have accounts for non UK residents but as I had my pension paid into the bank they were prepared to maintain the account. When I explained the problems with rural post and how the online service worked he was more than happy to keep the address as it was.

He took a note of my Thai address and details of my Thai bank account, the only point being that they would not send cards to Thailand. I normally have my son collect the cards from the branch, and everything has been ok since.

At the end of the day, everything to do with an account is at the discretion of the bank.

 

I have 3 pensions. I have always had one of them, the smallest, paid into my NBS account, thus ensuring that the account is 'kept alive'. I also try and spend a little on my NBS credit card each month for the same reason. This seems to keep them happy and they even still allow me an arranged overdraft.

 

But I've never made a secret of where I am in the world and it never seems to bother them.

 

One point about NBS is that I do not deal with a branch. I can't even remember what branch I used. All contact with them is on-line to their HQ in Swindon, so my dealings are not at the whim of a local branch manager.

 

On the matter of mailing cards, I discovered quite some time ago that if were to ask them whether they mail cards to Thailand, they would say 'no we can't'. But if I just ignore the issue, they mail them anyway! Figure that one out.

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5 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Bankers 'terms and conditions' require that the address that an account holder provides must be one at which they can be readily contacted. Providing an address in one country and living in another one is clearly in breach of that requirement.

I just get a sense of they would rather not deal with foreign addresses.....

NBS is not a bank anyhow.

 

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Barclays have no problem with me banking in the UK whilst living in Singapore & they certainly know about it seeing as they were the ones that put me here 11 years ago!!! (even though I stopped working for them 5 years ago, my account still says "Staff Account") 

 

I use my parents address as the correspondence address but all statements/documents etc... are put into the Barclays "Cloud" where I can access them from anywhere.

 

Only problems I've had are:-

  • Cards - I'm not sure whether they'll ship them overseas or not, I have them sent to my parents house & pick them up when I visit, funny enough I'm expecting a new Barclaycard in the next week or so & will be there on the 30th Sept to pick it up :)) - I never use them unless I'm in the UK anyway, especially not with sterling down the toilet, I'm better off spending on my SG cards...
  • Need a UK Mobile number to Register for Mobile Banking & Barclaycard online - I got a new phone & wasn't able to set-up the mobile banking or Barclaycard apps, ended up using Mums mobile number & a bit of coordination over Whatsapp to sort out the One Time Pin to get them activated.
  • One Time Pin - As I didn't have Mobile Banking & the battery had gone on the "Calculator" device they give you, I wasn't able to set-up a new payee, sorted the problem out by getting Mobile Banking working as above, then on my next trip to UK mentioned it in the branch and they gave me a new device there & then.

   

Also have no problems with my One Account (was Virgin, now RBS) Mortgage, again they know I'm living overseas & renting the place out and they don't bother to send me any cards as I never use it, I just leave enough money in the account so the Mortgage is in credit (they pay me a few pennies interest each month)

 

Edit to add: Barclays have no problem with me having a share portfolio & ISA with them either, though I do need to remind them every year when they tell me I haven't used my ISA allowance for this year that I'm not eligible for an allowance as I live OS

 

 

 

Edited by Mike Teavee
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NatWest have known I live in Thailand for 10 years and it's never been a problem except when a new debit card is due. In that case, I've phoned them, changed to a UK address to which the card is delivered and then, sometime later, I revert to my Thailand address again. At various times, I've picked-up the card on a UK visit, had it brought over by family/friend or had it mailed to me.

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