I am contemplating having my UK State pension paid into a Unicredit bank here from the UK. Although it would have to be transferred by an Iban or Swift number etc, is there a charge for this or does the UK send it free of any charges? Just working out the costs and any savings because Nationwide charge heavily for drawing Leva at an ATM over here.

Hi Itchy I worked in pensions dept up until last year, many of my clients lived overseas and had their pensions transferred monthly. This worked well for them as there are no charges other than converting the stirling to lev. I assume you are charged a 1 to 3% to draw the funds out anyway, bacs payment there are no charge and you can get a debit card too. Each year you will still be sent a P60.

oddball wrote:

Hi Itchy I worked in pensions dept up until last year, many of my clients lived overseas and had their pensions transferred monthly. This worked well for them as there are no charges other than converting the stirling to lev. I assume you are charged a 1 to 3% to draw the funds out anyway, bacs payment there are no charge and you can get a debit card too. Each year you will still be sent a P60.

Thanks for the info Berni - Yes, Nationwide very kindly took all my pension increase last to bolster their profits and on average it costs 3% on all Leva extracted from the ATM. I have set up the account with UniCredit, will the UK Pensions do a Bacs payment automatically or do I have to stipulate how I want the money transferred?

You will have to send the UK the the BG bank account no, swift code and name on the account and they will set up the back with nominated bank then they will transfer to your account on a set day - might also make a note if the payment date falls on a Saturday your back account will not be credited until the Monday, so be a little careful around Xmas and bank hols. I also understand that if you have an account with a debit card here they charge you 1lev a month nothing much, I know but needs to be taken into account too.

:Let us know how you get on Great: