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How to save money on retirement in France
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Pension not payable in France
I will be 65 in 2018 and have worked in the UK and France. I have two private pension pots. One is ‘paid up’ and benefits become available on my birthday but I have received a letter saying they will not be able pay annuities into my French bank account. They offer ‘options’ of receiving cheques or transferring the benefits to another registered pension provider. Is this normal? J.S.
Often, problems with paying foreign banks are a question of misunderstanding. If one asks a UK provider to pay into a French account, they may reply ‘no’, the reason being that the UK provider is not responsible for doing currency exchanges. If, however, one simply gives a French account details as the account to which the transfer from the UK should be made, this is accepted, and the currency exchange happens automatically in the process of the bank transfer.
You should note that it is accepted procedure that French banks do not charge for the receipt of regular pension amounts from overseas.
