# banking



## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

Hi I expect this may have already been covered but no harm in asking is it financially better to have my gov pension paid into a cypriot bank or keep UK account and take the hit for paying conversion rate at the cash point 
Cheers


----------



## H&S (Jun 12, 2013)

Another alternative is to have your pension paid into your UK account then transfer it across to your Cypriot account via an exchange company such as Currency Fair. You will get a good exchange rate then.


----------



## lynn65 (Apr 16, 2014)

This was one of the things I was wanting to know about, we were going to get our private pensions paid into a Cyprus Bank, is there any reason why we shouldn't, thanks Lynn


----------



## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

You can get much better exchange rates by having your money paid into your UK bank and using a currency company to bring it over as needed.


----------



## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

Many thanks H S


----------



## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

Thanks Veronica


----------



## lynn65 (Apr 16, 2014)

Thanks Veronica


----------



## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

I have my pension paid directly into my Cyprus bank account in Euros. The exchange rate is always excellent and on a par with Currency Fair without any charges. The UK government must have struck a deal somehow.

Pete


----------



## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

Many thanks 
Cheers


----------



## Rema (Aug 12, 2012)

If you opt for a bank in Cyprus and arrange transfers yourself from the UK it's worth checking they operate a reciprocal transfer agreement with your UK bank. This means you can transfer money at low or even no cost. If there is no direct link between the two banks they have to use a correspondence bank (third party bank) to effect any transfer and there is normally a steep handling charge imposed.

Experience shows that paying your pension into either a UK or Cypriot bank works OK. Given the financial meltdown of the other year many will still advise you to keep as little funds in Cyprus as is strictly necessary, I don't personally think this is still a problem but keep your funds under the magic €100,000 in any case! 
If paying your pension into a UK bank then its best to use a registered transfer company (I use FC Exchange). A major benefit is that you can time your exchanges to when the £/€ exchange rate is most favourable for you. Check out their transfer bands too as the more you transfer in one go the better the exchange rate they give you.

You might also like to take interest rates into consideration. Cypriot bank are still paying out better rates that UK banks.

All in all it's a trade off I'm afraid. Best you check out all the options before you decide what's best for your circumstances however I would strongly recommend having both UK and Cyprus bank accounts.


----------



## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

Thanks for your advice I will only be having my state pension transferred which as you know is paid weekly on that basis it's working out the best option 
Cheers


----------



## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

wizard4 said:


> Thanks for your advice I will only be having my state pension transferred which as you know is paid weekly on that basis it's working out the best option
> Cheers


If you are having your state pension transferred directly to a Cypriot bank, you should be aware it is not possible to have it paid weekly. My wife had her pension paid weekly into our UK bank, and we then transferred funds when we needed to. However, when she decided to have the pension paid directly here, she was told (eventually after a number of increasingly irate telephone calls) that it could only be paid every four weeks.


----------



## Talagirl (Feb 24, 2013)

I have my UK Pension paid into my UK bank account and then transfer funds as and when necessary to Cyprus using an on-line currency exchange company.


----------



## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

That's interesting as I spoke to dwp yesterday as they gave me final figure for pension amount I mentioned living abroad was told to discuss it with there international section wow decisions decisions by the way I like your avatar really funny lol 
Cheers


----------



## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

Thanks Talagirl do you have to pay any fees for that service 
Cheers


----------



## Talagirl (Feb 24, 2013)

I use Currency Fair which charges a flat fee of €3 per transaction. My Cyprus bank charges €2 but I expect that is because of the amount I transfer each time.

I don't keep much in my bank account - enough to pay utility bills and have some cash.


----------



## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

That is quite reasonable I would be using the account the same way so thanks for your comments
Changing the subject how do I establish friends here 
Cheers


----------

