Hi all, I am currently in the process of moving from the UK to Canada. As part of the move I will be keeping some commitents on here in the UK, including mortgage, insurance etc etc.
What I need to do is to find a Bank Account here in the (and of course one in Canada) UK that allows me to move money internationally (ie from my account in Canada into my UK account for monthly payment of mortgage etc), ideally via the web or on some sort of standing order.
Is this possible? If so can anyone recommend banks / accounts that would have this facility? Otherwise, is there any other way to do this, ideally with the minimum of service charges as I will be needing to do this fairly often.
I live in the Philippines, and have similar connections back in the UK as you. I maintain an account with HSBC in Jersey, which gives me a UK cheque book, debit cards etc, and I also have an account with them here. They've been very good at transferring money around for me. International transfers requested on their internet banking system often arrive at my local account within a couple of hours, and are charged at a discounted rate of £10 because they're within the same HSBC Group. I know they have offices in Canada as well.
Things are changing rapidly in this area. Switch is becoming Maestro, and for all I know that means it will become an international means of payment.
One can wire funds to and among the UK, US and Canada. I had trouble sending money from a credit union to HSBC because the credit union couldn't figure out how to transmit the funds to England. HSBC gave me the ABA code for their New York Office, and now the system works well. There has never been a problem in the other direction. The fees are not friendly, however.
It is best to keep a UK account. For reasons of potential IHT I recommend the account is in the Channel Islands, but if the amount in question is not large that may not matter.
For transmitting occasional amounts where the exact amount is unimportant, you can buy Sterling travellers cheques in Canada (or Canadian dollar cheques in the UK). That is the cheapest way to transmit amounts of a few hundred to a few thousand pounds.
If you keep a UK address, HSBC or First Direct have fabulous online features. Perhaps other banks do as well, but Lloyds has been giving me terrible trouble over my business account -- and this has been going on for years. The only reason I stay with them is that the account number is hard-wired into several leases we have outstanding.
There is no standing order that I am aware of that will work cross border with the sole exception of Community Banks of visiting forces. And these are not available to you. Canadian banks in London stopped accepting retail accounts in the 1980s. Indeed, I was put onto Lloyds Bank by Bank of Montreal, our bankers in Canada.
It isn't clear what you are doing with respect to real estate. If you are renting out your UK property you may want to have a company (can be a Canadian or Isle of Man company or LLC) act as your "agent" for tax purposes to have tax assessed. That saves you the 25% withholding tax on the rent, and you will pay your tax, in arrears, on the net. So you get the use of the funds for the year or so before you file your tax return (or the company files on your behalf, actually).
As for the property, no my family live there so I will simply be payiong the mortgage and need to move that amount from Canada to the UK on a monthly/bimonthly basis.
Whats the best way to do this? Would an HSBC account let me do this without charge and online?
I don't see any way you can move funds cheaply online across borders. You see, in Britain domestic e-transfers are by BACS, but internationally they are by SWIFT. I think you are going to have to transmit several months' funds at once into a UK-based account and pay the mortgage, etc. by direct debit or online banking. With HSBC and First Direct you can pay any major firm, financial institution, utility and government agency electronically.
I find international transfers unreasonably expensive -- and you are often charged £20 or so at each end. Which is why I suggested travellers cheques (1% fee plus the exchange commission) for anything up to, say, £1,000.
Canadian postal money orders can (or could, last time I used one) be issued in Can$, US$ or £ Sterling. But that's not a cheap way to send money either.
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