Should I transfer my UK pension directly to Thailand or to a UK bank account first?

I've seen comments about UK banks closing accounts if you are not living in UK, I haven't found that to be the case for me but it might be true for some banks. I am with HSBC and have my Thailand address registered with them plus I have been living full time in Thailand since 2012 and don't have a problem. HSBC is advertised as an 'international' bank so maybe it's different to other UK banks. All banks are different regarding money transfers and I can only talk about the banks I've used, before I left UK I had to go into my other bank to transfer money in person or use a service like Wise which is why I opened the HSBC account and I can transfer using the Internet for a fee of about £4 and I always transfer in GBP doing the exchange in my Thai bank (Kasikorn) for the best rate. Do what I did, go to the banks and ask them directly about what happens if you move and how you will be able to manage transfers without being in UK. As far as having the pension paid into a Thai bank, that's a possibility but I prefer to have it paid into my UK bank and transfer it when the exchange rate is higher and also transfering it in GBP as if it's paid direct to the Thai bank the exchange is more likely to be done in the UK bank (they make more money that way) and it will be worse plus you will be paying a transfer fee each time so you could lose quite a bit of money over the year. Just in caase you are wondering, yes I have informed UK pensions that I am living in Thailand so that is not the reason that I am still using a UK bank. Another concern might be if you intend to make frequent trips to UK and if so having money in the UK bank makes more sense, I don't go back so that's not the reason for me.

I opened a 2nd account just for my retirement SS and Pension deposits that way it’ll be easy to supply document’s for renewal

Make up your mind…..are you retiring to Thailand or not?

Open a wise account and have your pension paid into it

The issue is that often UK banks won’t allow you to have a bank account if you live overseas. If you have a uk address (rental property and a uk forwarding address,like a family member) and transactions come and go you should be ok. But it will depend on the bank. If your pension is your only income and you transfer each month from uk to overseas they’ll get suspicious as your banking activity may get flagged up. Also you could ask your pension provided if they’ll pay into an overseas bank. For transfers from uk to Thailand you can use Wise among others but they charge per transaction so you’d need to check how much that would come to on a monthly basis.

Santander froze my accounts for months and now just closed them. I have my pension going to Lloyds and not transferred any yet. Thinking to transfer to my wise account but very wary. Both Lloyds and Wise are registered with a UK address.

Side note: now that i am a tax resident because of being in Thailand 180+, I have to find out the best ways to transfer to be the most tax efficient

Setup a Wise account in the UK first.

Transfer into uk account…then by Wise when the exchange rate is favorable

I had my private pensions transfers into my uk bank account then transferred through Wise each month to Thailand bank

It was ok for around a year then I got letters from the bank fraud team asking me for all sorts of details where all the money was coming from and asking for all tax details on this money I provided everything then a month later thy send a letter saying my account will be getting closed down .. so I contacted my pension providers and thy transferred everything to my Thailand account .. So to save any hassle I would call your pension provider see if thy transfer your pension directly…

I would firstly give my bank a family address so they can send correspondence etc. Since many uk banks will close your account if you dont have a uk address. Then I would have my pension paid into my home address and transfer the money to my thai account using wise, the transfer costs and exchange rates from your home bank will be poor compared to wise.

Some banks won’t give letter not saying which mmmmm

As they tie up and say not accessible

Just ask when open get in writing

Certain banks have some sort of arrangement with io mmmm

Use wise to transfer set up monthly to separate bank account that allows movement to other accounts no fee either back to uk for better interest

Most UK pensions providers will only pay into a UK bank account

you can use transfers of 65,000 THB up, when you apply for the second year of an extension of stay permit. For the first year, you need a minimum of 800,000 THB in your Thai bank account for 2 months if you want to apply for the 1-year extension of stay (because your embassy is not issuing an affidavit of income so you need proof of 12 months of 65,000 transfers)