What best to do with money from house sale in Britain

[Eratosthenes]

Hi, I have recently emigrated from Britain to Thailand, exist here on a marriage visa. I have a pink ID card, yellow book house registration document, and a letter from immigration to the district office showing my photo and address. I am retired, sold my house in Britain, have the money in a bank in Britain, but I have to move it soon. The terms of the marriage visa (may not be renewed, ends on divorce or death of wife) means I need to keep the money out of Thailand in case I need to return to Britain. I am having zero success opening an offshore bank account (Lloyds, Standard, and Skipton all need council tax, bank statement or utility bill as prooof of address). None accept my 3 proofs, Bangkok Bank does not show address on bank statements, the house (rural Chaiyaphum) I paid for is in the wife's name, water bill is just a little written slip, electricity (we have solar, so only standing charge) is shown in her name at the cow farm 600m away where the meter is, and there is no local tax.

Can anyone explain how they managed to do this recently? Or offer other ideas of an interest paying account? Thank you.

[gamb00ler]

Perhaps ask for a letter from Bangkok bank verifying your account and ask them to make sure it shows your address.  Get a Thai tax ID from Thai Revenue Department and give that to Bangkok bank as well to include on the letter.  Send the offshore bank a copy of the TRD card showing your Thai tax ID along with the Bangkok bank letter.

 

Provide the offshore bank copies of the relevant pages from your passport showing, entry visa, entry stamp, extension stamp, etc.

 

I am not from UK so I have no idea if this will help but it shouldn't be that difficult to accomplish.

[oxo1947]

I don't know just how much you are talking about---but have you looked at some of it going into Premium bonds----can cash in at 24 hours notice--- The UK government now has moved the amount up to 50K  from 20K...... pays in prize money what the Bank rate of return is.---can do from any post office---100% safe.

 

 

Until you know what you want to do with your life.....

 

 

.

[The Cyclist]

6 hours ago, Eratosthenes said:

have the money in a bank in Britain,

 

6 hours ago, Eratosthenes said:

means I need to keep the money out of Thailand in case I need to return to Britain.

 

So why move it from the account it is currently in ?
 

Does the money really need to be in an offshore account ?

[HighPriority]

I’ll pm my bank account details, I’ll look after it for you 👍🏼

[MangoKorat]

Some useful information here:

 

https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/current-accounts/guides/can-you-open-a-bank-account-without-proof-of-address/

 

and:

 

https://osome.com/uk/guides/open-bank-account-uk-non-resident/

[sometimewoodworker]

7 hours ago, Eratosthenes said:

I am retired, sold my house in Britain, have the money in a bank in Britain, but I have to move it soon.

Whatever you do do not close your UK bank account because you will never be able to open a new one unless you are resident in the UK.

 

There are competent wealth management companies who can advise you on sensible investments that are low risk and incur no UK tax. You can expect about a 5% ROI. That is what I am getting on a low risk portfolio   You can do better if you want to work on the investments, you may do much worse. My 5% is an average from around 15 years so I am reasonably confident that it will continue to maintain that ROI. 

 

 With the sale of the house of your house, you may possibly have enough to leave some money in the UK bank account and have enough to get a wealth management company probably in Hong Kong who can assist the reason for using Hong Kong is that you need less money to open an account through them.
 

If the amount you got from your house is enough you can open an account in Singapore that does the same thing though to open a Singapore account. You need a minimum of 1 million Singapore dollars (£600,000 ฿26,000,000) to invest

[Eratosthenes]

I had the 3 profs of address translated, but the offshore banks were not interested.

3 hours ago, The Cyclist said:

So why move it from the account it is currently in ?

My UK bank (Starling) saw the money from the house sale, asked me why I had a large amount of money, I explained, they told me I could keep the account for now, but I think that is temporary. The terms of most UK accounts are that you have to be resident in the UK.

 

2 hours ago, HighPriority said:

ll pm my bank account details, I’ll look after it for you 👍🏼

🤣🤑

 

3 hours ago, The Cyclist said:

Does the money really need to be in an offshore account

well, it cannot be in a British account because I am not resident in Britain. In an ideal world, I could move it to Thailand, but I understand foreign currency accounts attract little interest, and moving money from Thailand to Britain is apparently complicated. It could be Europe, but the same problem exists, opening an account without Western bank proods of address

 

7 hours ago, oxo1947 said:

I don't know just how much you are talking about---but have you looked at some of it going into Premium bonds

good idea, but it is £270,000, too much for that, not enough to be really attractive to banks

[Happy happy]

OP: I would suggest u can get an offshore company who are reputable (ie chartered accountants etc) to put your money in a FTSE investment or similar companies that are household name and professional..  You can more or less guarantee a 10% return+ and your original investment ought to increase overtime.

They will also pay u a monthly amount that can be fixed.

PM me if you want further input.

U can also use Wise or Revolt etc for banking issues.

[Eratosthenes]

23 minutes ago, Happy happy said:

get an offshore company who are reputable

Interesting idea, will do, thank you. I use Wise to transfer, though I have not yet told them I emigrated. I have a debit card, suspect it is only available to residents in Europe.

[Chivas]

The tax angle on investing house proceeds presumbly large needs investigating once you invest it

 

Now I'm always likely to be a more aggressive type of investor having worked in finance for decades. These days 80% is in Dividend stocks and I always recommend Henderson Far East high income, Phoenix Holdings and M and G

 

If I average out the dividends these pay 10.1% currently (at todays share price) but in my case are all in ISA's which obviously are tax free (which is the tax angle I mentioned in opening sentence)

 

I take 7.5% of the dividends as they are paid and reinvest the balance 2.6% back into same stocks.....obviously you can tweak the ratio's

 

I have many other dividend stocks but those 3 are my favourites......obviously you have to be happy with  a floating capital balance

[chiang mai]

19 minutes ago, Chivas said:

The tax angle on investing house proceeds presumbly large needs investigating once you invest it

 

Now I'm always likely to be a more aggressive type of investor having worked in finance for decades. These days 80% is in Dividend stocks and I always recommend Henderson Far East high income, Phoenix Holdings and M and G

 

If I average out the dividends these pay 10.1% currently (at todays share price) but in my case are all in ISA's which obviously are tax free (which is the tax angle I mentioned in opening sentence)

 

I take 7.5% of the dividends as they are paid and reinvest the balance 2.6% back into same stocks.....obviously you can tweak the ratio's

 

I have many other dividend stocks but those 3 are my favourites......obviously you have to be happy with  a floating capital balance

My advice to you is to get out of HFEL (Henderson Far East). It is number 5/6 in its sector and has the lowest returns of any in it, 0.9%! Morningstar gives it 2 stars! It also has a massive drawdown of 18%. A far better proposition is Schroder Oriental Income which returned 22% and has a drawdown of 13%, still high but better.

 

https://citywire.com/funds-insider/investment-trusts/sector/equity-it-asia-pacific-equity-income-funds/i6124?periodMonths=36&utm_medium=website&utm_source=citywire_funds_insider&utm_campaign=trust-page-full-league&utm_content=c781678&expandedList=true&league=funds

[Chivas]

1 minute ago, chiang mai said:

My advice to you is to get out of HFEL (Henderson Far East). It is number 5/6 in its sector and has the lowest returns of any in it, 0.9%! It also has a massive drawdown of 18%. A far better proposition is Schroder Oriental Income which returned 22% and has a drawdown of 13%, still high but better.

 

https://citywire.com/funds-insider/investment-trusts/sector/equity-it-asia-pacific-equity-income-funds/i6124?periodMonths=36&utm_medium=website&utm_source=citywire_funds_insider&utm_campaign=trust-page-full-league&utm_content=c781678&expandedList=true&league=funds

 

I'm purely interested in the dividend itself currently 10.71%

My capital balance is higher than invested and its its been around since 1930......not a chance in hell that I'd run out of money at any point

 

However will take a look at your suggestion Schroder and thanks for that.....4.4% dividend at current unit price

[sometimewoodworker]

14 hours ago, Eratosthenes said:

The terms of most UK accounts are that you have to be resident in the UK.

My RBoS account knows I am resident in Thailand as my address is in Udon. They probably keep the account open as they receive several payments a month from the U.K. 

 

13 hours ago, Eratosthenes said:

14 hours ago, Happy happy said:

get an offshore company who are reputable

Interesting idea, will do, thank you. I use Wise to transfer, though I have not yet told them I emigrated. I have a debit card, suspect it is only available to residents in Europe.

That was my suggestion above though it’s pointless to just have a bank account.

Do not use Wise for a large transfer, it’s much more expensive than SWIFT. 

 

You do not have enough to invest it in Singapore.

 

However I have just called my investment advisor in HongKong to confirm. They have a minimum amount to open an investment account of £250,000. If you are interested I can confirm contact details by PM. My advisor speaks perfect English and he can call you to discuss if their services are a good fit. As far as I know I gain nothing from the referral. 
 

 

[CanadaSam]

Contrary to the advice some have given you, keep it the he77 out of Thailand unless you want a large chunk of it paid to the tax authorities!

 

Although nobody knows for sure how it is going to pan out, at the moment, it looks like all remittances to Thailand from foreign countries will be taxed, heavily!

[CFCol]

16 hours ago, Eratosthenes said:

I had the 3 profs of address translated, but the offshore banks were not interested.

My UK bank (Starling) saw the money from the house sale, asked me why I had a large amount of money, I explained, they told me I could keep the account for now, but I think that is temporary. The terms of most UK accounts are that you have to be resident in the UK.

 

🤣🤑

 

well, it cannot be in a British account because I am not resident in Britain. In an ideal world, I could move it to Thailand, but I understand foreign currency accounts attract little interest, and moving money from Thailand to Britain is apparently complicated. It could be Europe, but the same problem exists, opening an account without Western bank proods of address

 

good idea, but it is £270,000, too much for that, not enough to be really attractive to banks

If it's in a normal high St. Bank in the UK, you don't have to move it. I've lived here for ten years and still have my uk account,(no interest though), with RBS.

[newbee2022]

Give it to me. Problem solved for both of us😂

[Grumpy one]

Be a kind and generous soul

Donate the money to the unloved bar girls in this country  

They will always think of you as a hansum man   

[BritManToo]

17 hours ago, Eratosthenes said:

My UK bank (Starling) saw the money from the house sale, asked me why I had a large amount of money, I explained, they told me I could keep the account for now, but I think that is temporary. The terms of most UK accounts are that you have to be resident in the UK.

Best not to let them know you left.

The correct way was to pretend you still lived at your sold house, nobody ever checks.

 

Ps. Never take any financial advice from any recommendations or PMs given on this forum, there are crooks preying on expats everywhere. Better to earn no interest, than to risk losing your money.

[andyman57]

Give it to me and I will distribute it to the needy down soi 6 😂 😂 

[alanrchase]

Pay the electricity standing charge by direct debit from your BBL account and your name will appear on the receipt that comes in the post. Lloyds offshore accepted that from me. Fairly sure that if you request a six month statement from BBL your address will appear on that as well.

[helloagain]

On 12/8/2024 at 10:22 AM, Eratosthenes said:

Hi, I have recently emigrated from Britain to Thailand, exist here on a marriage visa. I have a pink ID card, yellow book house registration document, and a letter from immigration to the district office showing my photo and address. I am retired, sold my house in Britain, have the money in a bank in Britain, but I have to move it soon. The terms of the marriage visa (may not be renewed, ends on divorce or death of wife) means I need to keep the money out of Thailand in case I need to return to Britain. I am having zero success opening an offshore bank account (Lloyds, Standard, and Skipton all need council tax, bank statement or utility bill as prooof of address). None accept my 3 proofs, Bangkok Bank does not show address on bank statements, the house (rural Chaiyaphum) I paid for is in the wife's name, water bill is just a little written slip, electricity (we have solar, so only standing charge) is shown in her name at the cow farm 600m away where the meter is, and there is no local tax.

Can anyone explain how they managed to do this recently? Or offer other ideas of an interest paying account? Thank you.

I'm surprised skipton does not accept the letter from your lawyer saying your house sale has gone through and the proceeds of that sale £xxxxxx have gone into your bank account. Do you not have anything from your old home, gas, electric bill, water council tax, can't you go to your council and ask you need proof of paying them, your last bill can they not reproduce, same with gas, electric etc.

[KannikaP]

18 hours ago, Eratosthenes said:

and moving money from Thailand to Britain is apparently complicated.

Have you heard of WISE?

[arick]

Natwest fix term savings.

[gamb00ler]

19 hours ago, Eratosthenes said:

and moving money from Thailand to Britain is apparently complicated.

 

37 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Have you heard of WISE?

you need new spectacles .... WISE only transfers inbound to Thailand

[KannikaP]

6 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

 

you need new spectacles .... WISE only transfers inbound to Thailand

No need for insults. From your OP I was under the impression that you had sold a house in UK, and wanted to get the money to Thailand.

Happy Happy also suggested WISE or Revolut.

[KannikaP]

2 hours ago, CFCol said:

If it's in a normal high St. Bank in the UK, you don't have to move it. I've lived here for ten years and still have my uk account,(no interest though), with RBS.

And all UK banks can do a SWIFT transfer to any other Foreign bank, sometimes that is cheaper than WISE, depending on the amount sent.

[Will B Good]

On 12/8/2024 at 12:17 PM, oxo1947 said:

I don't know just how much you are talking about---but have you looked at some of it going into Premium bonds----can cash in at 24 hours notice--- The UK government now has moved the amount up to 50K  from 20K...... pays in prize money what the Bank rate of return is.---can do from any post office---100% safe.

 

 

Until you know what you want to do with your life.....

 

 

.

 

Premium Bonds have to be the worst possible investment on the face of the Earth.

 

Premium Bonds: Each £1 bond has odds of 1 in 62 billion of winning the £1 million jackpot per monthly draw. NS&I, the issuer, allocates two £1 million prizes monthly, but the probability of a single bond winning is extremely small

[KannikaP]

6 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

but the probability of a single bond winning is extremely small

Does each Bond not have exactly the same chance of winning as any other owned by someone with say 100,000? Same as the National Lottery, the actual numbers chosen are immaterial. It's the numbers which are drawn which matter.

Love the Lottery ads which tell you how much you have contributed to Charities. You must be a loser then. 555

[olongapo]

Wise also close your account  if you have too many transactions and you cannot appeal.