UK pensions

[Rajab Al Zarahni]

On 26/08/2016 at 10:01 AM, dick dasterdly said:

In previous years the tax free allowance was largely given to the first supplier, with a smaller amount given to another.

 

Anyway, it seems obvious that I'm going to write to HMRC to find out what's going on.

 

Please god the employees have improved, and are able to respond intelligently to a letter .

It always causes me surprise to hear of people who  have various difficulties with the HMRC. I never have any problems either getting through to them or getting the help and information I require. If anything I have found them to be conspicuously helpful and well informed. Could it be that people who contact them always expect the worst or possibly they treat me as a favorite because I pay a lot of income tax. 

[dick dasterdly]

12 hours ago, topt said:

 

You may be waiting a long time for an answer which of course may not be an issue. As a suggestion though you may want to consider buying credit on Skype out and using that which I eventually did and found it very cost effective. My last call was 24 minutes and cost me 40p - 0.014p per minute is the standard to UK rate excluding any possible connection charges.

Sorry to be so ignorant  - but how do I buy Skype credit?

[topt]

8 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

Sorry to be so ignorant  - but how do I buy Skype credit?

You need to install Skype/have an account/user name (which is free) and then from the menu on top of the screen that opens when you want to use Skype click on "Skype" and then click on "Buy Skype Credit". I presume similar is available on other VoIP programs but I have not looked.

[dick dasterdly]

25 minutes ago, topt said:

You need to install Skype/have an account/user name (which is free) and then from the menu on top of the screen that opens when you want to use Skype click on "Skype" and then click on "Buy Skype Credit". I presume similar is available on other VoIP programs but I have not looked.

Many thanks!

 

I use Skype for talking via computers (as opposed to 'phone calls), but couldn't find where to buy credit for 'phone calls.

 

Fingers crossed - I've bought some Skype credit. 

[shunter]

dick dastardley.

 

You may find this link useful too I use the services often when here in Thailand  it has always  worked smoothly at very low cost.

 

http://www.ais.co.th/00500/en/index.aspx#tips

[JohnC]

Pension Payment

 

How it’s paid

The day your pension is paid depends on your National Insurance number.

Last 2 digits of your National Insurance number	Day your State Pension gets paid
00 to 19	Monday
20 to 39	Tuesday
40 to 59	Wednesday
60 to 79	Thursday
80 to 99	Friday

Your first payment is made at the end of the first full week after you reach State Pension age.  It won’t include the time between reaching State Pension age and your normal payment day if that’s less than one week.

Example

You reach State Pension age on Monday 16 December 2013 and your first payday is a Friday.

The first full week ending on a Friday after the Monday you reached State Pension age is Saturday 21 December to Friday 27 December.

You won’t be paid between 16 December and 21 December because this is less than one week.

The basic State Pension is usually paid every 4 weeks into an account of your choice. You’re paid ‘in arrears’, ie you’re paid for the last 4 weeks, not for the coming 4 weeks.

 

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•  

[billd766]

13 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Pension Payment

 

How it’s paid

The day your pension is paid depends on your National Insurance number.

Last 2 digits of your National Insurance number	Day your State Pension gets paid
00 to 19	Monday
20 to 39	Tuesday
40 to 59	Wednesday
60 to 79	Thursday
80 to 99	Friday

Your first payment is made at the end of the first full week after you reach State Pension age.  It won’t include the time between reaching State Pension age and your normal payment day if that’s less than one week.

Example

You reach State Pension age on Monday 16 December 2013 and your first payday is a Friday.

The first full week ending on a Friday after the Monday you reached State Pension age is Saturday 21 December to Friday 27 December.

You won’t be paid between 16 December and 21 December because this is less than one week.

The basic State Pension is usually paid every 4 weeks into an account of your choice. You’re paid ‘in arrears’, ie you’re paid for the last 4 weeks, not for the coming 4 weeks.

 

•  
•  

 

The last 2 digits of my NI number are 53 yet my pension is paid on every 4th Friday.

 

According to the information you posted it should be a Wednesday but it has always been paid on a Friday since I got it back in 2009.

[JohnC]

Yes my last two digits are 55 but my pension is paid on the Friday, as I am in Thailand I assume the extra two days are for Citi Bank to transfer.

the above table is taken from the pensions own website! 

[billd766]

5 hours ago, JohnC said:

Yes my last two digits are 55 but my pension is paid on the Friday, as I am in Thailand I assume the extra two days are for Citi Bank to transfer.

the above table is taken from the pensions own website! 

 

Aha. That is something that I was not aware of.

 

So in reality it takes about 7 days fro my pension to reach me, no doubt sticking in banks overnight for them to make a few quid in interest.

 

Barstewards.

[dick dasterdly]

13 hours ago, shunter said:

dick dastardley.

 

You may find this link useful too I use the services often when here in Thailand  it has always  worked smoothly at very low cost.

 

http://www.ais.co.th/00500/en/index.aspx#tips

Many thanks shunter.  If the internet connection for Skype calls is too bad, I'll use the cheap AIS connection.

[ignis]

Thanks,  maybe that is the reason why my Pension is so late........ did not know about the 1 week payment at the beginning.. had big problems and it took 4 months before receiving my pension and then 4x 4 weekly in 2 payments back dated..

 

My end NI number is 14, so as they said payment is on Monday......... yet no matter how I count the due day to the payment being in the account = the following week Wednesday.. so if I did get a payment within the 1st week, then this accounts for it, so only takes 2 days and not 9 days to arrive.

 

Many thanks

[sandyf]

On 8/31/2016 at 0:54 AM, JohnC said:

Yes my last two digits are 55 but my pension is paid on the Friday, as I am in Thailand I assume the extra two days are for Citi Bank to transfer.

the above table is taken from the pensions own website! 

Thanks for the info, works for me. My last 2 digits is 87 which makes it a Friday and I always get it first thing Friday so there is no set delay. Being international there may be consolidation involved.

The info also explains why my pension did not start till 5 days after my birthday, something that has always been a bit of a mystery.

[sandyf]

On 8/31/2016 at 9:51 AM, dick dasterdly said:

Many thanks shunter.  If the internet connection for Skype calls is too bad, I'll use the cheap AIS connection.

I use the skype telephone regularly and you will find it quite reliable. I usually phone my mates landline before doing a video and the phone call can be quite clear but then the video a bit rubbish. Probably something to do with bandwidth.

[dick dasterdly]

On 9/2/2016 at 3:08 PM, sandyf said:

I use the skype telephone regularly and you will find it quite reliable. I usually phone my mates landline before doing a video and the phone call can be quite clear but then the video a bit rubbish. Probably something to do with bandwidth.

Quick update - I 'phoned HMRC on Friday (via Skype) and, much to my suprise the connection was very good.

 

After the LONG introductory message about HMRC's website - my call was answered quickly and, even more suprisingly, efficiently!

 

The assistant understood my query immediately and said it was because of a 'new' pension.  But when I pointed out that I'd had that pension for more than a year, and that a proper tax code had been provided the previous year for that pension - he quickly checked and said that the proper tax codes would be applied and that my personal allowance would be increased to the full 11,000 sterling.

 

The 'phone call only lasted a few minutes, and cost pennies (via Skype)!

 

I thought it was worth posting this update as others may well be as dubious as I had been about 'phoning HMRC due to past experiences.....  Fingers crossed, the service is a lot better now.

[orientalist]

On 8/17/2016 at 1:05 PM, Ricardo said:

 

I agree with you, I'd be perfectly happy to purchase 5-years-worth of extra NI-contributions at class-2 rates, but will definitely not be doing so at class-3, it's a total rip-off !

 

 

Class 3 is a rip-off all right, but I think paying it depends on your situation. I wanted to pay up a full 10 years of NI contributions to double my meagre pension and I calculated that even at a cost of £6000 I would get the money back after only 2.5 years. In the end they let me pay 5 years at the Class 2 rate, so it wasn't so bad.

[billd766]

On 8/31/2016 at 0:54 AM, JohnC said:

Yes my last two digits are 55 but my pension is paid on the Friday, as I am in Thailand I assume the extra two days are for Citi Bank to transfer.

the above table is taken from the pensions own website! 

 

Can you please post a link to that page?

 

The guy I spoke to told me that the payment day depends on the last letter of your national insurance number.

 

My pension is normally available in KBank on the Tuesday after it is paid from the UK, which is today but it wasn't today.

 

I rang KBank ( I hate those automated answer systems), and they called me back 30 minutes later to say that it had not arrived with them yet.

 

I then rang the State pensions people in the UK and chased it up. Mine was apparently it was sent on 26th August and should be here within 10 days.

 

I asked the guy which way it was sent and it seems as though it is by Citibank via the USA. Yesterday, however was a bank holiday in the USA which may account for the delay.

 

 

 

 

[JohnC]

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension/what-youll-get

 

it also states that if it is an American Bank holiday payments will be late as you suggested 

[billd766]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension/what-youll-get

 

it also states that if it is an American Bank holiday payments will be late as you suggested 

 

Thanks for the link John.

 

Now one for everybody who gets a pension over here.

 

http://www.buyusa.gov/unitedkingdom/u.s.publicholidays/index.asp

[evadgib]

This baffles me as I thought the internet was 24/7 and that Bank holidays only applied to employees rather than their automated services.

[dick dasterdly]

50 minutes ago, evadgib said:

This baffles me as I thought the internet was 24/7 and that Bank holidays only applied to employees rather than their automated services.

VERY good point.

 

Presumably the banks still need a human to confirm the transfers?

[Oxx]

17 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

This baffles me as I thought the internet was 24/7 and that Bank holidays only applied to employees rather than their automated services.

VERY good point.

 

Not a particularly good point.  It's extremely unlike that the Internet is used in the transfer.  Most intercountry money transfers are arranged on private networks such as SWIFT.

[dick dasterdly]

1 minute ago, Oxx said:

 

Not a particularly good point.  It's extremely unlike that the Internet is used in the transfer.  Most intercountry money transfers are arranged on private networks such as SWIFT.

You're missing the point....

 

Presumably these private networks rely on a human to confirm the transfers?

 

I ask, as I can remember when bank transfers took 3 working days to arrive - until the odd bank started an immediate transfer service.

[Oxx]

52 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

You're missing the point....

 

No I'm not.  The poster suggest that the Internet was used for these transfers, showing that he's clueless.

 

That was my point.

 

If you're from the UK, then banks don't have an immediate transfer service.  It takes up to two hours if everything is working properly.

 

What I find curious, however, is that the UK uses an American intermediary to make the transfers.  I find that shameful.

[sandyf]

3 hours ago, evadgib said:

This baffles me as I thought the internet was 24/7 and that Bank holidays only applied to employees rather than their automated services.

My pension is due on a Friday and was due on the 26th August, as the 29th was a bank holiday in the UK I actually received it on the morning of Thursday the 25th.

[sandyf]

On 9/6/2016 at 9:19 PM, billd766 said:

 

Thanks for the link John.

 

Now one for everybody who gets a pension over here.

 

http://www.buyusa.gov/unitedkingdom/u.s.publicholidays/index.asp

My pension has never been affected by a US public holiday, only UK and Thai holidays.

It is a day early if a UK holiday on the Monday and a day late if a Thai holiday on the Friday.

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, Oxx said:

 

No I'm not.  The poster suggest that the Internet was used for these transfers, showing that he's clueless.

 

That was my point.

 

If you're from the UK, then banks don't have an immediate transfer service.  It takes up to two hours if everything is working properly.

 

What I find curious, however, is that the UK uses an American intermediary to make the transfers.  I find that shameful.

Not really, Citibank has operated a global transaction service, Worldlink Payment Services, for a very long time, probably before a similar service was available in the UK. 

Now that similar services are available they should switch but its unlikely. People are told they can save money switching bank accounts,but very few want to do it.

[Oxx]

50 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Not really, Citibank has operated a global transaction service, Worldlink Payment Services, for a very long time, probably before a similar service was available in the UK. 

 

SWIFT has been available since 1973.  The rather dodgy upstart Worldlink has only been around for 20 years or so.

 

[JetsetBkk]

2 hours ago, Oxx said:

 

SWIFT has been available since 1973.  The rather dodgy upstart Worldlink has only been around for 20 years or so.

 

 

A friend of mine's Canadian bank has now stopped doing SWIFT transfers.  It has caused him major problems getting his money sent over here.

 

He has to send multiple transfers to his daughter's Canadian bank and then she can "SWIFT it" over here.

 

[evadgib]

6 hours ago, Oxx said:

 

No I'm not.  The poster suggest that the Internet was used for these transfers, showing that he's clueless.

 

That was my point.

 

If you're from the UK, then banks don't have an immediate transfer service.  It takes up to two hours if everything is working properly.

 

I also used the phrase 'automated service' which surely needed no further explanation...

Edited September 9, 2016 by evadgib

[sandyf]

15 hours ago, Oxx said:

 

SWIFT has been available since 1973.  The rather dodgy upstart Worldlink has only been around for 20 years or so.

 

Worldlink is not an alternative to SWIFT, just a specialised service that would use SWIFT to actually move the funds. As far as I am aware SWIFT is still the only global routing system, IBAN and CIPS are not fully global.

UK immigration uses Worldpay, although listed on the FTSE 100, HQ is in the US.