Hi everyone. I’m looking for advice on how to receive my French and Belgian pensions in the UK. When I first started receiving them a few years ago I opened a euro account with Barclays as thought it wld be useful to have euros for visits to France, but this means every so often I need to convert the euros into sterling and am never sure of the exchange rate. I’ve read that when having UK pension paid into French accounts the rate is very reasonable and wondering if same applies when French pension is paid into UK sterling banks (because of bulk transfers).
There is no debit card with Barclays euro account and yesterday I had a letter stating that I won’t be able to draw euros in cash from.my account, so really no advantage to keeping it.
I’d be really grateful to learn of others’ experiences. But rather dreading contacting the relevant French authorities as do not want money going astray during switching of accounts etc. I’m still waiting to hear about a possible pension de reversion 6 months after applying.
Apologies for rather long post but any advice reallyvwelcome.
Welcome to SF @Alisonjane …
I don’t have an guaranteed answer to your question but would like to sympathise with you for having to deal with Barclays - worst UK bank ever!
I expect someone will be along in a moment with a solution but my only thought is maybe having the pensions paid into an account with Wise and convert / transfer from there?
Wise do a better rate than traditional banks for currency conversion and you can hold balances in any number of currencies, there is no fee for having the account, and they give you a VISA debit card.
My Wise Euro account has a Belgian sort code; not sure if that would be a problem for your French pension.
Anyway it’s a thought, faute de mieux.
ETA: Have a snoop through this thread as well, as someone asked a similar question:
https://www.survivefrance.com/t/french-pension-now-back-in-uk/
Note what @_Brian says in that thread about using Revolut for “all French government transactions with no problems whatsoever”.
With Revolut, you would have a French IBAN.
My husband has his French pension paid into a Wise account, with no problems. He sent the French pension people a ,Wise account statement that has your IBAN number on it and proof of account ownership, you download this info’ from the Wise website.
He has a euro/ sterling account and has a Wise card that gives easy access in both currencies.
It was very easy for him to set up and the French are happy to pay in .
That’s good to know about Wise.
@Alisonjane Why not ask the Pension Providers if they will pay in £’s ???
If they will, then the pensions can be paid into any UK Bank you care to choose.
I wish it was that easy! Some UK banks charge for receiving money from abroad (even in sterling!)
And I haven’t found French pension authorities very helpful which is why I’m trying to do the research first.
Why bother Jane 
Pay into Wise and use the funds in whatever currency you choose at the best (or close to it) exchange rate possible, plus get interest on your balance.
I use bricks and mortar banks for investments, but given the feet of clay revealed in many of them during the financial crisis, that’s probably just my outmoded, age related bias. I wouldn’t put all my financial eggs in an online bank, much less Wise, but I am very happy to prudently avail of the superior services they provide.
For future Readers of this thread, it might be useful if you can tell us which UK Banks charge for receiving money from abroad…
Lloyds have never charged me/us … no idea about others.
First Direct charge £5 for sterling coming from abroad. Am in process of contacting other banks.
Have you had any joy with High Street Banks in UK… ??