Advice on paying bills back home

[domshum]

Hello All,

Hope you can help me. As most in this forum are, or already have, I am moving to Singapore in October! Woo Hoo!

My question is simple, and I'm sure someone will be able to provide me with an equally as simple answer...so here goes!

How do you pay your bills back home? I will be getting paid in $S, but will have bills to pay back in the UK (obviously in £UK). Do you money transfer from SG bank to UK bank? If so am I going to get ripped off on exchange rates etc ? You get the jist, hope you can help.

Thanks

[beppi]

You either do bank transfers to your UK account, or you arrange to pay the bills with your (Singapore) credit card.
In both cases you lose a few percent in conversion and transfer fees (the banks will always get your money!). Payment by credit card, although normal in Asia and North America, seems still uncommon in Europe. Shame on them backward societies! (I am European, too ...)

[durain]

so you are paying bills on your empty property in UK?

[domshum]

Hi thanks for the advice, it's pretty much as I thought.

The bills are my credit cards in UK and also a car i don't wish to sell just yet...I'll maybe go see what inquire what outrageous charges the UK banks will hit me with

[JR8]

I used to just leave a grand or two in the UK bank account, and bills were paid by DD. The credit card was set to pay in full each month from the same, but I got a local card for say to day spending. That arrangement would tick over untouched for six months+ at a time.

Any time back in the UK I'd take another grand or two (cash exchange rates in SG are probably the sharpest you'll get anywhere in the world) and deposit that. You can keep an eye on things via online banking.

If your UK outgoings are going to continue at more than say £100-200 a month then you're going to have to put a bigger float in the UK account or maybe bite the bullet and do wired fund transfers. The latter are c. £25-40 a go.... but if you're an expat I trust your package in-the-round compensates for these little annoyances.

[domshum]

Thanks for all the advice guys, much appreciated

[QRM]

I use an independent property manager she looks after all the properties, I give her a float and at the end of the tax year she send over a breakdown of all the costs. She charges a fee but all it takes is one rogue council tax bill to slip through your net and you get hits with all the summons, balif fees etc. which far exceeds her fees.

[JR8]

I use an independent property manager she looks after all the properties, I give her a float and at the end of the tax year she send over a breakdown of all the costs. She charges a fee but all it takes is one rogue council tax bill to slip through your net and you get hits with all the summons, balif fees etc. which far exceeds her fees.

That's interesting, an annual statement. I get monthly statements, and even then find a I spend a large amount of time managing the managers.

[QRM]

The one rule, anything that cost over 200 quid she need to inform me, other than that she has a free run. Because she is independent it doesn't mater which agency gets the tenant in, it doesn't effect the management of the place.

[JR8]

The one rule, anything that cost over 200 quid she need to inform me, other than that she has a free run. Because she is independent it doesn't mater which agency gets the tenant in, it doesn't effect the management of the place.

OIC. I think the issue with my agent is that I deal with so many different people that accountability gets lost, mistakes happen, and their statements are wrong perhaps 50% of the time.

Also, thinking about it, perhaps one of the bigger causes of trouble is that they issue the statements as they come out of their system without any checks on whether the figures add up or make sense.