Every year, close on 400,000 people leave the UK to set up a home abroad and in every case, they may be leaving behind something more important than the bad weather and traffic jams. They will be leaving behind their ability to walk into a local branch and talk to staff, which can be a key part of their personal security. In this mini guide to protecting  your finances whilst living offshore Abbey International offers top tips for expats.

If you are one of those lucky enough to be retiring abroad or moving there to work, the benefits of planning finances offshore will soon come sharply into focus.

Put simply, there is one big reason for putting your money offshore when you are no longer a UK taxpayer and that is – money! Offshore, you will receive gross interest on savings, so with less tax deducted, your nest egg can grow faster.

But once you leave the UK, communicating with your bank may become harder and with few phone banks geared up to service the specialist requirements of expatriates, your choice of bank overseas will be important. For this reason, it is as important offshore as it is onshore to place your money with a reputable bank or financial institution.

A familiar UK bank should have the financial and managerial resources available to offer the customers of its subsidiaries a level of extra service and protection – for example, deposits held with Abbey International are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Abbey National Plc. Local banks in your destination country may not understand the needs of expatriates and local financial advice may be inappropriate to your situation.

Remember, local financial advice may not be regulated and so you may not be properly protected by regulation or legal requirements. What’s more, if you are likely to move to another country other than the UK after your first foreign posting, you won’t have to move all your accounts if you have chosen an appropriate, flexible and reliable offshore bank account in the first place.

So how can I protect my Identity from Abroad?

Nowadays, staying safe while overseas increasingly means paying attention to identity theft. For a fraudster to steal your identity, they need first of all to learn a credible amount of information about you.

Bank statements which are posted to shared addresses are a particular source of risk, as these give potential criminals much information about you. You can protect yourself in a variety of simple, low cost ways while you are abroad, though.

When you first leave the UK, consider using a Royal Mail Re-direct to make sure all post is forwarded to your new address abroad and be certain any post sent to your UK address is dealt with securely using, for example, the Royal Mail “Keepsafe” service.

Many people leave bank statements lying around or simply throw them away unopened, particularly if it is an account with just a few pounds in it. A bank statement can be a treasure trove of information for a fraudster, giving your name address and details of recent transactions. If you are careless enough to throw away other important documents such as utility bills, the picture a criminal can build up gets even more convincing. Remember therefore to always destroy these documents if you do not want to keep them. So this might be a good time to start looking for a good internet Banking service.

For your day to day Banking, Internet Banking services now offers customers a far higher level of security, as it can remove the need to send statements and cheques via the post. It can make sense, therefore, to change banks just to access a good internet Banking service to avoid these risks. Good internet banks will allow you to pay bills, transfer funds, carry out simple foreign currency transactions, save in multi currency accounts and of course check your statements and recent transaction history. To protect your identity when using internet Banking, make sure your computer has up to date anti-virus software and a firewall installed. When making payments, only use secure websites by ensuring that the security symbol is showing in the bottom of your browser screen. Another good tip is to access internet Banking and shopping sites by typing the address directly into your web browser. Organisations such as Banksafeonline in the UK also advise e-Banking users never go to websites from a link in an email and never to enter personal details. Any email asking you to go on to a bank website and enter personal security data will be fraudulent.

One of the most comprehensive internet Banking systems available at present is offered by Abbey International. Great care has been taken by Abbey International to design a package that is both easy to use and very powerful in terms of the flexibility it offers, so customers can use it to simply view balances or set up sophisticated account instructions to make sure surplus funds are transferred to savings accounts or bills are paid on time.

For more information visit the website at www.abbeyinternational.com

For further information on offshore Banking call + 44 (0)1534 885000 or log onto www.abbeyinternational.com