Is it better to have UK pension paid direct to Spanish bank?

Buying property in September but not permanent resident till next year. Is it more beneficial to have your UK pension paid direct to your Spanish bank? What is the most cost effective way of transferring your additional pensions. Thought of a 6 monthly transfer through Smart money who we have been using for the house purchase. thanks in advance, a Talk Quesada newbie!

TranferWise have very reasonable charges for transferring money with good exchange rates, money is normally transferred within 2 working days

The pensions agency will pay your pension direct into any EU bank account. No charges and best exchange rate. They also ensure it is paid into your Spanish account on the day you are due to receive it so no 2 or 3 days delay. Payments are made by Citi bank.
This is only for the state pension, though. Government pensions are paid by a different company and have a small (couple of quid) charge and can take a few days for the amount to appear.
Spanish banks make no charge for pension receipts so when completing the payment form, make sure you put "receipt of pension" on the payment ref line.

Marcliff is right. We have my wifes UK state pension paid into Bankinter. Its always on time & she gets the best exchange rate. We also have a Nationwide Flexi Plus account that allows us to withdraw cash without charge. This account costs £10 a month but gives interest. Worth looking into.

thanks for your replies. not long till I sign the papers now and cant wait to come over. Sheena G

marcliff wrote:The pensions agency will pay your pension direct into any EU bank account. No charges and best exchange rate. They also ensure it is paid into your Spanish account on the day you are due to receive it so no 2 or 3 days delay. Payments are made by Citi bank.
This is only for the state pension, though. Government pensions are paid by a different company and have a small (couple of quid) charge and can take a few days for the amount to appear.
Spanish banks make no charge for pension receipts so when completing the payment form, make sure you put "receipt of pension" on the payment ref line.

Are you able to be a bit more specific with regard to the exchange rate you get from the Pensions Agency. What are we talking about here? Commercial rate less what percentage? As clearly it is beneficial to receive it on the day it is due but only if the rate is competitive.

Whatever the inter-bank rate is on the day. There is no commission charged. No idea what the actual rate was on the day as I don't really pay that much attention. I used to have Moneycorp transfer it from my bank account in UK but the direct payment is far better especially without the charges.

Thanks for that we may look into it.

My pension was paid into the bank today and the rate works at at 1.409. Not bad as yesterday the bank rate was 1.41 and today is 1.40. Tourist rates obviously a lot lower.

Thanks for the further info.