Prestia and leaving Japan/pension/iDeco

[Deep Blue]

Yes, the forum is a little poorer without some harmless humour. As the chief washer-upper in our house, I certainly had a good chuckle. My darling wife would entirely justifiably point out she does 100% of the cleaning and tidying, 95% of the laundry and 80% of the cooking but I take some responsibility on washing up the incredible amount of crockery needed to serve her delicious meals .

[HeavyMetal]

The six account restrictions while abroad are listed in the link posted above by moneymatters
https://www.smbctb.co.jp/en/support/upd ... entdks.pdf

Oh, right, thanks. Found them. Services not available for use...
Well I mostly want to 1. send/receive some domestic funds such as life insurance and 2. send funds from Prestia to my overseas account. May be 1. is possible if registered prior to leaving, and 2. must be possible cause sending to myself?

Anyway main question for this forum would be possibility of funding iDeco, while being away. If I have local bank account - I might be able to? No idea. Wonder if someone tried.

[Deep Blue]

If you register the payee before you go then you can transfer to them freely. Should be a doodle.

Whether you are allowed to contribute to iDeco or life assurance schemes while non-resident is another matter.-I have no idea on that. I know I can not contribute to the UK ISA scheme unless I am resident in the UK. Worth checking that point I guess, but the actual transfers shouldn't be a problem.

[HeavyMetal]

Talked to Prestia staff couple days ago, and was told that in case I want to keep my account for paying pension etc., they do not have any time limits means I can keep it as long as I want. That's good. And AFAIK Prestia's the only bank who does it, in Japan.

[beanhead]

Talked to Prestia staff couple days ago, and was told that in case I want to keep my account for paying pension etc., they do not have any time limits means I can keep it as long as I want. That's good. And AFAIK Prestia's the only bank who does it, in Japan.

That is very good news, and a huge selling point for Prestia.
I didn't know they did this. As you wrote, most banks will force you to close your account.

[chuhai]

Sorry to drag up an old thread but this is very relevant for me.

I am a gold status customer at prestia with a substantial amount in the account.

Keeping me account open after leaving would remove a lot of stress about making final payments e.g for credit cards etc and avoid a forced conversion to other currencies at this time.

I do not have PR. I am wondering if the people who kept their account open actually have PR.

I know I should call and ask them, but it seems better not to draw attention to my upcoming departure.

[Deep Blue]

I don't have PR and was able to keep my account open.

Best not to have PR if you are leaving Japan and have substantial assets, as PR means you may open yourself up to a punitive exit tax.

[zeroshiki]

Not that I recommend doing this but there is no automated thing that connects banks to immigration or anything like that. Banks will only attempt to close your account if they suspect you've left which they only find out through things like returned mail. So if you don't receive mail (I don't think Prestia sends me mail for account balances and stuff) they won't find out until they do the Zairyu card update mail which they will send. If you don't update, then they freeze the account.

[chuhai]

I don't have PR and was able to keep my account open.

Best not to have PR if you are leaving Japan and have substantial assets, as PR means you may open yourself up to a punitive exit tax.

Did you tell them that you live overseas? If yes, when did you tell them?

I have also heard that if you hold an investment product that matures after you leave then the account can remain open (but perhaps restricted).

Yeah, exit tax is one reason I avoided PR.

[Beaglehound]

Not that I recommend doing this but there is no automated thing that connects banks to immigration or anything like that. Banks will only attempt to close your account if they suspect you've left which they only find out through things like returned mail. So if you don't receive mail (I don't think Prestia sends me mail for account balances and stuff) they won't find out until they do the Zairyu card update mail which they will send. If you don't update, then they freeze the account.

This seems sensible. At the very least buys time to close off the loose ends and give some leeway on currency conversion. It’s not like banks are going to confiscate your money if you omit to tell them you have left.