question on bank accounts

[kotatsuneko]

my dad is on treatment for cancer, and along with the side effects he does stuff without thinking sometimes.. whether this is a sign of old age or the experimental drugs i dont know..

anyhow, the old codger went and wrote to my bank and the wifes saying that we didnt live in the country anymore and not to send any more statements to the house (i really dont see how a couple of letters every month can annoy the old bastad enough to do this, but anyhow..)

as we dont use the accounts, but both have funds in them, does this mean the banks will freeze or close the accounts? we use lloyds and hsbc

am i worrying about nothing? the wife wasnt too pleased, and it annoyed me no end.. but what can you do?

cheers for any advice on this!

[ramchop]

I asked the bank to stop sending statements before we skipped the country. Didn't affect the running of the account.

Don't see why a British account should be any different. Why don't you just email the bank and ask them?

[kamome]

My US bank mails my statements directly to my Japan address. Just ask your bank if they will honor a "Change of Address" form that has an overseas address.

[kotatsuneko]

thanks a lot for the advice..

as usual, i'm probably panicking and overreacting.. i'm so stupid and ignorant its unreal sometimes..

heres another cry for help:

anyone know of a good online store to buy vitamins in japan? specifically the wife is after Solgar vitamins

i know, i know theres all sorts of evidence that they dont even work, but she insists we both take them, so who am i to rock the boat?

doesnt matter if the site is in japanese as she will be doing the shopping.. i checked their homepage but all the stores were in europe/america by the look of things..

as always, cheers ....

[GomiGirl]

Can't help you with vitamins as my vitamin intake consists of whatever is available in a Moscow Mules, Red wine, coffee and nicotine.

But with bank accounts, there should be no problem to have your mail forwarded to Japan. I also suggest that if your banking institution offers internet banking that you run (do not walk) to sign up for this service. You can manage everything on-line and as you are in Sapporo, it will save you trips to Tokyo to visit the Japanese branch.

(Both Lloyds and HSBC have offices in Japan but probably not for retail banking - but at least you have a local contact)

[kotatsuneko]

cheers for the info/idea GG!

wow, i always imagined you were such a healthy girl.. why you hedonistic minx you! :P

[katakori]

just 2 cents about some banks

one bank did cut my account after i had no way to be contacted. they just assumed i didn't exist anymore. but i did not have money on it. so maybe they had a policy about this.
my conclusion is that if i were you, i wouldn't worry about the statements, but i would make sure that they have your address so they know where to reach you before they assume you disappeared...

another bank with whom i had problems about moving (but i had money on the account) didn't close it, but froze it until i managed to prove them my identity and my new address. not a big problem, but still a bit time consuming.
anyway, write to them (email) to ask what you should to to keep it all smooth, then write registered (postal) about your "correspondance" address, and that should clear all...

[kotatsuneko]

cheers for the advice Ram~!

and i never got round to thanking you for the food/nutritional advice a while back, just goes to show how rude i am.. sorry and really thank you for taking the time also.. that was kind of you

[ramchop]

I gave nutritional advice? That's a worry. Was it the "don't eat McDonalds" or the advice on avoiding breast cancer?

Skipping breakfast or lunch is my way of avoiding excess weight. Not the healthiest of remedies.... actually that's not even the reason. You don't want to wake my wife up in the morning by making noise while preparing breakfast, very dangerous thing to do.

[American Oyaji]

Ram, skipping meals is actually counter productive because you can put your body into starvation mode un intentionally.

Just eat smaller portions. More often. You can actually increase metabolism by eating more stuff, but with very small portions so that your total daily caloric intake is the same.

[kotatsuneko]

i'd think that waking anyones wife here in the morning is dangerous.. especially as the husband would be creeping in from the local love hotel around the same time ^^

[ramchop]

Ram, skipping meals is actually counter productive because you can put your body into starvation mode un intentionally.

hmmm, maybe skipping breakfast isn't such a good idea. Especially as with my morning coffee I'm now scoffing biscuits instead of the extra healthy scones (with jam and cream, mmmm cream) that I'd have back home:

But the Finnish researchers say those who miss breakfast tend to smoke more, drink more alcohol and take less exercise than those who make time for the meal.

And those who missed the meal were likely to be fatter, possibly because they are more likely to have unhealthy snacks mid-morning to boost their energy levels.

They were also likely to be less well-educated, making it harder for them to get a job.

Guess I must be a smoking, drinking, lazy, unemployed, uneducated, fat arse.