Social Security Direct Deposit

[FaFaHead]

19 minutes ago, FaFaHead said:

Thank you! This is some fabulous information!

 

[grin]

On 7/7/2018 at 6:25 AM, Dante99 said:

If you loose it, they will send you a new one by Fedex or similar fast delivery service.  Not a big problem, just call them.

You can open 2 Schwab Bank accounts, each attached to a different Schwab One account. That way you always have a spare card.

[Dante99]

1 hour ago, grin said:

You can open 2 Schwab Bank accounts, each attached to a different Schwab One account. That way you always have a spare card.

Why not 5 or 6  just to be safe?

[chingmai331]

My experience tells me that if i lose a credit/debit card while not in USA, replacing that card will not be easy.  A new card will be sent only to registered address in USA and i must phone bank from USA phone to activate card.  Your bank may be different.

I don't carry my card but leave it at home and grab a big bag of cash one time per month.

[NancyL]

26 minutes ago, chingmai331 said:

My experience tells me that if i lose a credit/debit card while not in USA, replacing that card will not be easy.  A new card will be sent only to registered address in USA and i must phone bank from USA phone to activate card.  Your bank may be different.

I don't carry my card but leave it at home and grab a big bag of cash one time per month.

Some U.S. financial institutions will accept your having a mailing address in Thailand.  A friend just received a new debit card from Wells Fargo at his Thai address. You can have a U.S. mailing address by using a mail forwarding service in the U.S.

 

As for having a U.S. phone number, MagicJack is a great service for having a permanent U.S. phone number where you get to select the area code.  You simply register that phone number with your bank and when you plug your MagicJack into a USB port on a computer and make the call to activate your new credit card, the 800 number will recognize your number and activate your new card for you.  We've lived here 10 years and activated several new cards with our MagicJack from Thailand.

 

I've know some banks to accept a Thai phone number.  A friend banked with Morgan Stanley and it accepted his Thai phone number. 

[grin]

There are other options for maintaining a US phone number. A couple of simple examples are Google Voice or a Skype North American subscription with a US phone number (used to be called SkypeOut).


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[moontang]

5 hours ago, NancyL said:

Some U.S. financial institutions will accept your having a mailing address in Thailand.  A friend just received a new debit card from Wells Fargo at his Thai address. You can have a U.S. mailing address by using a mail forwarding service in the U.S.

 

As for having a U.S. phone number, MagicJack is a great service for having a permanent U.S. phone number where you get to select the area code.  You simply register that phone number with your bank and when you plug your MagicJack into a USB port on a computer and make the call to activate your new credit card, the 800 number will recognize your number and activate your new card for you.  We've lived here 10 years and activated several new cards with our MagicJack from Thailand.

 

I've know some banks to accept a Thai phone number.  A friend banked with Morgan Stanley and it accepted his Thai phone number. 

Chase now let's you have an international number.  About time.

[Dante99]

58 minutes ago, moontang said:

Chase now let's you have an international number.  About time.

Chase has allowed international addresses and phone numbers for years, at least ten.

[moontang]

1 hour ago, Dante99 said:

Chase has allowed international addresses and phone numbers for years, at least ten.

but they still won t send an SMS or OTP to one.

[Dante99]

3 hours ago, moontang said:

but they still won t send an SMS or OTP to one.

Yes they will if you have the right relationship. 

[sqwakvfr]

I just got this email from SSA.  Maybe this event can answer some of the questions?

 

U.S. FEDERAL BENEFITS TOWN HALL MEETING IN CHIANG MAI

JULY 17, 2018 FROM 10:00-12:00 @ BUA TONG ROOM, UNISERV CONFERENCE HALL,  CHIANG MAI UNIVERSITY

 

·         HOW TO APPLY FOR A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

·         HOW TO APPLY FOR US FEDERAL BENEFITS

·         HOW TO SET UP A DIRECT DEPOSIT ACCOUNT

·         HOW TO CHANGE YOUR OVERSEAS ADDRESS

·         FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MEDICARE

·         ASK OTHER ISSUES RELATED TO YOUR U.S.  FEDERAL BENEFITS 

[sqwakvfr]

13 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

I just got this email from SSA.  Maybe this event can answer some of the questions?

 

U.S. FEDERAL BENEFITS TOWN HALL MEETING IN CHIANG MAI

JULY 17, 2018 FROM 10:00-12:00 @ BUA TONG ROOM, UNISERV CONFERENCE HALL,  CHIANG MAI UNIVERSITY

 

·         HOW TO APPLY FOR A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

·         HOW TO APPLY FOR US FEDERAL BENEFITS

·         HOW TO SET UP A DIRECT DEPOSIT ACCOUNT

·         HOW TO CHANGE YOUR OVERSEAS ADDRESS

·         FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MEDICARE

·         ASK OTHER ISSUES RELATED TO YOUR U.S.  FEDERAL BENEFITS 

One more thing:  UNABLE TO ATTEND? SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO [email protected].  

[FaFaHead]

On 7/5/2018 at 4:05 AM, Spaniel said:

I have my SS check direct deposited to my Fidelity brokerage account in the US.

Thanks!

[FaFaHead]

On 7/10/2018 at 1:49 AM, sqwakvfr said:

One more thing:  UNABLE TO ATTEND? SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO [email protected].  

Thanks!

[Genericnic]

On 7/7/2018 at 5:51 PM, chingmai331 said:

I like the USA  bank debit card to get cash from any Thai ATM. Have your SS money sent to your USA bank , then withdraw as needed.  Only kicker is that unless you choose the bank carefully, you will be dinged for each transaction.  Some banks reimburse all such fees so no money lost at all.

Going with Bangkok Bank USA and having that money sent here means some fee every time.

I use Chas Schwab bank, hooked to my brokerage account.  No ATM fees paid by me, ever. Perhaps a second problem is if you lose your debit card, then bad news for you.

@chingmai331 I use Schwab as well. They have been amazing over the years.

 

To avoid problems with a lost debit card, I also set up a High-Yield Savings account. I had them issue a separate debit card linked to that account. I keep a small amount in the savings account. If you lose your primary debit card (the one linked to your checking account) you can use the one linked to your savings account until you can replace your main card. Also, if you your primary card were to be compromised, they can cancel it and you can still use the one linked to your savings account. You can transfer money between accounts by either logging into your account or giving them a call. 

 

David

 

[MalibuJay]

A friendly warning - if you ever need a new Schwab Bank card,  DO NOT ask them to mail it to you in Thailand.  Keep a US address on your account and mail the card there, then pay to forward it to Thailand without Schwab's knowledge.  I recently made the mistake of asking them to mail my new debit card to Thailand and I woke up one morning soon thereafter to discover that they had closed my account of 20 years with only a 30-day warning.

 

I had been using my debit card every month for at least 6 years to withdraw Bhat from local ATMs. You would think that they could deduce that I was residing in Thailand by looking at my withdrawal history, but they never did.  They don't seem to have that capability built into their system, but once that mailing was done and someone in their Compliance Department saw it, they slammed the door on me.  They told me to apply for a Schwab International One account, but you can't have a Schwab Bank account with the International account, so the Schwab Bank account would have to be closed permanently. 

I also had a small IRA account at Schwabe and they entered my Thai address into that account and locked it, so I couldn't change it back to the US.  The problem with that is that foreign residents are subject to a mandatory 10% IRS withholding on all distributions, regardless of whether you will actually owe tax on it or not.  If you are a US resident, you can decline Federal withholding if you wish.  Not so for foreign residents. 

 

A valid concern on their part is that there are issues with mutual funds that can have both foreign and domestic income. That can expose the fund to tax liability for some foreign investors and can become quite complicated for a brokerage (they would have to allocate customized amounts of withholding to each shareholder based on their tax domicile). To avoid that, they insure that the funds can only be sold to US residents, which then allows them to utilize US tax treaties to invest in such a way as to avoid all foreign tax and withholding liabilities.  If they had a foreign resident holding the fund, they strategy could fail, they could owe some government some withholding, and they could fall out of compliance.  It would be nice if they could leave your account alone and just set a flag on it that would block purchases of certain products, but that is apparently too complicated for them. 

For your protection, you might also want to take the additional step of using a VPN service with a US ISP whenever logging into a brokerage, be it Schwab, Fidelity or any other. 

I had accounts at both Schwab and Fidelity and often entered the same trade in both.  The Fidelity account invariably gave me better executions (my sells went off at higher prices than at Schwab, my buys went off at lower prices).  The Fidelity Compliance group is also less panicky and less high-handed.  If you can use Fidelity, you may be less likely to ever have this experience. I believe their brokerage account can offer you an associated debit card (I don't have one, so I'm not certain).


 

[chingmai331]

Good point.  I do not tell my USA bankers or brokers that i 'live' in Thailand.  If i need to use my USA credit card here i must tell Chase bank that i am on holiday for 30 days in T'land and they note that and permit usage.

When Bangkok Bank terminates the USA transfers, coming soon, it will bring me some headaches as that was an easy, safe and fast way to move money to T'land.  

If future i may need to use my Schwab debit card for all cash needs. And such ATM costs will add up; but not for me as no fee at Schwab.  But Schwab may get suspicious if they must pay US$50/month.

[moontang]

Sharebuilder did the same to me.  Fidelity knows when you log in, and occasionally makes you accept an international user agreement.  Some funds pay foreign taxes, and I get a non-refundable credit..so only taken off what and if I owe.  Filed it debit charges a foreign transaction fee..so it isn't good for here, but something to put in the safe.

[orang37]

6 hours ago, chingmai331 said:

When Bangkok Bank terminates the USA transfers, coming soon

 

Would appreciate further information on this, thanks, ~o:37;

[lexilis]

2 hours ago, orang37 said:

 

Would appreciate further information on this, thanks, ~o:37;

As I understand it, the SS transfers are only being stopped at BKKB-NY if the transfer from the US SSA is not in the "IAT format" (I have no idea what that means). See the other recent threads in the visa forum about US SS transfers. The poster "UbonJoe" has is accurate and informative on this topic. Based on his info I contacted BKKB-NY and asked them to check my account. They replied in two days and said that my transfers were already in the right format (IAT) and so nothing is required and my SS transfers will continue as before.   

[MalibuJay]

3 hours ago, orang37 said:

 

Would appreciate further information on this, thanks, ~o:37;

There are some other threads on this topic like this one: 

 

[lexilis]

The thread referenced above is old (July 2018), it is 31 pages long, and it is filled with irrelevant and inaccurate information.

[MalibuJay]

I will also mention that this was the 2nd or 3rd time that I had asked for a Schwab Bank debit card to be mailed to me in Thailand, so there is some randomness to this, but it will always be a risk.  Schwab is infamous for this type of account closure:

 

http://www.iamadvisors.com/charles-schwab-closing-accounts-for-us-citizens/

https://www.taxesforexpats.com/articles/investments/what-to-do-if-your-us-broker-wants-to-close-your-investment-account-when-you-live-overseas.html

 

Though Schwab's Customer Service reps are probably the best I've ever dealt with, their Compliance team is just the opposite. They are the worst I have dealt with.  I've had other difficulties with them before that I haven't had elsewhere.  They can be a high-handed and self-important group of people.  If you enjoy having a Schwab account and debit card, you don't want to do anything that could trigger their involvement.

 

Now that Social Security is working on direct deposit relationships with Thai banks, this won't create as much of an issue as it would have before.  I'll just deposit my money directly into Bangkok Bank and use my ATM card for living expenses. If I still had my Schwab Bank card, I would reserve that for use outside of Thailand when I need easy access to a foreign currency. That would only happen a few times a year and could be explained as temporary travel.

 

[MalibuJay]

5 minutes ago, lexilis said:

The thread referenced above is old (July 2018), it is 31 pages long, and it is filled with irrelevant and inaccurate information.

There is also a lot of accurate information that goes into great detail.  Skip to the end and work backwards if you wish.  Or save some time by just reading Pib's posts.  Of course, you can also search the web or search for other posts.  This change was announced almost a year ago.  There is plenty of information about it out there.

[Marpa47]

To FaFaHead,

 

The takeaway seems to be: don't deposit SS to BK bank if you can use US bank.

 

My work here is done.

 

Thanks for this useful information. Planning a retirement to Bangkok soon. Could you please clue me in as to how establishing a residence in Texas is possible? I live in New York State (highest taxes even when retired and suspiciously slow to recognize having moved to another state much less overseas as has been said elsewhere). How does one A). Establish residency in Texas and, B). Establish voter registration, and/or even get a drivers license. Do you have to actually live there for a minimum period of time or can all this be done some other way? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[orang37]

5 hours ago, MalibuJay said:

Now that Social Security is working on direct deposit relationships with Thai banks ...

 

Do you have any specific information on which Thai banks, other than Bangkok Bank ?

 

thanks, ~o:37;

[JimGant]

On my Schwab account (investment/banking) I have two addresses: my "account address" and my "home address (legal)." My account address is my mail forwarding address in Texas. And my legal address is my last (now abandoned) residence in the States. This came about when I tried to change my legal address to my mail forwarding address, but was found out. Thus, my legal address remained my original from when I opened the account. I have no taxable events with Schwab, so am not worried my old state, which has taxation, will ever be involved. But, when it comes time for a new card, I guess I'll have to verify to which address they'll send it.....

 

For travel notifications, you can do this for one year chunks. And, I believe, it is still a requirement. My contiguous 'one year chunks' have not set off any alarms that I know of about a possible expat status.....

[MalibuJay]

17 hours ago, DonDoRondo said:

MalibuJay -

 

While you were in Thailand were you placing travel alerts on your accounts every 2 months?

Schwab said nothing about that for 6 years?.....I also am using Schwab and would like to know just in case.

 

No.  I think I placed a travel alert with them and my other banks when I first came to Thailand in 2013.  I may have renewed it a few times, but after a while, various institutions got tired of doing that for me and told me not to bother.  I stopped after that and never had a problem with withdrawals in Thailand, even without the travel alerts.

They don't seem to have any kind of  automated scanning of accounts going on to try to detect foreign residents.  It was when I made that special mailing request that some sort of paperwork starting floating around in their system and caught someone's eye.  I guess if I was in your position, I would stop doing the alerts.  Calling in and talking to someone about being in Thailand might trigger an adverse response someday.  ATM withdrawals by themselves seem to go unnoticed so far.  

[MalibuJay]

You can call in travel alerts as well and that is what I typically do.  I remember doing some online in the past, but I don't remember at which institution.  Online seems like a safer route if you have a US ISP address.

Inside Thailand I only used my Schwab Bank debit card as a general rule and paid cash, or else I used Bangkok Bank's online banking system or their debit card.  If I traveled abroad, then I would call all my credit card companies (and Schwab) and place a travel alert on file with them, complete with the dates of travel and the countries I would be visiting.  I never had to worry about doing that inside Thailand though with the Schwab card.  I never had an ATM withdrawal declined, and I hadn't submitted a "Thailand Travel Alert" in at least 4-5 years.  Who knows, maybe someone did me a favor in the past and put a termination date on my last Schwab travel alert way out into the future, like 10 years out or something.  I can only guess.

It sounds like you're getting away with extending the travel alerts, so maybe that will continue to work, but it might be a good idea to have a backup plan all set up just in case. Technically, according to Schwab's policies about how they enforce IRS regulations, you're account is apparently supposed to be closed.  You'll always have that hanging over your head.

 

So exactly what makes you a Thai resident versus a US resident?  That's a murky area. The Thais seem to consider you a resident and subject to their income taxes if you reside in Thailand for more than 6 months a year.  In the US, you can become a resident for tax purposes if you reside there for more than 35 days per year.  If you are in the US for less than 35 days a year, you're almost certainly not a US resident anymore.  And even if you are there for more than 35 days a year, if you have a Thai residency permit, like a retirement visa, that entitles you to stay in Thailand for the full year (my "de jure" test), then that might also cause you a problem if some institution wants to hassle you.

I would guess that a bank like Schwab would be more interested in covering their own liability than in protecting your rights, so they might to take the narrowest possible view of whether you are still a US resident. They might close your account at the first hint of foreign residence and then give you 30 days to "prove your innocence" and prove that you are a US resident.  If you don't have a US utility bill, that could be tough to do.  I think I remember them asking me for that.  You're pretty much at their mercy if you ever trigger a review of your status.  They won't think twice about closing your account to avoid a risk to themselves.

Edited March 4, 2019 by MalibuJay
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