My USA Drivers License Has Expired No Bank Account

[GinBoy2]

It's getting trickier with financial institutions to use a virtual mailbox, or to use the official USPS term, PMB.

 

I'd used a virtual mailbox for years, never thought about until the day I went to open up a second BoA account, and sure as sh**t their software picked it up.

Now they had no problem using the PMB as the mailing address, but I did need to provide a physical address too for the new account, which then of course ported over to my existing account.

 

Search for this topic, and there have been many TVF threads.

The other tricky issue is the increasing requirement for a US cell phone 'capable' of receiving text messages, which rules out Skype and the like.

I used to use Hangouts which does have text capabilities, but I could never it to work with BoA, and eventually ended up getting one of BoA's code generating cards (they have a real name, just can't think of it right now)

[Marcel Depart]

I renewed my Texas drivers licence on line. You can only do it 1 time. My US address is with US Global in Houston Texas, cost you to have the address, but works great. They will scan your letters or will ship it to you. 

[Pib]

1 hour ago, GinBoy2 said:

... and eventually ended up getting one of BoA's code generating cards (they have a real name, just can't think of it right now)

It's called BoA SafePass card.  When I still had a BoA account I used their SafePass for numerous years while living here in Thailand because, yea, BoA does require OTP security codes sent to our mobile number "or" use of the SafePass card for various transactions.

 

It varies among US banks as to if and when one time security codes are required....but it is indeed slowly increasing.  

[chicowoodduck]

On 1/2/2019 at 4:03 AM, Pib said:

You will need to upload a copy of the ID and the Capone program immediately accepts or rejects it as the programs scan the ID and bucks it against some database for confirmation/approval.    A CapOne human (CSR) cannot approve whatever document you upload....only their computer can approved it.  The CapOne human can see what you upload and what you upload may be crystal clear on their end but if for some reason their computer has a hard time OCRing/scanning the doc it will not give an approval. So, be sure to be in good lighting (preferable daylight lighting) to get the best scan.   I had this issue....their computer kept "not approving" my uploaded US passport although the CapOne rep said it looked perfectly clear on their end...the rep just recommended I get a very good picture with no reflections off the glossy US passport....I finally got a good picture and their magic computer approved the ID.  You will be given three tries for a good scan/upload....if you can't get their computer to accept your ID after three tries you get locked out...but call Capone...explain what happened and they send you another link via email to try scanning again...they will even stay online as you try again.  

 

Wow, can believe this story....when my ATM card was blocked here in Thailand had to use this method....took several tries over several days to get the darn computer to like my ID photos....royal pain on the arse! ????

[GinBoy2]

3 hours ago, Pib said:

It's called BoA SafePass card.  When I still had a BoA account I used their SafePass for numerous years while living here in Thailand because, yea, BoA does require OTP security codes sent to our mobile number "or" use of the SafePass card for various transactions.

 

It varies among US banks as to if and when one time security codes are required....but it is indeed slowly increasing.  

Yep, SafePass that was the word I was struggling for earlier. 

To reiterate your comment, when I got it whenever I needed to authorize any transaction it always worked perfectly....Oh yeah except for the first one I received, wouldn't sync probably so the codes never worked and needed to be replaced pronto

[NCC1701A]

i can't renew my license on line, US banks don't accept a P.O. box.  they must have a physical address.

i hate to go back to the usa to get this worked out.

[JimGant]

Yeah, the Patriot Act has made things interesting. I've got a mail forwarding address in Texas (no P.O box number, so it looks like a legitimate address -- except it's now apparently easy for banks to identify such addresses as mail forwarding). Anyway, recently tried to sign up with CapOne for their CDs. Gave them my mail forwarding address -- and they came back with a quiz! "Which of the four streets indicated is north of your address?" Well, since my mail forwarder has an actual address, I pulled that up on Google Maps, and, yep, I could identify which street was north of my address. Next question: "Which of the four streets indicated is south of your address?" None of the four existed on Google Maps. And I didn't have the option for "none of the above." So, I chose one at random, and, yep, "wrong, and sorry we don't want your business" (or something similar).

 

Guess I should have kept using my old US address, since nothing they could mail to it could not be duplicated online (no credit cards, etc). Giving my Thai address would, apparently, also have halted proceedings to purchase CDs.

[NCC1701A]

12 minutes ago, JimGant said:

Yeah, the Patriot Act has made things interesting. I've got a mail forwarding address in Texas (no P.O box number, so it looks like a legitimate address -- except it's now apparently easy for banks to identify such addresses as mail forwarding). Anyway, recently tried to sign up with CapOne for their CDs. Gave them my mail forwarding address -- and they came back with a quiz! "Which of the four streets indicated is north of your address?" Well, since my mail forwarder has an actual address, I pulled that up on Google Maps, and, yep, I could identify which street was north of my address. Next question: "Which of the four streets indicated is south of your address?" None of the four existed on Google Maps. And I didn't have the option for "none of the above." So, I chose one at random, and, yep, "wrong, and sorry we don't want your business" (or something similar).

 

Guess I should have kept using my old US address, since nothing they could mail to it could not be duplicated online (no credit cards, etc). Giving my Thai address would, apparently, also have halted proceedings to purchase CDs.

yes I am thinking I may have to return to the USA for a month to get a new drivers license and open accounts in person. I can use my friends address in Nevada. I just hate the idea of having to ask a favor and my mail going to his house.

 

Bank of America shut down my account because I gave US Global mail as a primary address. It worked to open the account in 2014 but they must have reviewed the account for some reason. Maybe because of many transfers to Thailand.  

 

I am really stuck.

 

 

[lopburi3]

On 1/8/2019 at 3:41 PM, how241 said:

I was able to renew my Florida drivers license online.  Check it out.

When?  Do not believe you will do again.  Rules have changed.  I also did it online previously.

[Jingthing]

yes I am thinking I may have to return to the USA for a month to get a new drivers license and open accounts in person. I can use my friends address in Nevada. I just hate the idea of having to ask a favor and my mail going to his house.
 
Bank of America shut down my account because I gave US Global mail as a primary address. It worked to open the account in 2014 but they must have reviewed the account for some reason. Maybe because of many transfers to Thailand.  
 
I am really stuck.
 
 

It won't be easy if they require a utility bill at your claimed address. Yes its no piece of cake being a US expat. We seem to all be suspects.

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[how241]

8 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

When?  Do not believe you will do again.  Rules have changed.  I also did it online previously.

It was 2012 and they gave me 8 years.  I will need to renew again in 2020 so I may also have problems.  I don't really go back to the USA anymore,  the last time was 4 years ago.  It is really getting hard to keep open the bank accts. I still have.  If they even suspect you are not living full time in the USA,  they will be fast to close out your acct. Why they care I don't know but it is really too much with this anti money laundering, etc.  Especially when these accts. usually had under $500 in them. I tried to do periodic bill pays to keep activity but as time goes by I have very little to pay in the USA.  Not easy for US  expats.

[NCC1701A]

5 minutes ago, how241 said:

Not easy for US  expats.

so what bank outside of the USA can i transfer say about $150,000 and it is as safe as a USA bank? 

[how241]

56 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

so what bank outside of the USA can i transfer say about $150,000 and it is as safe as a USA bank? 

I am not sure what point your are trying to make here.  I feel the Thai banks are very safe and offer deposit insurance protection. In my 10 years in Thailand I have never had any banking problems. I think the Thai banks are as safe as USA banks but that is not what this thread is about. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 1/10/2019 at 5:25 PM, NCC1701A said:

 

Bank of America shut down my account because I gave US Global mail as a primary address. It worked to open the account in 2014 but they must have reviewed the account for some reason. Maybe because of many transfers to Thailand.  

 

 

I've always advised folks here to keep their Thailand stuff as separate as possible from their U.S. financial activities. Yours is a good example of what can happen all too easily...

 

BTW, what exactly did it mean/happen when BofA "shut down" your account?  I'm assuming you had the opportunity to withdraw or transfer out whatever funds were in the account at the time of their decision?

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 1/10/2019 at 5:07 PM, JimGant said:

Yeah, the Patriot Act has made things interesting. I've got a mail forwarding address in Texas (no P.O box number, so it looks like a legitimate address -- except it's now apparently easy for banks to identify such addresses as mail forwarding). Anyway, recently tried to sign up with CapOne for their CDs. Gave them my mail forwarding address -- and they came back with a quiz! "Which of the four streets indicated is north of your address?" Well, since my mail forwarder has an actual address, I pulled that up on Google Maps, and, yep, I could identify which street was north of my address. Next question: "Which of the four streets indicated is south of your address?" None of the four existed on Google Maps. And I didn't have the option for "none of the above." So, I chose one at random, and, yep, "wrong, and sorry we don't want your business" (or something similar).

 

 

I ran into that once with Cap One a few years back. I had applied online for a new bank account with them, even though I already had (and still have) existing, prior accounts with them of other types.  The new account app went "under consideration," and when I finally ended up speaking to someone about it, their first thing was to tell me that my address had come back in their systems as showing "commercial" instead of "residential."   Fortunately, that was one of the very few, if even the only time, I've ever been turned down for that kind of reason. 

 

Needless to say, I don't apply with Cap One anymore. But that hasn't stopped me from opening any number of new bank accounts with other entities in the years since using my valid DL and the same exact and matching address.

 

 

[GinBoy2]

8 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I've always advised folks here to keep their Thailand stuff as separate as possible from their U.S. financial activities. Yours is a good example of what can happen all too easily...

 

 

I think you're right on the mark there. As all of the anti money laundering stuff really bites, you just increasingly can't avoid this, so total separation is the only answer.

 

I was fortunate in some ways that did always have a physical address, but nowadays just don't try to use a mailing address, figure out using a family member or friend ahead of time

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 minute ago, GinBoy2 said:

I was fortunate in some ways that did always have a physical address, but nowadays just don't try to use a mailing address, figure out using a family member or friend ahead of time

 

I don't know if Jim and I are using the same or different places.

 

But mine has worked fine for pretty much everything over a long period of years, with the rare exception of that one Cap One episode.

 

[GinBoy2]

11 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I don't know if Jim and I are using the same or different places.

 

But mine has worked fine for pretty much everything over a long period of years, with the rare exception of that one Cap One episode.

 

I think it comes down to an account that's grandfathered in will always be fine, it's when you now try to open something new.

 

Like I'd said previously, I was fine with BoA until I tried to open something new.

 

Now I think the software must be fairly sophisticated, and I'm not the only one to have experienced this, but you can substitute PMB, with Apt, Unit, #, and it still recognizes a mail forwarding address rather than a physical. 

[Thailand J]

 

With US passport and Thai address, you can apply for:

1.  Schwab One International Brokerage account, $25,000 min. , no monthly fee.

2. TD Ameritrade no minimum to open, no monthly fee.

3.  Interactive brokers, no minimum to open, up to $10 monthly fee for account balance <$100,000.

4. State Department Credit Union bank account.

 

If you are in US:

Fidelity offers no fee SWiFT transfers.

Vanguard pays 2.3% on your idle cash and offers $10 SWIFT, free if the account balance is over $1M.

 

Every brokerage account above comes with a bank account except Vanguard. You can upgrade to VanguardAdvantage ( brokerage + PNC Bank account) with $500,000 min., but you can set up SSA direct deposit with regular Vanguard brokerage account.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, Thailand J said:

 

With US passport and Thai address, you can apply for:

1.  Schwab One International Brokerage account, $25,000 min. , no monthly fee.

2. TD Ameritrade no minimum to open, no monthly fee.

3.  Interactive brokers, no minimum to open, up to $10 monthly fee for account balance <$100,000.

4. State Department Credit Union bank account.

 

If you are in US:

Fidelity offers no fee SWiFT transfers.

Vanguard pays 2.3% on your idle cash and offers $10 SWIFT, free if the account balance is over $1M.

 

Every brokerage account above comes with a bank account except Vanguard. You can upgrade to VanguardAdvantage ( brokerage + PNC Bank account) with $500,000 min., but you can set up SSA direct deposit with regular Vanguard brokerage account.

 

Did we ever sort out where each of those institutions are on their fees for international wire transfers, a bigger issue now in light of the recent Immigration/no income letter changes.

 

--Schwab U.S. (not international) is officially $25 for sending an international wire.

--The no fee Fidelity international wires come with some setup complications (Medallion signature requirement)

--Vanguard has the $10 international wires

--Interactive Brokers website says they charge $10 to send an international wire, but also says they allow one free withdrawal per month.

 

[joealx]

On 1/10/2019 at 5:25 PM, NCC1701A said:

Bank of America shut down my account because I gave US Global mail as a primary address. It worked to open the account in 2014 but they must have reviewed the account for some reason. Maybe because of many transfers to Thailand.  

Did you have a direct deposit for over $1000 with them? If not, that could be a reason.

[NCC1701A]

9 hours ago, joealx said:

Did you have a direct deposit for over $1000 with them? If not, that could be a reason.

well i am only speculating because when asked why they shut me down they said there was no legal reason to tell me why and they didn't.  

 

they also shut down my Visa card of 20 years! and i have really good credit. 

[joealx]

1 hour ago, NCC1701A said:

well i am only speculating because when asked why they shut me down they said there was no legal reason to tell me why and they didn't.  

 

they also shut down my Visa card of 20 years! and i have really good credit. 

I've had direct deposit with them for 24 years and changed addresses twice (both mail forwarders and since the Patriot Act) and everything seems OK.

[Thailand J]

 

On 1/13/2019 at 10:21 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Did we ever sort out where each of those institutions are on their fees for international wire transfers, a bigger issue now in light of the recent Immigration/no income letter changes.

 Same old.

Schwab $25 SWIFT officially. Fidelity and Vanguard free or low cost SWIFT,US address to open a new account. If you cant get medallion signature guarantee to add a bank, Vanguard will take embassy certified affidavit and passport copy. I asked Fidelity the answer is no but will consider on case by case basis.

 

Brokerage accounts will not work with Transferwise. The brokerage account number is different from the checking account number that it comes with. For ACH use with Transferwise, try use the bank ABA number and the checking account number, should work but I have not tried. . TD Ameritrade will give you a checking account after you've sign up for cash management.

 

Probably I will go with TD Ameritrade or State Dept Credit Union if I didn't have Fidelity, Vanguard and Schwab, and use SWiFT for large amount Transferwise for small amount.

 

[Thailand J]

oops.. TD Ameritrade U.S. website has stopped accepting Thai addresses. TD Ameritrade Singapore is accepting Singaporean and Malaysian addressees, and will accept Thai addresses "in the near future".

 

Now Schawb also has a branch in Singapore. Schwab Singapore is accepting  Thai addresses, still $25,000 min to open a new account.

[wpcoe]

A friend of mine (retired American living in Thailand, but with mail-forwarding in the US by a friend who works in a small-town FedEx office) called Chase to change the type of VISA card account he had.  When the Chase rep on the phone was verifying his personal data, she declared that his "home" address "looks like a FedEx office" as if she entered the address in Google Earth.  Yikes!

[Jingthing]

A friend of mine (retired American living in Thailand, but with mail-forwarding in the US by a friend who works in a small-town FedEx office) called Chase to change the type of VISA card account he had.  When the Chase rep on the phone was verifying his personal data, she declared that his "home" address "looks like a FedEx office" as if she entered the address in Google Earth.  Yikes!

Yeah it's not rocket science these days to snuff out suspected expats.

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