What Thailand Banks will alow the US Social security direct deposit ?

[mhortig]

What banks will set up an account and allow the US Social security benefits Direct Deposit.  If you have set up direct deposit with a Thai Bank, please let me know which bank it was. The bank websites do not provide that information. I will talk to the individual banks, but sometimes, especially in my small city, the staff do not really know what their bank allows. If necessary I can encourage them to check with their head office. Thanks.

Edited August 10, 2021 by mhortig

[ubonjoe]

Any bank that accepts swift transfers can do it.

Do you have a existing accent at a bank. They should be able to accept the International Direct Deposits sent by swift in baht sent by US treasury department.

This Is the form that needs to be signed by the bank then sent the SSA office in Manila.

https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-1199-op107.pdf

You can also set up a direct deposit account at Bangkok Bank that is transferred by ACH to their branch in New York.

[Pedrogaz]

It may have changed in the past 3 years, but at that time SS in the Philippines would only send SS payments to Bangkok Bank. This was because of FACTA, and Bangkok Bank was the only institution to comply with FACTA.

FACTA requires financial institutions outside the US to send details of every US citizen's accounts. It apparently was a lot of work, and most banks refused to do so.

The result is that if you open an account at any Thai bank now, you have to swear that you are not a US person. 

The account with Bangkok Bank that you open is special and limited insofar as you cannot have a debit card and must personally visit the bank to withdraw money (a head ache). This is to prevent your wife or SO carrying on collecting your SS after you are dead.

[ubonjoe]

11 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

It may have changed in the past 3 years, but at that time SS in the Philippines would only send SS payments to Bangkok Bank.

It changed in early 2019 when Thailand was added to the list for International Direct Deposits.

See my post for more info.

[shortstop2]

24 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

The account with Bangkok Bank that you open is special and limited insofar as you cannot have a debit card and must personally visit the bank to withdraw money (a head ache).

The magnitude of the headache's throb depends on how far you live from a branch.   I think I get approx an extra 100 baht per month using this method.  The bank is nearby and I pop into my branch, transfer the money from the special account to my other Bangkok Bank account, and then use the app to transfer the money to my high interest SCB account. 

[AgMech Cowboy]

1 hour ago, Pedrogaz said:

It may have changed in the past 3 years,

It changed... My son got his at SCB. See Ubonjoe's post.

Edited August 16, 2021 by AgMech Cowboy

[khunjeff]

1 hour ago, Pedrogaz said:

Bangkok Bank was the only institution to comply with FACTA.

FACTA requires financial institutions outside the US to send details of every US citizen's accounts. It apparently was a lot of work, and most banks refused to do so.

The result is that if you open an account at any Thai bank now, you have to swear that you are not a US person. 

All Thai financial institutions comply with FATCA; they are required to do so by the Thai Government pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement between Thailand and the US signed in 2016. Although individual bank employees may disagree, no Thai bank has a corporate policy to refuse American clients.

 

Account holders also don't have to "swear that [they] are not a US person", but every person opening an account at any Thai bank does need to fill out paperwork to determine whether they are a "US person" under the terms of the law, since that term encompasses many more people than just US citizens and permanent residents. The reporting of US person account information is automated.

 

 

FATCA-Agreement-Thailand-3-4-2016(1).pdf

[nitehawk42]

I have done this with Bangkok Bank. I recommend them. Good exchange rate and only 200 baht fee per transfer. They are familiar on how to set you up. You do get a debit card and ATM works. Bangkok Bank has a corresponding bank in NYC which makes it easy for them. No other Thai bank has this connection. Tou can get app for your phone so when money comes into your account you can transfer it to other bank accounts. Your email will also get a note with full details.

Go to your nearest branch and get it done. some paper work of course but not complicated You will have to open an account naturally.

I am quite happy with their service.

Edited August 16, 2021 by nitehawk42
addition information

[earlinclaifornia]

54 minutes ago, nitehawk42 said:

I have done this with Bangkok Bank. I recommend them. Good exchange rate and only 200 baht fee per transfer. They are familiar on how to set you up. You do get a debit card and ATM works. Bangkok Bank has a corresponding bank in NYC which makes it easy for them. No other Thai bank has this connection. Tou can get app for your phone so when money comes into your account you can transfer it to other bank accounts. Your email will also get a note with full details.

Go to your nearest branch and get it done. some paper work of course but not complicated You will have to open an account naturally.

I am quite happy with their service.

Actually that is not true regarding the fee, here is the correction:

Transferred Amount	Fee (USD) for  Bangkok Bank’s New York Branch in US	Fee (THB) for  Bangkok Bank in Thailand
Not more than USD50.00	Free	0.25% of the transfer value (minimum 200 baht, maximum 500 baht)
USD50.01 - 100.00	3.00
USD100.1 - 2,000.00	5.00
USD2,000.01 - 50,000.00	10.00
USD50,000.01 or more	20.00

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, earlinclaifornia said:

Actually that is not true regarding the fee, here is the correction:

He may of not been aware there was a fee charged by the New York branch. It is not shown anywhere on the transfer notification. 

I can recall a post by a member that was complaining that their transfer was less than what was sent. As it turned out he did not know there was fee.

If signed up for the SMS notification of the transfer it does show  the .25% fee but not the New York fee. Of course if you know how much you SSA payments are you would note the amount is less.

[thailand49]

If you are a American there is a a Bangkok Bank HQ in New York, you can set this up with S.S. they basically send you money to New York then it is transfer to you Bangkok Bank Thai account in Thailand. My brother had this done but you pay a price for that service by the time it hits your Thai account the rate you get is much lower. 

 

For years he didn't believe or care because he was just plain lazy!  His pension he had it deposited into Credit Union and then use ATM in Thailand to draw his funds, he also had a Charles Schwab account which refunded the ATM fees.

 

For over a year I told him to use Transferwise or now called Wise,  one day we had time and setup an account we linked his Credit Union and CS accounts once that was done we ACH his funds based on the favorable rates of Wise he got close to 7000 baht more. I've been using Wise for sometime I've had funds in my Thai bank within 20 minutes even before the money from my U.S. bank is removed.

[DJ54]

9 hours ago, Pedrogaz said:

The result is that if you open an account at any Thai bank now, you have to swear that you are not a US person. 

I don’t understand this part... if your receiving USA Social Security you are a US person...? 

[mrwebb8825]

5 hours ago, DJ54 said:

I don’t understand this part... if your receiving USA Social Security you are a US person...? 

I wouldn't be too sure these days. There are convicted felons serving time in prison that are collecting unemployment in the US.

[ubonjoe]

11 hours ago, thailand49 said:

My brother had this done but you pay a price for that service by the time it hits your Thai account the rate you get is much lower. 

That is not exactly correct. The SSA sends it to New York the day before it is due. The branch in New York then processes the transfer to here and it is received on the same day it is due. You get the FTT transfer rate for the day it is received.

[thailand49]

 

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

That is not exactly correct. The SSA sends it to New York the day before it is due. The branch in New York then processes the transfer to here and it is received on the same day it is due. You get the FTT transfer rate for the day it is received.

You know the facts better than I about the process, what I do know is our experiment we did the beginning of this month (August) as noted he gets his SS check through the Bangkok Bank,  that day when we looked at the exchange rate on Wise it was 33.02 I will round things off to make it more easy to understand?  His S.S. is around 1500.00 USD when it got to his Bangkok Bank in Thailand we updated his book deposited was 48,000 baht,  we also made a Wise transfer 1500.00 the rate was 33.00 pretty much what the International market was at that moment taken from his Charles Schwab account within 15 minutes completing the transaction with Wise the updated book showed at deposit of 49,500 baht he got 1500 baht more after a period that adds up which is the reason I stop having S.S. deposit my S.S. to Bangkok Bank instead to my personal CS account.

 

You get a  better rate unless it doesn't matter to other individual.

[Pedrogaz]

23 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

It changed in early 2019 when Thailand was added to the list for International Direct Deposits.

See my post for more info.

I'm sorry for the confusion I have sown. I actually got my SS early when I was 62, so it is actually six years since I opened my Bangkok Bank account....i.e around mid 2015.

[ubonjoe]

32 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

I'm sorry for the confusion I have sown. I actually got my SS early when I was 62, so it is actually six years since I opened my Bangkok Bank account....i.e around mid 2015.

I have been using the direct deposit via New York since 2012.

Still using it due to the fact I am using the income option for my extensions and have to show foreign transfers coming in every month and the transfers are shown as FTT.

With IDP they are not shown as foreign transfers and it means getting a credit advice for each one of them.