American Banking Question

[skatewash]

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

You misunderstood.

There is a difference between opening a US account while already in Thailand vs. using an existing account that you opened before.

 

Look folks there will be hundreds of different personal experiences on these issues. They are a moving target. Bank policies change. 

It appears you misunderstood me.  When I lived in the US I did not have any Schwab Account.  I moved to Thailand.  I opened a Schwab account for the first time from Thailand using a VPN set to the US.  I used my address in the US which is a virtual mailbox address (travelingmailbox dot com) and a US phone number through MagicJack (VOIP) and a Google Voice phone number I also set up from Thailand using my MagicJack phone number.

Bank policies do change, especially in response to government regulations. 

[gamb00ler]

Never telling a US based financial institute you live in Thailand seems to be the best approach.

 

I also recommend that @nice2noya see if he can open a Schwab account.  Excellent customer service and their debit card yields more baht/$ than Wise transfers.  It is unlikely that using the debit card can be used to show qualifying transfers to satisfy Thai Immigration.

 

[skatewash]

26 minutes ago, Onerak said:

I have a question about SurfShark. Can I chose SurfShark VPN server in a specific US states, for example, I need to connect to IL (most probably a server in Chicago) server when I am in Thailand. Is it possible with SurfShark? Can you please check and confirm before I sign up. Thanks. 

Look at the map of the US for the location of 23+ cities:

https://surfshark.com/servers/usa

Here are some of the US cities that have SurfShark servers:

But actually, it's usually enough to set your VPN to any of the servers in the US, doesn't necessarily have to be in the city in which you have your US address.  There are no problems checking your Wells Fargo Account in San Francisco from Boston.  There could be problems checking your Wells Fargo Account in San Francisco from Bangkok, Thailand.

 

Edited March 8, 2022 by skatewash

[Onerak]

16 minutes ago, skatewash said:

But actually, it's usually enough to set your VPN to any of the servers in the US, doesn't necessarily have to be in the city in which you have your US address. 

I need a server located in IL sepcifically not for opening bank accounts. I have more than US 50 bank accounts and 500+ credit cards with more than a 3 million in available credits. . That's not my problem. My problem is accessing some IL servers that are IP restricted to connection from IL only. Hope the Chicago server will do. Thanks.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Onerak

[skatewash]

8 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

Never telling a US based financial institute you live in Thailand seems to be the best approach.

 

I also recommend that @nice2noya see if he can open a Schwab account.  Excellent customer service and their debit card yields more baht/$ than Wise transfers.  It is unlikely that using the debit card can be used to show qualifying transfers to satisfy Thai Immigration.

 

Yeah, use my Schwab ATM Card in a Krungsri Bank ATM to withdraw 30,000 THB in cash instantly.  I can take the cash to the next Cash Deposit Machine for a Thai Bank I have an account at and deposit it into that account.  I can do this once per day (a Schwab limitation).  The 220 baht ATM withdrawal fees are reimbursed to me in my Charles Schwab account once per month.  I get whatever the VISA exchange rate for Thailand (USD to THB) is on that day.

Absolutely not useful for immigration purposes though.

[skatewash]

4 minutes ago, Onerak said:

I need a server located in IL sepcifically not for opening bank accounts. I have more than US 50 bank accounts and 500+ credit cards with more than a 3 million in available credits. . That's not my problem. My problem is accessing some IL government servers that are restricted to connection from IL only. Hope the Chicago server will do. Thanks.

I imagine it would.  But best to actually test it out for yourself.  I think most VPNs will give you a free trial period where you can test whether it's going to work for you or not. 

[Onerak]

1 minute ago, skatewash said:

I imagine it would.  But best to actually test it out for yourself.  I think most VPNs will give you a free trial period where you can test whether it's going to work for you or not. 

Will check it. I am now in US but outside IL. SO I can check it from another states.

[Pib]

28 minutes ago, Onerak said:

I have a question about SurfShark. Can I chose SurfShark VPN server in a specific US states, for example, I need to connect to IL (most probably a server in Chicago) server when I am in Thailand. Is it possible with SurfShark? Can you please check and confirm before I sign up. Thanks. 

If you are thinking your bank is in Illinois and therefore my IP address location should reflect in Illinois don't worry about that.  If your bank is looking closely at IP addresses they are probably only looking for a U.S. IP address....just any IP address within the U.S....somewhere in Maine, Florida, California, Alaska, Hawaii, or some other U.S. location.

 

Many people use a VPN for their bank online connections (or any other online connection) simply because they want/think it will provide a more secure connection and when they make that VPN connection it could end-up being a  server/IP address hundreds of miles away depending on how their VPN software operates. 

 

Yes, VPN software will allow connection to specific server locations, but some VPN software will also just offer a connection to "somewhere else " in the country.   And sometimes even if trying to connect to a specific VPN server location (like a Chicago server) that VPN service provider may end up connecting/offloading you to another server....like you are trying to connect to their Chicago server but they offload you to their New York server and you don't even know it unless you use WhatIsMyIPAddress or similar site to checkout the IP address connected to.  But with either server you have a U.S. IP connection.

 

With millions upon millions of VPN users not living in or near one of the VPN service provider's server locations, like living somewhere in rural or small town in Illinois but still a long way from Chicago, any U.S. website you are trying to log onto knows this and is really just looking for a U.S. IP address if they are very picky about wanting to see a U.S. IP address....not an IP address/location from your very specific location in Illinois. 

 

But I understand wanting to reflect an IP address that matches your U.S. residence, but if being a person that always uses a VPN connection then for many people their IP address will never-ever match their residence and banks understand this since so, so many people use VPN connections just for extra online security.  Banks are really just looking for a U.S. IP address.  Additionally, many people are traveling around the country all the time logging on from many different locations...each with a different IP address/location.

 

But I also understand there are some websites, like some TV content websites, that might be looking for a IP address/location from within a certain state/region before they will offer content form that state/region.  

 

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, skatewash said:

It appears you misunderstood me.  When I lived in the US I did not have any Schwab Account.  I moved to Thailand.  I opened a Schwab account for the first time from Thailand using a VPN set to the US.  I used my address in the US which is a virtual mailbox address (travelingmailbox dot com) and a US phone number through MagicJack (VOIP) and a Google Voice phone number I also set up from Thailand using my MagicJack phone number.

Bank policies do change, especially in response to government regulations. 

No I didn't. Yours is one case at one point in time only.

[Onerak]

4 hours ago, Pib said:

If you are thinking your bank is in Illinois and therefore my IP address location should reflect in Illinois don't worry about that.  If your bank is looking closely at IP addresses they are probably only looking for a U.S. IP address....just any IP address within the U.S....somewhere in Maine, Florida, California, Alaska, Hawaii, or some other U.S. location.

This is not about banks and I have two residences in the USA. IL and Las Vegas. This is about some specific servers protected against IP addresses outside IL. I have tried in different states and they are blocked when trying to access from outside IL.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Onerak

[siam dreamers]

I  have a Schwab international Joint account with my address in Thailand. WARNING!!! The account works very well but will be a real pain for my Thai wife and child to get my investment funds after I pass. She can only assess 25% of the joint account. There are no beneficiaries allowed on a Schwab International account and she will have to have my estate processed through Thai probate and then thru the IRS before she can get the funds. 

 

As far as phone calls to the us Banks to solve problems, I always use skype which allows me to call 1 800 numbers for free. really handy and much less stressful when you are not paying for the calls. As far as SMS alerts I am in the sam boat with you. What a Pain.

[mtls2005]

16 hours ago, nice2noya said:

I look for an account that works with low balances and fees as I'm only interested in a destination for my SS check and a debit card for rarely used occasions.

Do you have any requirement to transfer funds from the U.S. to thailand? 

 

SDFCU would seem to be ideal? DD of SSA benefit might yield emeritus status? ATM debit card ("Checking account options with ATM and foreign transaction fee reimbursements"), linked to WISE, offer credit cards (no foreign currency fee), solid ex-pat service history, decent web and app (I think they deliver OTP via their app?).

 

I'm not a member/customer, but many, many, many here rave about it.

 

You should also have a plan B and a Plan C.

 

 

[skatewash]

15 minutes ago, siam dreamers said:

I  have a Schwab international Joint account with my address in Thailand. WARNING!!! The account works very well but will be a real pain for my Thai wife and child to get my investment funds after I pass. She can only assess 25% of the joint account. There are no beneficiaries allowed on a Schwab International account and she will have to have my estate processed through Thai probate and then thru the IRS before she can get the funds. 

 

As far as phone calls to the us Banks to solve problems, I always use skype which allows me to call 1 800 numbers for free. really handy and much less stressful when you are not paying for the calls. As far as SMS alerts I am in the sam boat with you. What a Pain.

The Schwab International account is not as good as the US Schwab account, although I did not know you were not being allowed to specify a beneficiary.  If you are American you should have been able to get a US Schwab account (which I think does allows you to specify a beneficiary), although you would have had to use a US address.

As for SMS alerts I would again suggest that you open a free Google Voice account using your Skype phone number.  I have success getting my 2-factor authentication SMSs on my Google Voice number.

[skatewash]

4 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Do you have any requirement to transfer funds from the U.S. to thailand? 

 

SDFCU would seem to be ideal? DD of SSA benefit might yield emeritus status? ATM debit card ("Checking account options with ATM and foreign transaction fee reimbursements"), linked to WISE, offer credit cards (no foreign currency fee), solid ex-pat service history, decent web and app (I think they deliver OTP via their app?).

 

I'm not a member/customer, but many, many, many here rave about it.

 

You should also have a plan B and a Plan C.

 

 

I think you can get the same features from a Charles Schwab Checking account and from CapitalOne Credit cards.  I was able to open those accounts from Thailand.  I was not able to open an SDFCU account from Thailand using either my US address or Thai address.  Customer service in my case was non-existent.  They seemed to be incredibly unhelpful in my case.

[mtls2005]

53 minutes ago, skatewash said:

I think you can get the same features from a Charles Schwab Checking account and from CapitalOne Credit cards. 

You opened a Schwab International Brokerage account? Or a Schwab One International account?

 

What was the minimum opening balance requirement?

 

I see this on the Schwab site: A minimum deposit of US$25,000 is needed to open a Schwab One International account.

 

 

The OP specifically mentioned "low balances", and didn't mention credit cards.

 

Schwab and Capital One are wonderful. I have no experience with either, although I am considering a CapOne CC given their wide offering of Fx free cards.

 

My focus is listening to the OP and trying to point them towards the best solution for them, and not what I use.

 

 

[skatewash]

58 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

You opened a Schwab International Brokerage account? Or a Schwab One International account?

 

What was the minimum opening balance requirement?

 

I see this on the Schwab site: A minimum deposit of US$25,000 is needed to open a Schwab One International account.

 

 

The OP specifically mentioned "low balances", and didn't mention credit cards.

 

Schwab and Capital One are wonderful. I have no experience with either, although I am considering a CapOne CC given their wide offering of Fx free cards.

 

My focus is listening to the OP and trying to point them towards the best solution for them, and not what I use.

 

 

I opened a Schwab High-yeild interest checking account which comes with an associated brokerage account you don't have to use.  Not an international account. No minimum balance.  No fees of any sort, basically a free account.  The interest rate is awful, I just use the account for the ATM card.

 

If I haven't been clear before I think the OP can solve his own problem by using a US address and US phone number.  If the OP goes with another bank and continues to not use a US address and phone I suspect he will encounter the same or similar problems which are driven by US government policy that makes it difficult for US financial institutions to serve customers living outside the US.

 

I'm giving my specific case as an example of how one can live overseas and still maintain US financial accounts.  So far anyway...

Edited March 9, 2022 by skatewash

[lopburi3]

Another option that might fit OP is Wise borderless account - no issues with living in Thailand and provides US account number for deposits - it is not FDIC but has good history and if only using for small amounts could be the answer.  

[USEpat]

Wells Fargo is a lousy bank with lousy service.  I have an account in the States with them only because my account is grandfathered from acquisitions and has zero fees.  I keep as little there as possible - less than 1K usually. 

 

I wanted to have my son beneficiary/co-owner for the small account but the only way Well Fargo would do that was if I showed up personally at a U.S. branch office - COVID and expenses be damned.  No amount of escalation helped.  You're right that their "security" apparatus trips all the time. I use my son's U.S. address and phone to meet their administrative nonsense.  No other financial institution gave me any problems using e-mail to sort things out.  

 

I use Bangkok Bank in (Pattaya as well), with direct deposit of my SS. It's actually deposited at the Bangkok Bank in New York who then do an internal transfer to the bank here to a dollar denominated account. Works trouble free although there's a double fee of about US$5 for the NY deposit and again when NY BB moves the money here - go figure.

 

Good luck.

[lopburi3]

20 minutes ago, USEpat said:

Works trouble free although there's a double fee of about US$5 for the NY deposit and again when NY BB moves the money here - go figure.

 

There is the New York transfer fee and then a Thai bank receiving fee in range 200-500 baht which is not recorded prior to baht being deposited into account (1/4%).  There is also a requirement to not have card or internet access to such account (you have to appear in branch with ID to get or move money).  

[USEpat]

On 3/9/2022 at 3:55 AM, lopburi3 said:

There is the New York transfer fee and then a Thai bank receiving fee in range 200-500 baht which is not recorded prior to baht being deposited into account (1/4%).  There is also a requirement to not have card or internet access to such account (you have to appear in branch with ID to get or move money).  

Right................I do have to go the the bank to get the US denominated funds or to convert them to Baht when the exchange rate is favorable.  The fee here each month for the deposit runs about US$ 6.40 to US$ 6.70.  The fee I'm charged in New York is US$5.

[cmarshall]

On 3/8/2022 at 8:56 PM, skatewash said:

The US government imposes regulations on US financial institutions regarding where their customers live.  US financial institutions perform due diligence to determine whether they have any customers who live outside the US.  If they really wanted to find where I live, it wouldn't be hard.  But I'm not going to volunteer the information.

I don't know whether the KYC banking regulations require that banks know where their customers live.  If there is such a requirement it must only apply when opening an account since the banks never require periodic validation of US addresses for existing customers.

 

In any case there is no requirement of residency in the US to open or maintain a US bank account.  The banks themselves, most of them, decided not to open accounts for expats and to close existing accounts for them.  

[gamb00ler]

Using a US based address (trusted friend), Google Voice number, a photo of my Green Card and NordVPN I was able to open a CapitalOne 360 checking account online.

 

I wanted the Cap1 account so I could have a Mastercard based debit card.  Those cards yield the most baht/US$ conversion when doing a cash withdrawal at the teller.  The exchange rate is better than Wise and there are NO fees.

[grin]

On 3/9/2022 at 12:31 AM, USEpat said:

Wells Fargo is a lousy bank with lousy service.  I have an account in the States with them only because my account is grandfathered from acquisitions and has zero fees.  I keep as little there as possible - less than 1K usually. 

 

I wanted to have my son beneficiary/co-owner for the small account but the only way Well Fargo would do that was if I showed up personally at a U.S. branch office - COVID and expenses be damned.  No amount of escalation helped.  You're right that their "security" apparatus trips all the time. I use my son's U.S. address and phone to meet their administrative nonsense.  No other financial institution gave me any problems using e-mail to sort things out.  

 

I use Bangkok Bank in (Pattaya as well), with direct deposit of my SS. It's actually deposited at the Bangkok Bank in New York who then do an internal transfer to the bank here to a dollar denominated account. Works trouble free although there's a double fee of about US$5 for the NY deposit and again when NY BB moves the money here - go figure.

 

Good luck.

I agree with the WFB assessment. I closed 3 out of 4 of my accounts with them a few years ago. I kept the oldest account that was opened in 1977 at Crocker Bank at One Montgomery St in SF that was later acquired by WFB. It also still has a few nice features that are grandfathered in after all this time but they keep asking me to switch to less attractive alternatives. I was using Zelle pay with them but gave up due to them having too many restrictions compared to other banks. And their 2FA no longer works with Google Voice.

[JimGant]

Here's an irony.

 

USAA caters to the military, who, of course, spend a lot of time overseas. But, from the following article, USAA certainly isn't the military friendly company I joined 56 years ago.

 

Quote

For the past year, USAA has been unable to open new accounts overseas or change existing ones because it holds no foreign banking license, according to the company.

The financial services firm can still service existing accounts for its members with overseas addresses, but has not offered new services since September 2020, USAA said.

"Due to foreign banking requirements, USAA is prohibited from offering new bank products to members with foreign addresses of record with USAA,” company spokesperson Brad Russell told Stars and Stripes by email Thursday. “However, this does not impact any accounts they opened with USAA prior to a move to a foreign country.”

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2021-09-17/usaa-banking-overseas-accounts-financial-services-2918548.html

If you read the entire article, the active duty individual was merely trying to upgrade his USAA savings account to the next, higher interest paying level. No Can do, as this would be the same as opening a new account.

 

As my address with USAA is my Thai address, just wonder if, when I croak, will the wife have a problem changing our joint account to a single account in her name........

 

Will be checking that out soonest, although my latest experience with USAA is that they've hired their latest phone answerers off the streets. Sad. Once a great company.

[Pib]

 

USAA spokesman quote below taken from the Stars & Stripes weblink/article in JimGant's post above.  I just hate company statements like below which is usually total BS as it's usually an insincere statement, a way to avoid an honest answer, etc.  

 

USAA quote

Quote

“We continue to evaluate international applicable requirements and hope to serve such members with new bank products in the future," he said.