Mail from the USA

[riclag]

First,I dont get a lot of mail.This is the second time in 3 years that mail was sent from the USA but somehow it has

a Belgium metered postal stamp on the top right corner of the windowed business 

envelope.

It was a replacement Credit Card, sent from Philadelphia.

Has anyone experienced this here in Thailand?

Edited January 12 by riclag

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Yes, it is fairly common for larger US companies and institutions to use mailing services in other countries when sending mail to non-US addressees. I also receive mailings from the US that are similarly franked. 

[Liverpool Lou]

Not unknown for mail from the UK also to be similarly franked.

[thesetat]

Im actually surprised your bank sent that. Bank of America would never send me a new credit card and I need to have that sent to family in the USA. Then the family mails it to me. 

[Retfed50]

9 minutes ago, thesetat said:

Im actually surprised your bank sent that. Bank of America would never send me a new credit card and I need to have that sent to family in the USA. Then the family mails it to me. 

Don't know why BOA doesn't send your credit cards. I have both my Thai and US adresses listed on my account with the Thai address as my primary. They send my new debit and credit cards directly here to me. In fact, I just received my new credit card last week.

[thesetat]

Just now, Retfed50 said:

Don't know why BOA doesn't send your credit cards. I have both my Thai and US adresses listed on my account with the Thai address as my primary. They send my new debit and credit cards directly here to me. In fact, I just received my new credit card last week.

In 10 years i have never been able to get a replacement or renewed card sent to me from the USA to Thailand.. Never. I have tried many times. 

[Soondae]

17 hours ago, riclag said:

First,I dont get a lot of mail.This is the second time in 3 years that mail was sent from the USA but somehow it has

a Belgium metered postal stamp on the top right corner of the windowed business 

envelope.

It was a replacement Credit Card, sent from Philadelphia.

Has anyone experienced this here in Thailand?

Yes, all the mail I receive such as replacement CC and a few books have been routed via Switzerland, Germany, etc.

[Tedly]

1 hour ago, thesetat said:

Im actually surprised your bank sent that. Bank of America would never send me a new credit card and I need to have that sent to family in the USA. Then the family mails it to me. 

Same here, I recently needed a new card and they would not send it anywhere but an American address. I had them send it to a family member who then mailed it to me. Maybe I'll try adding my Thai address and see what happens next time I need a new one.

[Fortean1]

One U.S. government agency has consistently changed my zip code in Thailand, 77220, to 939, which is routed to Paris, France.  I've tried shortening the province name from Prachuabkhirikhan to Pracuab as Thais often do.  That does not help.

 

I've dealt with Capital One banking.  They will not send credit cards or allow me look at their web site.  During a visit to the U.S., our first in nine years, I closed that account.  I still must make another phone call to have the 1099-INT statement sent to my son's home in Las Vegas.  Capital One bought out ING and US/REI Bank.  I could access those account on-line. 

 

Terry

( a few miles south of Hua Hin )

[herfiehandbag]

13 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Not unknown for mail from the UK also to be similarly franked.

Yes, I get a quarterly mailing from an outfit based in Surbiton. These are all franked by Jersey Post.

[sirineou]

15 minutes ago, Fortean1 said:

They will not send credit cards or allow me look at their web site. 

To view and or interact with many US websites you need a VPN. to make it look like you ae there.

I often use Venmo to move money around the US , if I forget to change my VPN location to one in the US it does not work. Then I change VPN to Miami and it works fine. I have Capital One credit card and have no problems interacting with and maintaining it from Thailand via a VPN. I like the Capitol One card I have because there is no annual fee, and the do not charge international transaction fees . We often travel to countries other than the US and Thailand where we are. 

[Fortean1]

22 minutes ago, sirineou said:

To view and or interact with many US websites you need a VPN. to make it look like you ae there.

I often use Venmo to move money around the US , if I forget to change my VPN location to one in the US it does not work. Then I change VPN to Miami and it works fine. I have Capital One credit card and have no problems interacting with and maintaining it from Thailand via a VPN. I like the Capitol One card I have because there is no annual fee, and the do not charge international transaction fees . We often travel to countries other than the US and Thailand where we are. 

Good information.  I've never used a VPN.  Avast security program has one.

[Peterphuket]

It's a good thing Europe exists, otherwise those Yanks would never be able to receive mail.
Does me good.

[Luuk Chaai]

2 hours ago, sirineou said:

To view and or interact with many US websites you need a VPN. to make it look like you ae there.

I often use Venmo to move money around the US , if I forget to change my VPN location to one in the US it does not work. Then I change VPN to Miami and it works fine. I have Capital One credit card and have no problems interacting with and maintaining it from Thailand via a VPN. I like the Capitol One card I have because there is no annual fee, and the do not charge international transaction fees . We often travel to countries other than the US and Thailand where we are. 

Chase Bank .....Never a problem

[Wrwest]

4 hours ago, Fortean1 said:

One U.S. government agency has consistently changed my zip code in Thailand, 77220, to 939, which is routed to Paris, France.  I've tried shortening the province name from Prachuabkhirikhan to Pracuab as Thais often do.  That does not help.

 

I've dealt with Capital One banking.  They will not send credit cards or allow me look at their web site.  During a visit to the U.S., our first in nine years, I closed that account.  I still must make another phone call to have the 1099-INT statement sent to my son's home in Las Vegas.  Capital One bought out ING and US/REI Bank.  I could access those account on-line. 

 

Terry

( a few miles south of Hua Hin )

Individual cases may vary. I have maintained my CapOne Card for over a decade and it has been sent here to Chiang Mai. I have both a USA address and a Chiang Mai address (and phone numbers) registered with the company (as well with my AMEX account). I do seem to remember a USA address registering issue with a company (cannot remember which one) because their address program would not allow enough letters to be entered for the Chiang Mai address.

Edited January 13 by Wrwest

[bbko]

I once had USAA mail me a insurance refund check, on the envelope they abbreviated Thailand with the letters "Thai", the letter took about 3 months for me to get, it went to Taiwan first, then back to the USA, then to Thailand. 

Some Americans know nothing about other countries.

[timendres]

43 minutes ago, bbko said:

Some Americans know nothing about other countries.

 

Some?

[Fortean1]

2 hours ago, Peterphuket said:

It's a good thing Europe exists, otherwise those Yanks would never be able to receive mail.
Does me good.

I heartily agree with your humor.  Paris, France for at least one U.S. agency.  Again, on the pro side my mail service here just south of Hua Hin is very good.  International mail office in Bangkok often delays my monthly issue of Fortean Times magazine.  It's a British magazine.  It gets sent somewhere in Europe, arrives in Bangkok.  Couple times I've received the previous month and current month on the same day.

[riclag]

1 hour ago, bbko said:

I once had USAA mail me a insurance refund check, on the envelope they abbreviated Thailand with the letters "Thai", the letter took about 3 months for me to get, it went to Taiwan first, then back to the USA, then to Thailand. 

Some Americans know nothing about other countries.

Some Americans know nothing about other countries,DEI  hire's me thinks ! 
 

Which brings up another point .I tried to comment with a lengthy response 

but somehow got deleted, oh well.

Here’s a short version 

 

I had to cancel my CC card, because of unauthorized transactions. The Card Company told me it would send me a new one . I told them I was traveling and to send it to Thailand!

They sent two one expedited through Fedex , that took a week and the original request was snail mailed to me

which was mentioned in the OP.

[khunjeff]

It's not just mail from the US - this is a "thing" that comes from companies or government agencies contracting with logistics companies in other countries. I received eyeglasses sent from China with a return address in Malmo, Sweden, and printer parts - also mailed from China - with a shipping address in Singapore.

[pgrahmm]

12 hours ago, Retfed50 said:

Don't know why BOA doesn't send your credit cards. I have both my Thai and US adresses listed on my account with the Thai address as my primary. They send my new debit and credit cards directly here to me. In fact, I just received my new credit card last week.

Ditto - I second this....

[Acharn]

I've gotten all my mail here in Thailand for over forty years. It takes longer since 9/11, but usually gets here within two or three weeks. I just got my U.S. social security tax form today, faster than the last several years. Bank of America sends my credit cards to me. So does my credit union.

[LikeItHot]

16 hours ago, Retfed50 said:

Don't know why BOA doesn't send your credit cards. I have both my Thai and US adresses listed on my account with the Thai address as my primary. They send my new debit and credit cards directly here to me. In fact, I just received my new credit card last week.

And with that news I'm switching all my accounts from Chase (the bane of expats) to BOA.  Can I assume that they also are comfortable using your Thai phone number.  I've had horrible times trying to use US bank apps here because they constantly require sending text confirmation numbers and don't have the ability to use my foreign phone number.  Please advise. Thanks.

[LikeItHot]

10 hours ago, Wrwest said:

Individual cases may vary. I have maintained my CapOne Card for over a decade and it has been sent here to Chiang Mai. I have both a USA address and a Chiang Mai address (and phone numbers) registered with the company (as well with my AMEX account). I do seem to remember a USA address registering issue with a company (cannot remember which one) because their address program would not allow enough letters to be entered for the Chiang Mai address.

Cap One blocks everyone of my transactions until I contact them and release the block.   They have done it for years despite my constant complaints.  It gets rather embarrassing on in person transactions where I have to ask merchants to wait and then run it again.  I booked a hotel in Viet Nam and when I showed up the hotel said it had been blocked.  It was the middle of the night and not an ATM for miles.  When I found one it had no cash. An absolute disaster. When I updated their app they refused to provide anyway to verify to be able to use it.as they refused to use a foreign phone number.  Customer service said the only way it could be done was for me to return to the US and redownload the app and activate it there.  My fingerprint was not good enough for them.  I couldn't use the app for two years until they sent a new card to my NY address that I had FedEx by family to me here and I was able to tap the phone with the card chip to verify.  It was literal insanity.  The only reason I got the card was they gave me a ton of flyer miles but when I tried to use them they pointed back to the verification issue and refused to accommodate me despite their product being advertised as a travel card.  If they asked me to come up with more ludicrous policies I wouldn't be able to.  For the record Chase is no better.  It took 7 full hours of conversations with 9 separate reps over 14 days to send a wire from NY to Scotland for my daughter's tuition.  And every new rep started the entire process from the beginning.  They also notoriously block all my online purchases while abroad.  I basically had to book every flight and hotel twice or more in some cases.  Thank God and everything holy for Wise.

[LikeItHot]

11 hours ago, Luuk Chaai said:

Chase Bank .....Never a problem

Lucky you.  They treat me like a terrorist arms dealer.  I have made dozens and dozens of complaints to no avail.  Even when I was in the States they once froze all my accounts because a tenant sent me rent.  They said it was suspicious. I asked how, they had no response.  They also had a special on international wires for $5 once.  I tried it and they promptly froze all my accounts again. "Suspicious".  They froze all my accounts again a few months ago when I tried to send wires to my daughter's university.  They put me through hell on that one.  Weeks of my life lost forever. 

[thesetat]

22 hours ago, Tedly said:

Same here, I recently needed a new card and they would not send it anywhere but an American address. I had them send it to a family member who then mailed it to me. Maybe I'll try adding my Thai address and see what happens next time I need a new one.

I tried that also. It did not work. The bank said they mailed it but 2 months later it still have never been received. So i had to resort back to sending it to family. 

[Kinglizard]

On 1/13/2024 at 5:57 AM, thesetat said:

In 10 years i have never been able to get a replacement or renewed card sent to me from the USA to Thailand.. Never. I have tried many times. 

Me Too!! I have been here 3 years, my platinum visa expired in APRIL, and My US BANK has mailed a replacement with tracking nos. THREE times, the envelope mysteriously dissappears after leaving the USA???

If the THIEF is reading this, the card has no value until received and validated by me! But I'm still waiting for the "Mailman"???

[metisdead]

12 hours ago, Kinglizard said:

Me Too!! I have been here 3 years, my platinum visa expired in APRIL, and My US BANK has mailed a replacement with tracking nos. THREE times, the envelope mysteriously dissappears after leaving the USA???

If the THIEF is reading this, the card has no value until received and validated by me! But I'm still waiting for the "Mailman"???

 

Your best option would be to have the credit card sent by UPS or FedEx.  But then the US BANK would most likely not want to foot the bill by sending it that way. 

[thesetat]

12 hours ago, metisdead said:

 

Your best option would be to have the credit card sent by UPS or FedEx.  But then the US BANK would most likely not want to foot the bill by sending it that way. 

The bank will not and there is no way to even authorize to pay the fee yourself. Most cards from banks are sent from a main distribution center. So there is no way to pay the UPS or other courier fee. 

[acepredator]

On 1/13/2024 at 5:57 AM, thesetat said:

In 10 years i have never been able to get a replacement or renewed card sent to me from the USA to Thailand.. Never. I have tried many times. 

My situation is the same. Citibank absolutely will not send a credit or debit card to any foreign address. In fact, if you cannot provide them with a U.S. address, they will cancel your credit cards. Fortunately, I'm able to use my sister's address in Colorado; otherwise, my credit card would have long since been terminated.