Do you know (Americans SS) to change ?

[BKKKevin]

3 hours ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

Here's a link to the SSA form to use for direct deposit to Thai bank accounts:  https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-1199-op107.pdf

 

Complete your portion and sign.  Then take it to your bank and have the bank complete their portion and sign and stamp.

 

Email a scan of the completed form to the SSA office in Manila and ask for it to be processed:  FBU.Manila-at-ssa.gov

 

You can have your SS benefits sent to any Thai bank and either a savings or a current account, including Bangkok Bank. Just don't have it sent to an existing Bangkok Bank savings account if it was previously set up to receive SS funds via New York, otherwise you'll have to go in person to withdraw the funds. 

This is the way I just did the IDD transfer to my Thai Bank account… It was simple and took little time… 

 

Some specifics to note:

You must have your Thai address on file with the SSA before submitting the SSA1099 form - I just logged in to my online SSA account and updated it there.

 

I just mailed the SSA1099 form via ThaiPost (With tracking)

 

SSA will send you a confirmation letter of address change to your Thai address and tell you when to expect your first transfer 

 

Your monthly payment date will change to the 3rd - Mine shows up on the fourth as a BahtNet transfer

 

You will be required to complied Form 7162 annually (They will mail this to you at your Thai address in the spring of each year)… If they don’t receive the form they will suspend payments until it’s received so keep your address current with them

 

If you have a Medicare advantage plan they may inform your insurance carrier.

 

Some have reported that their bank will not complete their portion of the SSA1099 - ask them to give you a proof of account letter or make a copy of bank book showing your name and account number and make a note that your bank would not complete a form not generated by them

[Paradise Pete]

On 9/2/2024 at 12:24 AM, edwardflory said:

My Thai bank TELLER swipes my US Card, I sign 2 slips of paper, check my bankbook for correct deposit as I head to ATM, withdraw THB at ATM as I leave bank. ONE trip, one place, done in about 5 minutes. Total cost of transactiom of a 30,000bt transfer last week, $3.12  ( usually 3 to 5 mins wait time for teller not included )

 

What exchange rate are you getting?

 

[gamb00ler]

1 hour ago, Paradise Pete said:

 

What exchange rate are you getting?

 

The exchange rate is set by Visa or Mastercard and is updated about 7AM every Tue-Sat.  See my earlier post for links to Visa/Mastercard.

[OneManShow]

6 hours ago, BKKKevin said:

You must have your Thai address on file with the SSA before submitting the SSA1099 form - I just logged in to my online SSA account and updated it there.

This is different than US residence address ?

[Paradise Pete]

1 hour ago, gamb00ler said:

The exchange rate is set by Visa or Mastercard and is updated about 7AM every Tue-Sat.  See my earlier post for links to Visa/Mastercard.

 

Thanks. Those are handy links.

[BKKKevin]

17 hours ago, OneManShow said:

This is different than US residence address ?

You could own a US residence but the address on file with the SSA must be a foreign address…

 

https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-1199.html

[OneManShow]

7 hours ago, BKKKevin said:

You could own a US residence but the address on file with the SSA must be a foreign address…

 

https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-1199.html

Change of residence address (to outside the US) will result in losing my US bank accounts (at least my US bank accounts, not sure about all US banks). 
 

 

[BKKKevin]

10 hours ago, OneManShow said:

Change of residence address (to outside the US) will result in losing my US bank accounts (at least my US bank accounts, not sure about all US banks). 
 

 

I have not informed my brokerage and bank accounts of my foreign address… All still use my forwarding address where I also have a drivers license and pay taxes… Only changed the SSA address… 

[OneManShow]

1 hour ago, BKKKevin said:

I have not informed my brokerage and bank accounts of my foreign address… All still use my forwarding address where I also have a drivers license and pay taxes… Only changed the SSA address… 

I'm not sure if changing address with SS will lead to residence address change. It's too risky for me since my bank told me that they will close/lock accounts if there is no US residence address (I guess they monitor credit reports)

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 9/3/2024 at 5:25 AM, flexomike said:

My Social Security comes through Bangkok Bank New York. Not true about using Bangkok Bank, any financial institution that has ACH capabilities can route through BKK NY. Appparently not a lot have this ability in the US.

 

I'm not talking about a Social Security deposits below but just general funds:

 

As best as I recall, the BKK Bank New York branch CEASED accepting U.S. domestic ACH transfers for onward routing to your BKKB Thailand account several years back.

 

Last time I checked, however, what you could still do thru BKKB NY is send them a U.S. domestic wire transfer (can often can be found for little or no cost) to their ABA routing # and your Thai BKKB account number, and then THAT they will still forward onward to your BKKB Thai account.

 

But I've never done a SS deposit directly to BKKB New York, so I can't speak to how / whether that still works???  Or if there's been some later change on NY's policy re ACH transfers.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 9/3/2024 at 10:03 AM, flexomike said:

If you have a U.S. bank account, you can conveniently transfer funds to a recipient's bank account at Bangkok Bank in Thailand via the internet by completing the steps described below for an international ACH transaction (IAT). International ACH payments are processed in accordance with operating rules and formats developed by the Electronic Payments Association (NACHA).

The IAT is a special code (a Standard Entry Class or “SEC” Code) for ACH payments that enables financial institutions such as Bangkok Bank to identify and monitor international ACH payments and to perform screening to ensure compliance with Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC, U.S. Department of the Treasury) requirements.  The NACHA  rules require Bangkok Bank’s New York Branch which serves as intermediary, to ensure that payments that are transmitted to account of beneficiary in other country are appropriately classified as IATs and contain information as described below.

 

Bangkok Bank, New York Branch, is required to receive the ACH transactions in the required IAT format.  This means that we must require that senders who wish to transmit funds to recipients at Bangkok Bank in Thailand to provide certain identifying information.

 

 

Yes, what you recount above was what happened, and what BKK Bank NY switched to, several years back when they discontinuing handling what had been normal US domestic ACH transfers that almost any U.S. bank account holder could arrange from their accounts.

 

The CATCH, at the time, was no one here on ThaiVisa / AseanNow at THAT time could find any consumer U.S. banks that offered IAT capability to their consumer account holders.

 

The IAT deal was something they used at the time more for commercial transactions, which perhaps explains by Social Security might be able to send IAT ACHs to BKKB New York, but as far as I know, you and I likely can NOT ourselves.

 

Unless something has changed with that along the way. It's been several years since I last ventured into that topic.

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 9/3/2024 at 2:41 PM, flexomike said:

that will only work if your US bank can do ACH transfers in IAT format, most can't

 

 

Yes, that was my point above re IAT format ACHs... seemingly a rare or non-existent breed at the U.S. consumer banking level.

 

I've got numerous U.S. consumer bank accounts, do domestic ACH transfers all the time. But I've NEVER once seen any option in any of my online banking setups to originate an IAT ACH.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 9/4/2024 at 10:57 AM, JohnnyBD said:

👍 I do the same, but with my SS being deposited in my US Chase Bank acct. I then use my Chase ATM card to withdraw from any ATM. Chase refunds the 220B ATM fee also. That's as simple & easy as it gets.

 

Last time I checked, for their regular consumer checking accounts, Chase U.S. wasn't refunding foreign bank ATM fees and WERE charging foreign currency fees.

 

But they did used to offer those kinds of perks for certain of their very high balance accounts or ones with other relationship elements.

 

Has something changed in that regard with Chase more recently?

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 9/4/2024 at 12:06 PM, amexpat said:

SS goes into US acct then xfer to Bangkok Bank. 

 

And what exact kind of transaction are you using to get the SS funds from your U.S. account to BKKB? And, do you mean first to BKKB NY, or direct to BKKB Thailand?

 

Are you doing a Wise transfer out to your U.S. account onward to BBKB Thailand?

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 9/4/2024 at 8:44 PM, Paradise Pete said:

 

Thanks. Those are handy links.

 

Understand that those are the standard MC and VISA network exchange rates....

 

BUT, your U.S. bank can and often does charge foreign currency transaction fees on ATM withdrawals, purchases, cash advances/counter withdrawals and fund transfers in/to foreign countries such as Thailand. Generally in the 3-4% range for many of the larger U.S. banks.

 

Because the U.S. banks basically are oriented toward a domestic U.S. audience and not an expat audience, they typically don't do a very good job of disclosing whether they charge FCFs and if so at what rates. You often have to delve into their often buried online fee schedules to find that kind of detail.

 

So in the case of a U.S. debit card withdrawal here in Thailand, it will be processed at the then current VISA or MC foreign exchange rate, MINUS any FCFs charged by the U.S. FI that issued your debit card. Sometimes those fees are listed separately in online banking, and in other cases, they're simply rolled into the broader transaction, depending on the FI.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 9/6/2024 at 9:52 AM, OneManShow said:

I'm not sure if changing address with SS will lead to residence address change. It's too risky for me since my bank told me that they will close/lock accounts if there is no US residence address (I guess they monitor credit reports)

 

 

Yep, for those and other reasons, I prefer to keep all my U.S. banking and FI profiles with my U.S. address, and never do anything U.S. official with my TH address. Because there are too many past stories of people's U.S. FIs closing or freezing people's accounts after determining they were no longer "U.S. residents."

 

Every FI handles the residency issue based on their own internal practices.. So there's no one size fits all standard for that... What you can get away with at one FI you'll end up getting grief from a different FI... And the problem is, you'll never know in advance UNTIL the bad news potentially arrives some day. It's a risk.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

...

[JohnnyBD]

2 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Last time I checked, for their regular consumer checking accounts, Chase U.S. wasn't refunding foreign bank ATM fees and WERE charging foreign currency fees.

 

But they did used to offer those kinds of perks for certain of their very high balance accounts or ones with other relationship elements.

 

Has something changed in that regard with Chase more recently?

It all depends on one's relationship level. I am Chase Private Client level, so all my outgoing SWIFT wire xfers are free (no fees), and Chase also refunds the 220B ATM transaction fees whenever I withdraw cash using my Chase debit card.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 minutes ago, JohnnyBD said:

I am Chase Private Client level

 

Congrats for that! Charles Schwab has similar benefits for their wealthier account holders.

 

But re Chase, as I was saying above, NOT for their regular run-of-the mill consumer checking accounts.

 

[amexpat]

9 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

And what exact kind of transaction are you using to get the SS funds from your U.S. account to BKKB? And, do you mean first to BKKB NY, or direct to BKKB Thailand?

 

Are you doing a Wise transfer out to your U.S. account onward to BBKB Thailand?

 

 

 

The exact transaction is from my US bank acct directly to my Bangkok Bank Chiang Mai acct using WISE.com. 
I set up my WISE profile ages ago. It just required simple verification - quick and easy. 

If using it for income method on retirement, it is important to select "long term stay in Thailand" as the reason for xfer. 
That ensures is shows up as foreign xfer.  

[Paradise Pete]

21 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Understand that those are the standard MC and VISA network exchange rates....

 

BUT, your U.S. bank can and often does charge foreign currency transaction fees on ATM withdrawals

 

 

Thanks. Mine charges $5, but for some reason they love me so much that any time they charge me a fee I can ask them to waive it and they do. I'm honestly not sure why. It's saved me a few hundred dollars over the years.

 

[OneManShow]

16 hours ago, Paradise Pete said:

Mine charges $5,

what is the currency exchange rate ?
I guess currency exchange rate is lower than Wise. 
$5+currency exchange rate difference. 
 

To me the only advantage of using debit is the speed, in case of emergency needs. 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

18 hours ago, Paradise Pete said:

 

Thanks. Mine charges $5, but for some reason they love me so much that any time they charge me a fee I can ask them to waive it and they do. I'm honestly not sure why. It's saved me a few hundred dollars over the years.

 

 

 

just fyi, foreign currency conversion fees, if charged, are not generally charged as a flat dollar amount. They're almost always charged as some % amount of the transaction.

 

On the other hand, a lot of U.S. banks also do have a different flat charge, which can be anywhere from $3 - $5, for using an out of network ATM -- which can mean an ATM belonging to a different U.S. banking company or any foreign ATM.

 

If you want to know for sure, you can look at the actual exchange rate on your transactions, and see how that compared to the VISA or MC networks exchange rate websites listed earlier in this thread.  If your bank is charging no foreign currency fee, then your actual exchange rate should be very close to the VISA/MC network rates.

 

 

[acepredator]

On 9/2/2024 at 11:26 AM, KhunLA said:

Open a TH bank account, I use BBL (BkkBank).  They give you as slip of paper with routing # to your account.   Contact SS via Manila and provide info.  It's that simple.

I don't think it is actually a routing number. Routing numbers, to the best of my knowledge, are only used by banks within the United States. To do international monetary transfers, you would need a SWIFT code. The SWIFT code for Bangkok Bank is: BKKBTHBK. 

[acepredator]

On 9/2/2024 at 10:51 AM, edwardflory said:

I do it the simple way.  I use my US BANK MC DEBIT to make deposits into my Thai bank account, ONE trip to the bank, make deposit from US card, withdraw THB at Thai bank  ATM.

On 30,000THB, my TOTAL CHARGES from US Bank last week was $3.12, exchange included ( based on XE exchange rate )

When you withdraw money at a Thai bank ATM, using either a debit or credit card, there is a standard 220 baht fee that you must pay. This fee is the same regardless of how much money you withdraw. So you must add that amount to the $3.12 charged by US Bank.

[KhunLA]

12 minutes ago, acepredator said:

When you withdraw money at a Thai bank ATM, using either a debit or credit card, there is a standard 220 baht fee that you must pay. This fee is the same regardless of how much money you withdraw. So you must add that amount to the $3.12 charged by US Bank.

Or OP / @OneManShow can use a financial institution that doesn't charge to use ATMs and, reimburses the Thai bank's 220 baht charge.

 

Why would you pay to access your own money ?

[acepredator]

24 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Or OP / @OneManShow can use a financial institution that doesn't charge to use ATMs and, reimburses the Thai bank's 220 baht charge.

 

Why would you pay to access your own money ?

I certainly would not voluntarily pay to access my own money, but I didn't realize until reading your post that I had any choice in the matter. Could you please let us know specifically which financial institutions don't charge ATM fees and that reimburse the 220 baht charge? Thanks very much in advance.

[gamb00ler]

On 9/4/2024 at 8:15 AM, khagai1 said:

Not always true. I traced a Swift transfer that was slow and it went from Schwab Bank to Wells Fargo and then on to Bangkok Bank. I could trace the stops and the timestamps along the way with the help of Schwab.

yes... Schwab is not a bank so they don't directly connect to SWIFT.  They need to use an intermediary bank.

[gamb00ler]

On 9/8/2024 at 8:21 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Understand that those are the standard MC and VISA network exchange rates....

 

BUT, your U.S. bank can and often does charge foreign currency transaction fees on ATM withdrawals, purchases, cash advances/counter withdrawals and fund transfers in/to foreign countries such as Thailand. Generally in the 3-4% range for many of the larger U.S. banks.

 

Because the U.S. banks basically are oriented toward a domestic U.S. audience and not an expat audience, they typically don't do a very good job of disclosing whether they charge FCFs and if so at what rates. You often have to delve into their often buried online fee schedules to find that kind of detail.

 

So in the case of a U.S. debit card withdrawal here in Thailand, it will be processed at the then current VISA or MC foreign exchange rate, MINUS any FCFs charged by the U.S. FI that issued your debit card. Sometimes those fees are listed separately in online banking, and in other cases, they're simply rolled into the broader transaction, depending on the FI.

 

I try to remember to warn potential debit card users of the foreign transaction fees that are added by most financial institutions.

 

I think your estimate of 3-4% is a little on the high side.  I think the most common fees are 1.5% and 2%.  Bangkok bank also adds that fee if you use their debit card outside Thailand.

 

The best place to find the details of the foreign transaction fee is in the Terms and Conditions attached to your debit card.  I agree that the banks don't make it easy or convenient to find those details.

 

The Visa and Mastercard web sites I posted earlier do allow the user to enter the foreign transaction fee percentage each time you request an exchange rate quote.

[gamb00ler]

14 minutes ago, acepredator said:

Could you please let us know specifically which financial institutions don't charge ATM fees and that reimburse the 220 baht charge?

I have two US debit cards that don't add foreign transaction fees to ATM withdrawal, retail purchases or cash advances at a bank teller.  Schwab and Capital One 360 Savings don't add the any fees.  Of those two, only Schwab also refunds the 220 ฿ ATM fee.

 

In the Fidelity Terms and Conditions they say that certain account types are eligible to have all ATM fees refunded.  Also, Fidelity does not add foreign transaction fees.

 

I found the Fidelity details by googling for fidelity "debit card" terms conditions.