Australian Aged Pension

[Artisi]

56 minutes ago, Inala said:

 

I agree with everyone else. Never, ever, ever, ever, sell a house in your home country where at least you are a citizen and have some rights. You're only a guest in Thailand and really have very few rights when problems arise. Look what happened in Covid. 

 

There are literally thousands upon thousands of condos for rent in Thailand and if something goes wrong you can just up and go....

 

The world is a different place to what it was 12mths ago. We've seen now how your rights can be removed with a single decree.

 

 

33 minutes ago, giddyup said:

It's different for everybody. I sold up my house in Australia before I moved to Thailand 11 years ago, and have absolutely no regrets. I used about a third of the money to but a nice house here, in my partners name of course, but I knew I could trust her 100%. I didn't want the headache of trying to maintain or rent my house in Australia whilst in Thailand. Unless there is a decree which kicks all falangs out of Thailand, I see no reason why I can't remain here until I die.

 

24 minutes ago, deej said:

The Dooms Dayer report.????

I wouldn't say it's a "Dooms Dayer report" it should be considered as a someone's view. - - each to his own. 

I moved here nearly 20 years ago and retained my real estate in Aust., and very pleased that I did - it has been managed by a competent agent and has given me a nice little boost to my OAP over this time. The income has been properly reported and taxed each year along with maintaining bank accounts, medical insurance (currently on hold) postal address etc. and the property value has increased greatly over this time as an added bonus.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm still an Aussie, living here temporarily on yearly extensions, 90 day reports etc and can return anytime I want or told to by Thailand if extension is not granted allowing me to resume where I left off. 

 

[Salerno]

23 minutes ago, Artisi said:

This particular question has been done to death over and over on thaivisa, suggest you do some homework /research and save everyman and his dog re-hashing it once again. 

 

One would assume he has since he posted ... 12 years ago 

[giddyup]

4 minutes ago, Andy from Kent said:

 

 

Your partner must be different..        ????

 

 

If by that you mean she's not a money- grabbing tattooed bar girl, then yes.

[JWRC]

I was trying to wade through all these replies, but only managed the first page. There is so much incorrect information on here, I feel sorry for the OP.

 

Was there not a great thread of posts with this very same subject, the last one I saw almost got it right.

 

However just to get you off on the right track, do not ring any centerlink office, ring international services where you are in with a chance of getting the correct information.

 

Just to give you something, your pension will not cut out after 26 weeks, but there are a number of things you need to do, all of which should be advised by international services. And you will have to be resident in Australia for 2 years, please note this under normal conditions didn't mean you had to spend the whole 2 years there, I actually had 18 international flights in the 2 years I was qualifying, however travel is restricted at present and re-entry into Thailand at present is costly, so you may need to be prepared to stay in Australia for the 2 years, which a lot of folks don't want to do, however if you want the money, then you will need to do it. Best of luck

[Artisi]

8 minutes ago, Salerno said:

 

One would assume he has since he posted ... 12 years ago 

Interesting, I didn't pickup on the date as I just popped up on my screen while I was reading other things ????

[Artisi]

10 minutes ago, giddyup said:

If by that you mean she's not a money- grabbing tattooed bar girl, then yes.

Seems a few of us have enough smarts to sort out what is what and who is who..... and not be mis-guided by our pecker????

[Salerno]

1 minute ago, Artisi said:

Interesting, I didn't pickup on the date as I just popped up on my screen while I was reading other things ????

 

555 just extracting the urine mate ... been there done that myself; when something pops up in the "new content" list that I hadn't read before so end up at page one, you don't expect it to be over a decade old.

[Artisi]

4 minutes ago, Salerno said:

 

555 just extracting the urine mate ... been there done that myself; when something pops up in the "new content" list that I hadn't read before so end up at page one, you don't expect it to be over a decade old.

That's it, live and learn. What doesn't help is the number of times questions like this that have been done over and over keep getting asked. 

[Sparx60]

Most retired Ausies living overseas are there for variety of reasons, one being that to live in Australia on measaly pension is almost impossible due to high cost of living, whereas living in Thailand on it, if you carefully budget, you will get along.

[deej]

On 12/21/2020 at 11:01 AM, deej said:

To morning my Old Age pension was directly deposited to my Bangkok  Bnk AC  from Reserve Bank of Australia. Not complaining at all ,as exchange rate was 22.1 baht to the AUD

But its been yonks since the TF has come this way,perhaps they have dumped Citi Bank,i certainly hope so????

Good Morning and a late happy New Yr to all.

Gave my last above post a cute Bump,as no reply came.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[scorecard]

On 12/28/2020 at 4:43 PM, Sparx60 said:

Most retired Ausies living overseas are there for variety of reasons, one being that to live in Australia on measaly pension is almost impossible due to high cost of living, whereas living in Thailand on it, if you carefully budget, you will get along.

True of course and there's also plenty of Ozzie pensions who live abroad because that where their loving families live. 

[Old Croc]

On 12/21/2020 at 1:02 PM, giddyup said:

It's different for everybody. I sold up my house in Australia before I moved to Thailand 11 years ago, and have absolutely no regrets. I used about a third of the money to but a nice house here, in my partners name of course, but I knew I could trust her 100%. I didn't want the headache of trying to maintain or rent my house in Australia whilst in Thailand. Unless there is a decree which kicks all falangs out of Thailand, I see no reason why I can't remain here until I die.

I may have said this elsewhere previously, but it's uncanny how close your story is to mine!

I sold up before moving here nearly 11 years ago, bought a villa here for 1/3 the price and plan to stay until death. Also no regrets.

Selling my house in Australia and buying a much cheaper, better, one here, put a profit of just over $300k in my pocket which ensured an extremely comfortable retirement. With a superannuation pension and investments I can live a lifestyle free of financial concerns. With some exceptions, everything is cheaper in Thailand. The cheap labour costs,  low or nil government charges on services, the lack of restrictive nanny state rules and taxes on everything, stretches that money even further.

 

There are always people who cling to home country as a refuge and others who commit fully to their decisions and new lives.  If you are overly concerned about worse case scenarios you may as well stay in situ.

 

Of course you have to be aware that many here are jealous of someone with money and you need to be more careful than usual in dealings with locals (even loved ones) and also a few impoverished and morally corrupt expats.

[Artisi]

On 23/11/2020 at 10:09 AM, giddyup said:

What are your transfer fees? ANZ charges me $18 for a transfer of $10K in Aussie dollars.

Same same 

[scorecard]

44 minutes ago, Artisi said:

Same same 

Macquarie bank charge me AUD15 for any amount, all completed on line, into my K Bank account within 24/36 hrs (Usually 24).

[Artisi]

17 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Macquarie bank charge me AUD15 for any amount, all completed on line, into my K Bank account within 24/36 hrs (Usually 24).

Same, only $18.

Big hearted Macquarie, they must make it up with the parking fee ransom at the Aussie airports ????

[dodgybros]

I am absolutely amazed by people that focus on fees and charges rather than the actual THB that will end up in your account. Just checked ANZ vs Transferwise, and yes the fee is much higher, but for the gent who transferred $10k from ANZ you just tore up 9,000 baht.

 

[Artisi]

22 minutes ago, dodgybros said:

I am absolutely amazed by people that focus on fees and charges rather than the actual THB that will end up in your account. Just checked ANZ vs Transferwise, and yes the fee is much higher, but for the gent who transferred $10k from ANZ you just tore up 9,000 baht.

 

Not if you transfer in $A

[dodgybros]

3 hours ago, Artisi said:

Not if you transfer in $A

Wrong

[Artisi]

34 minutes ago, dodgybros said:

Wrong

Please explain how I could lose 9000 bht transferring $A to a $A Thai  bank account, I then transfer to Bhat as needed. 

[giddyup]

1 hour ago, Artisi said:

Please explain how I could lose 9000 bht transferring $A to a $A Thai  bank account, I then transfer to Bhat as needed. 

Exactly. When I transfer money in $A to my Thai bank I get whatever the current exchange rates are in Thailand. However, if I choose to transfer the money in Thai Baht, I get the p*ss poor exchange rate my Aussie bank gives me, which is why I never do.

[tlcwaterfall]

My experience is that Transferwise will always give you more Thai baht in to your Thai bank account than using any of the Australian banks.

 

If you are not using Transferwise and you are using one of the Australian banks to transfer funds it is worth doing some research.

 

 

[scorecard]

Is it possible to set up monthly payments direct from Centrelink to Thai bank using Transferwise?

[LosLobo]

From my experience, the difference between transferring $10,000 in AUD by HSBC Australia/Bangkok Bank using Swift vs transferring $10,000  using Transferwise is 6,230 baht.

 

Why would anyone use Australian banks or Thai banks for doing the FX?

 

Currently Transferwise offers FX of 23.0449 compared to Bangkok Bank of 22.38 baht for AUD.

 

 

[dodgybros]

3 hours ago, Artisi said:

Please explain how I could lose 9000 bht transferring $A to a $A Thai  bank account, I then transfer to Bhat as needed. 

As an example, todays rate at Kbank is 22.2thb for 1 AUD (plus fees if any), Transferwise is 22.8 inclusive of fees, 

[UncleMhee]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

Is it possible to set up monthly payments direct from Centrelink to Thai bank using Transferwise?

No.......Only from Centrelink to your nominated Thai Bank via the RBA. What rate on the dollar they pay I have no idea about; though I'd like to think it would be the official one. They do waffle on about possibly paying you in USD, depending on your circumstances. So all things considered until I know the RBA's conversion rate.......it'll be into my Oz account to my Thai account via TransferWise for next day arrival.

 

Scroll to "How we make payments"

"If we’re paying into a bank account outside Australia, we’ll pay you in local currency or US dollars. This will depend on what country you’re living in."

https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/topics/payment-schedule-and-rates-people-outside-australia/29791#a7

 

Scroll to "Overseas account"

If your payment goes into an overseas account, we’ll pay you in the local currency or US dollars. This depends on the country you’re in.

The payment conversion is organised by the Reserve Bank of Australia using the exchange rate when the payment's issued. In most cases the money will reach your account 2 to 6 days after it’s issued.

https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/age-pension/how-manage-your-payment/travel-outside-australia/payments-while-outside-australia

 

[Nemises]

11 hours ago, scorecard said:

Is it possible to set up monthly payments direct from Centrelink to Thai bank using Transferwise?

 

Transferwise give you an Australian BSB & Account No.

 

Give those details to CentreLink and transfer funds online yourself, as required, to your Thai bank account. Takes less than a minute.

[NumbNut]

19 hours ago, scorecard said:

Is it possible to set up monthly payments direct from Centrelink to Thai bank using Transferwise?

Yes, TransferWise have just recently started offering Direct Debits for their multi-currency account. 

 

Borderless multi-currency account info

 

Direct Debit info

 

I've used this direct debit transfer for a couple of months now and so long as you have the funds in your TransferWise account it will work seamlessly. You can also specify which account you want your funds drawn from. 

 

You can't currently manage the Direct Debit function from the smartphone app, you have to log onto your account via their webpage, but this will hopefully be made available on the app in the near future.

 

I love TransferWise, my banking requirements are so easy now

[UncleMhee]

7 hours ago, Nemises said:

 

Transferwise give you an Australian BSB & Account No.

 

Give those details to CentreLink and transfer funds online yourself, as required, to your Thai bank account. Takes less than a minute.

While it's true TransferWise give you an Australian Account with BSB; their terms & conditions state the funds must come from an account in your name. Centrelink are not a bank. Are you actually doing this?

[simple1]

On 2/6/2021 at 8:04 PM, UncleMhee said:

No.......Only from Centrelink to your nominated Thai Bank via the RBA. What rate on the dollar they pay I have no idea about; though I'd like to think it would be the official one. <SNIP>

 

 

Direct payment of Age Pension (Centrelink) into your Thai bank account in Thai baht should be the best rate you'll get as the RBA sets the baseline exchange rate for banks in Oz on which they add their margin. Current RBA FX rates at:

 

https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/frequency/exchange-rates.html

[Nout]

The lucky country!