Australian Aged Pension

[giddyup]

Just now, Gregster said:

Probably not. You're on a good wicket with Citibank. Well done mate. But for everyone else ( who have been with their respective banks for up to potentially 50 years) is it worth the rigmarole of changing banks to save 18 bucks for an occasional money transfer...

No.

[David Walden]

58 minutes ago, giddyup said:

No.

Whilst in Thailand I usually take take from an  ATM  Bt10,000 about 6 or 7 times a month from my Citibank Debit Card, no charges of any type.  I also have an ANZ debit card.  If I take this same amount out of the ANZ a/c it cost Bt700 or about Aus$25.  This adds up to Aus $150/175 p/m.  Citibank cost me nothing not a penny.  My Centrelink pension is paid into my Citibank a/c.  With my ANZ pension fund, monthly payment are topped to my Centrelink pension.  I have to have an ANZ a/c to get it my super they will not pay into any other banks a/cs.  So I just transfer it on line.

 

Bank charges from many banks including ANZ are often quite outrageous.  There is no rigmarole in saving up to Aus $175 per month in international ATM transactions fees.  Perhaps you should keep that advice to yourself.  No good to me and others I expect.

 

PS the exchange rate with ANZ is never as good as Citbank usually about 1% less, so that is another added charge. 

 

PPS I opened my first bank a/c with the ES&A bank in 1957 as a lad (taken over by ANZ in the 60's).  My house mortgage many years later was with them.  Got a rotten deal then.  Transferred to Citibank, much better for my business and lower interest rate saved thousands.  Still have my super with ANZ but would cost me thousand to move it.  Don't want to because it is the best I can find and my super is grandfathered.  

 

Edited September 18, 2017 by David Walden

[opalred]

why not get the pension payed direct to Thai bank

[Nemises]

Whilst in Thailand I usually take take from an  ATM  Bt10,000 about 6 or 7 times a month from my Citibank Debit Card, no charges of any type.  I also have an ANZ debit card.  If I take this same amount out of the ANZ a/c it cost Bt700 or about Aus$25.  This adds up to Aus $150/175 p/m.  Citibank cost me nothing not a penny.  My Centrelink pension is paid into my Citibank a/c.  With myy ANZ pension fund monthly payment which tops up my Centrelink pension I have to have an ANZ to get it my super they will not pay into any other banks a/cs.  So I just transfer it on line.
 
Bank charges from many banks including ANZ are often quite outrageous.  There is no rigmarole in saving up to Aus $175 per month in international ATM transactions fees.  Perhaps you should keep that advice to yourself.  No good to me and others I expect.
 
PS the exchange rate with ANZ is never as good as Citbank usually about 1% less, so that is another added charge. 
 

Didn't mean to offend. But from above , at least one other regular poster agree with me (about not changing banks to save 18 bucks)...there could be others.

It's a public forum so please do not "instruct" others to not post their thoughts/suggestions/opinions. Like I say, you're on a good thing with Citibank. Well done.

[David Walden]

24 minutes ago, opalred said:

why not get the pension payed direct to Thai bank

I have a house in Aus so I can come and go as I like, some day I may move to Thailand forever?

[David Walden]

23 minutes ago, Gregster said:

Didn't mean to offend. But from above , at least one other regular poster agree with me (about not changing banks to save 18 bucks)...there could be others.

It's a public forum so please do not "instruct" others to not post their thoughts/suggestions/opinions. Like I say, you're on a good thing with Citibank. Well done.

Perhaps you should read your previous post and mine again.  I am very happy to respond to others polite posts.  I'll try and use simpler English in future posts.

[Nemises]

Perhaps you should read your previous post and mine again.  I am very happy to respond to others polite posts.  I'll try and use simpler English in future posts.

All good David. Cheers.

[BKK1969]

I had always assumed that the Australian OAP was 'means tested'. Is this the case and if so, at what income level does it cut off?
I retired to Thailand in 1997 at the age of 45. My income is from investments in Australia. On the advice of my accountant, I declared myself 'non-resident' in Australia and now pay 10% flat tax on earnings there. That is a lot less than I was paying.
Should I live to the age of 65, (highly unlikly with my lifestyle), how poor will I need to be to receive an old age pension or part there of?

Probably worth pointing out that in Australia unlike some European countries you don't pay any part of your taxes into a pension fund you pay it into general revenue. Superannuation is designed for that purpose.
The way both political parties are pulling the spending levers I wouldn't be surprised that by the time you're on a pension it won't be transportable across borders at all.
So get a Super fund going or have a good time up here.
Won't be much fun down there unless you become a deserted single mother, a drug addict, join a minority religion, go full on LGTBI. If you can claim indigenous ness. That's work too.
Lottsa options[emoji3]


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[4MyEgo]

14 hours ago, David Walden said:

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking/everyday_banking/citibank_plus.htm   have a look at this.

 

 At the risk of repeating myself I use a Citibank every day account (debit Card).  Free ATM transactions anywhere in the world, any Thai bank charges shown on the ATM dockets are immediately credited back to  your online a/c, free money transfers to any bank anywhere in the world.  It cost nothing and is available to any Aussie who has a TFN.  it has not cost me a penny in 10 years.  Some other bank in the world have similar???

Thanks for the heads up Dave bit when I read the schedule of fee's, I read different to what your saying, e.g. I see a $25 fee ?

 

Further down the page it talks about other charges.

 

Not disputing what your saying because bank statement don't lie, and I am assuming you would have picked up on any $25 fee's when doing a transfer from an Australian Bank to a foreign bank or does (free) this strictly apply to ATM transactions overseas ?

 

https://www.citibank.com.au/global_docs/pdf/Feesandcharges.pdf

[4MyEgo]

13 hours ago, David Walden said:

I have a house in Aus so I can come and go as I like, some day I may move to Thailand forever?

A little advise on keeping a house in Australia if your thinking of moving to Thailand, i.e. if you don't already know the legislation, stay more than 183 days in Thailand and you become a non resident, 32.5c in every dollar from your rental property goes to tax, no threshold. Having said that, there are people saying that they can keep their residency, by doing, this and doing that, and I am not going to argue with them, each to their own and I genuinely wish the best, because the government has farked us xpats well and truly, suffice to say they also have another one for us in the pipeline.

 

The one in the pipeline that I read in the 2017 budget was to abolish the 6 year rule, meaning for those wanting to move overseas for say a job etc etc and apply for the 6 year rule not to pay capital gains tax on their principal place of residency, looks like going out the window, however if passed in parliament, it won't be till 2018, so keep an eye out for that one, they are also trying to implement a charge for leaving your property empty, something like a minimum of $5,000 annually.

 

Hanging on to your property could be wrong in my opinion, having done the rounds, and paying that kind of tax, plus rates, insurances, vacancy factors, agent fees, re-letting fees, lease fees, etc, etc, its more a 50/50 split with the government, whereas investing your money into the stock market has no tax payable from non residents who purchase fully franked stocks (tax paid already when you get your dividend payment) and no capital gains tax payable on shares that go up.

 

The return I would have gotten on my PRPR would have been about 1%, and I would have had to pay capital gains tax from the date I left the country, as opposed to making 8% net from the stock market, yes sounds too good to be true, but if your willing to adapt to the change, you might do as well, even half of that is better than what the banks are offering, i.e. 2.5% and you pay 10% withholding tax on that, so its even less.

 

Who said the Australian government is farked, they want their cake and they want to eat it too, so I figured, if they want to shaft me on owning property, I will play their game, and give them nothing 555

 

Always look for options, don't follow, stepping outside the square has been very beneficial for me and has freed me up.

[4MyEgo]

13 hours ago, David Walden said:

Perhaps you should read your previous post and mine again.  I am very happy to respond to others polite posts.  I'll try and use simpler English in future posts.

Always remember, what you write can have a double meaning for some, duck and weave.

[keithpa]

20 hours ago, Gregster said:

Do you pay a fee for withdrawing funds from your AU bank when overseas?

Yep. Oz bank to Thai bank. No more than 5K Oz at a time. Wouldnt trust Thai bank with anymore than that.

[keithpa]

16 hours ago, Gregster said:

Probably not. You're on a good wicket with Citibank. Well done mate. But for everyone else ( who have been with their respective banks for up to potentially 50 years) is it worth the rigmarole of changing banks to save 18 bucks for an occasional money transfer...

I concur.

[opalred]

i was with a oz bank for over 50yrs /in businesses and large money sometimes

my atm was hacked here do you think i got refunded /no// so cancelled bank accounts

did you know oz govt pay oap into Citibank /they hold for 3 or 4days 

using your money on world market 

then transfer to your bkk bank

i found that out from bkk bank 

[David Walden]

1 hour ago, keithpa said:

Yep. Oz bank to Thai bank. No more than 5K Oz at a time. Wouldnt trust Thai bank with anymore than that.

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking/everyday_banking/citibank_plus.htm

 

I have put this link up on other posts on this site before about the Citibank a/c I use when in Australia or overseas.  If you reads this promo you will see why I have never paid a penny in bank charges in 10 years.  Online bank accounts are very easy to open in Aus.  I use this type Citibank a/c all the time, you can only open one online.  I have a bank a/c with 2 other Aussie Banks as back up, never use them for ATM transactions.  Any ATM fees that appear on the transaction dockets from a Thai Bank or anywhere are refunded to my Citi bank a/c  immediately as soon as the entry appears.  I have never paid an account fee or any fee even when transferring large amount from Citibank to any other bank in the world.  These a/c are available to any Aussie who has a TFN and that's just about everyone.  Also the exchange rate is better then my ANZ a/c gives me. ( I'll soon have to ask Citibank for a commission for telling people about this).

 

In Aus there are a whole lot of people who just put billions and billions of dollars into no interest banks a/c because of tradition.  All money in Australian bank savings a/c account are guaranteed by the Federal Govt up to $250,000.  e.g. Ing Direct Bank pays 2.8 % if you deposit $1000. per month (like your pension I do) into an a/c.  ANZ pays 0.05%  for the same amount ( both are guaranteed by the govt)  Ing will pay you  $7000 interest a year to keep this $250,000,  ANZ and the 4 major banks will pay you $50 interest to keep this their banks.  Is it any wonder the the 4 major bank's shares are regarded as the best in the World.  They are borrowing money for just about free and are  lending it out on home mortgages,  business loans and bank cards of up to 20% interest P/A on outstanding balances.  There are billions and billions of outstanding balances on credit cards in Aus attracting 20% interest.  The Australian Govt was suppose to get a fee from banks to provide the guarantee on savings a/c ...some one forgot to send this billion dollar account to the banks...oh gee sorry we'll write this one off but next time you run up a billion dollar fee you better pay it..OK. 

[David Walden]

5 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Thanks for the heads up Dave bit when I read the schedule of fee's, I read different to what your saying, e.g. I see a $25 fee ?

 

Further down the page it talks about other charges.

 

Not disputing what your saying because bank statement don't lie, and I am assuming you would have picked up on any $25 fee's when doing a transfer from an Australian Bank to a foreign bank or does (free) this strictly apply to ATM transactions overseas ?

 

https://www.citibank.com.au/global_docs/pdf/Feesandcharges.pdf

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking/everyday_banking/citibank_plus.htm

I have an ANZ bank a/c and a Citibank a/c both are debit cards so you have to have money in them to draw it out. They are not credit cards.  I can use both at any ATM in Thailand.   If I take out Bt10,000 each time as I do 6 or7 times a month from the usual Siam bank up the road a bit in Cha-am ( usually I buy the guard out the front a coke and a bottle of water each time I use the ATM, he love me so do the bank tellers inside, when is my turn they say. Bloody hot outside I say).  If I use the ANZ card it will cost me Aus $25, made up as ANZ $5 transaction fee, 3% of the transaction =Bt 300 and Bt 220 Siam Bank fee  which will be added to my ANZ statement when it come in.  If I use my Citibank debit card at the same ATM it cost me nothing not a cracker. The ANZ card is a back up only if I loose my Citibank card.  By using my Citibank card I save $150/175 each month in ATM fees.  It is so much better then the ANZ a/c that no one much believes me...well so be it, I don't care, some people on this site suggest its all rigmarole .  I suggest up to Aus $175  P/m is well worth persuing.  Just look at the Citibank link I have placed again, it's all there.

 

                                                       

  $40 a week savings, you can buy 3.5 bottles of rum in Thailand with that much    

 

[giddyup]

19 hours ago, David Walden said:

   I suggest up to Aus $175  P/m is well worth persuing.  Just look at the Citibank link I have placed again, it's all there.

If you make that many transactions it is. I transfer A$10,000 twice a year to a Thai bank, costs me $36, or $3 a month. I can make as many withdrawals s I like here, costs me nothing.

[4MyEgo]

12 minutes ago, David Walden said:

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking/everyday_banking/citibank_plus.htm

I have an ANZ bank a/c and a Citibank a/c both are debit cards so you have to have money in them to draw it out. They are not credit cards.  I can use both at any ATM in Thailand.   If I take out Bt10,000 each time as I do 6 or7 times a month from the usual Siam bank up the road a bit in Cha-am ( usually I buy the guard out the front a coke and a bottle of water each time I use the ATM, he love me so do the bank tellers inside, when is my turn they say. Bloody hot outside I say).  If I use the ANZ card it will cost me Aus $25, made up as ANZ $5 transaction fee, 3% of the transaction =Bt 300 and Bt 220 Siam Bank fee  which will be added to my ANZ statement when it come in.  If I use my Citibank debit card at the same ATM it cost me nothing not a cracker. The ANZ card is a back up only if I loose my Citibank card.  By using my Citibank card I save $150/175 each month in ATM fees.  It is so much better then the ANZ a/c that no one much believes me...well so be it, I don't care, some people on this site suggest its all rigmarole .  I suggest up to Aus $175  P/m is well worth persuing.  Just look at the Citibank link I have placed again, it's all there.

 

                                                       

  $40 a week savings, you can buy 3.5 bottles of rum in Thailand with that much    

 

Not that I don;t trust you Dave, however it sounds too good to be true when I read the schedule of fees at the bottom of the page, so I have decided to have Citibank clarify it for me, not that I'm checking up on you, but to see if in fact what you are telling me is correct, and if so, I will pass that on to a number of mates who travel here frequently as it would save them a fair few quid as you have mentioned.

 

They said my email would be replied to with 2-3 days, so will give you an update when the mail response arrives 555

[4MyEgo]

4 minutes ago, giddyup said:

If you make that many transactions it is. I transfer A$10,000 twice a year to a Thai bank, costs me $36, or $3 a month. I can make as many withdrawals s I like here, costs me nothing.

Careful Giddyup, you could go broke real slow 555

Edited September 19, 2017 by 4MyEgo

[giddyup]

2 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Careful Giddyup, ou could go broke real slow 555

Still working my way through my first million, baht that is.

[David Walden]

2 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Not that I don;t trust you Dave, however it sounds too good to be true when I read the schedule of fees at the bottom of the page, so I have decided to have Citibank clarify it for me, not that I'm checking up on you, but to see if in fact what you are telling me is correct, and if so, I will pass that on to a number of mates who travel here frequently as it would save them a fair few quid as you have mentioned.

 

They said my email would be replied to with 2-3 days, so will give you an update when the mail response arrives 555

If you click on the link at the bottom which I put in my recent posts it will take you Citibank Australia where all he details and how to open such account and you will have all the details you require.  If you ring Sydney they will be nice to you but direct you to the same site I am suggesting.  It all has to be done online...good luck and "Save a da money"......see below...

 

10 years ago after selling my business and having been a customer of Citibank for 25 years I went into a Citibank branch where I banked, said to the teller this letter sounds to good to be true.  He got the manager who marched me into his office  and opened the account for me ( should be done online).  By this time I'd paid my mortgage off.  True to his word I have never paid a single cent in bank fees with this account anywhere in the world since, never any other bank ATM fees.  some of the other international banks you can get the same type of a/c.

 

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking/everyday_banking/citibank_plus.htm

Edited September 19, 2017 by David Walden

[David Walden]

16 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Careful Giddyup, you could go broke real slow 555

Well that's really good but you can only buy 6 bottles of Rum per year with with what you save, my figures you can buy 42 bottles of rum with the savings?

[4MyEgo]

1 minute ago, David Walden said:

Well that's really good but you can only buy 6 bottles of Rum per year with with what you save, my figures you can buy 42 bottles of rum with the savings?

Considering the amount of rum you could buy, from the difference, suffice to say, you wouldn't be around long enough to watch Giddyup go broke slowly

[giddyup]

7 minutes ago, David Walden said:

Well that's really good but you can only buy 6 bottles of Rum per year with with what you save, my figures you can buy 42 bottles of rum with the savings?

Saving for what? I have more than enough to see me out, I don't need to penny pinch, $36 a year isn't going to affect my life one bit., plus I don't drink. It's a small price to pay for the convenience of it.

Edited September 19, 2017 by giddyup

[4MyEgo]

16 hours ago, David Walden said:

If you click on the link at the bottom which I put in my recent posts it will take you Citibank Australia where all he details and how to open such account and you will have all the details you require.  If you ring Sydney they will be nice to you but direct you to the same site I am suggesting.  It all has to be done online...good luck and "Save a da money"......see below...

 

10 years ago after selling my business and having been a customer of Citibank for 25 years I went into a Citibank branch where I banked, said to the teller this letter sounds to good to be true.  He got the manager who marched me into his office  and opened the account for me ( should be done online).  By this time I'd paid my mortgage off.  True to his word I have never paid a single cent in bank fees with this account anywhere in the world since, never any other bank ATM fees.  some of the other international banks you can get the same type of a/c.

 

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking/everyday_banking/citibank_plus.htm

Dave your on the money, Citibank just replied to my email, copy and pasted below:

 

We thank you for showing interest on our Citibank Plus product.

 

As general information, please note that Citibank Australia does not charge Citibank Plus everyday account holders a fee when they withdraw funds from an international ATM or use their Debit card to make in-store purchases overseas.

 

Customers may be charged by the third party provider, which Citibank Australia does not control.

 

If there is anything else we can do to assist you, please let us know and we will be happy to help.

 

Yours sincerely,

Citibank Online Customer Service

 

I shall let my mates in Oz that frequent Thailand know of Citibank's product, as for me, transferring funds from my ING account when I need it, to BahtSmart online, then BahtSmart transferring it to my Thai bank account with no charges from anyone and a good rate suits me, with me also having a Thai debit card to my Thai bank account, no charges on withdrawals if done in the town I opened the account, otherwise its a 15-25 baht transaction fee, however Citibank for the others might be the way to go.

 

Cheers, your on a good thing.

[David Walden]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

Dave your on the money, Citibank just replied to my email, copy and pasted below:

 

We thank you for showing interest on our Citibank Plus product.

 

As general information, please note that Citibank Australia does not charge Citibank Plus everyday account holders a fee when they withdraw funds from an international ATM or use their Debit card to make in-store purchases overseas.

 

Customers may be charged by the third party provider, which Citibank Australia does not control.

 

If there is anything else we can do to assist you, please let us know and we will be happy to help.

 

Yours sincerely,

Citibank Online Customer Service

 

I shall let my mates in Oz that frequent Thailand know of Citibank's product, as for me, transferring funds from my ING account when I need it, to BahtSmart online, then BahtSmart transferring it to my Thai bank account with no charges from anyone and a good rate suits me, with me also having a Thai debit card to my Thai bank account, no charges on withdrawals if done in the town I opened the account, otherwise its a 15-25 baht transaction fee, however Citibank for the others might be the way to go.

 

Cheers, your on a good thing.

Neither Citibank or ANZ (0.05%) pay any real interest on debit cards.  But Ing Bank presently pays 2.8% if you deposit is $ 1000 or more P/M into your a/c, so Centrelink pension goes there and is then shifted into Citibank as required.   I keep my ready cash in ING  this amounts to $12 per week and my Ing debit card is another backup. I like back ups.  It's very easy to shift money around with on line bank accounts, it cost the Banks money not me and it passes the time of day.

 

I make 3 or 4 trips to Thailand per years the rest of the time I go prospecting or traveling around, I keep all my money in Australia and recently obtained a "Retirement Visa " in Australia for my next trips.  I have a campervan and metal detector in Aus and half a house.  My wife and I have the same official address and a very good understanding but officially live apart.  We are too old to get divorced and anyhow Centrelink helps us with this arrangement.

Edited September 20, 2017 by David Walden

[4MyEgo]

7 minutes ago, David Walden said:

Neither Citibank or ANZ (0.05%) pay any real interest on debit cards.  But Ing Bank presently pays 2.8% if you deposit is $ 1000 or more P/M into your a/c, so Centrelink pension goes there and is the is shifted into Citibank as required.   I keep my ready cash in ING  this amounts to $12 per week and my Ing debit card is another backup. I like back ups.  It's very east o shift money around with on line bank accounts, it cost the Banks money not me and it passes the time of day.  

Yes all and good with that, just have to watch it with ING if you book flights with Thai Airways for example, as they will charge you 2.5% because Thai Airways charge ING for the international transaction fee as their head office is in Thailand, sneaky Thai Airways, but not sneaky enough, I pay them through my Thai debit card if I use their services, which is seldom, once bitten twice shy, suffice to say ING did reimburse me the 2.5% back then as a gesture of good will, that or I would have given them the flick, not their fault, but they can afford it.

 

I also wrote a scathing letter to Thai Airway advising them they should notify customers if they are going to shaft them, before we hit the final transaction button , i.e. additional fees could be added for your purchase if you are in another country other than in Thailand, of which they replied they would look into it, so now when you book, you will see a warning in red that there may be other charges to your card, or something like that.

[David Walden]

38 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Yes all and good with that, just have to watch it with ING if you book flights with Thai Airways for example, as they will charge you 2.5% because Thai Airways charge ING for the international transaction fee as their head office is in Thailand, sneaky Thai Airways, but not sneaky enough, I pay them through my Thai debit card if I use their services, which is seldom, once bitten twice shy, suffice to say ING did reimburse me the 2.5% back then as a gesture of good will, that or I would have given them the flick, not their fault, but they can afford it.

 

I also wrote a scathing letter to Thai Airway advising them they should notify customers if they are going to shaft them, before we hit the final transaction button , i.e. additional fees could be added for your purchase if you are in another country other than in Thailand, of which they replied they would look into it, so now when you book, you will see a warning in red that there may be other charges to your card, or something like that.

My soon to be next trip to Thailand is with Scoot from Perth to BKK good price Aus$139+16 for meal. They charged me $20 transaction about 15% fee, of the fare (now $175) that was before 1/8/17.  From that date they can only charge you the cost they incur from the fee the banks charge which is usually about 1.0% which should now be only about $1.50. on a ticket like this now.

 

By contrast I am returning to Perth from KL in December on AirAsia $92 plus $2.00 transaction fee (real cheap bought this ticket after 1/8/2017)) Train Cha-am to KL for fun.  You used to be able to use PayPal for AirAsia to pay for tickets, there was no fee at all, AirAsia stopped that because they were not making any money from gouging customers with disgusting credit card fees.  The ACCC  (consumer affairs) in Aus seems to have already had an effect on Airlines ripping off customers with outrageous credit card fees.  When AisAsia stopped accepting Paypal payments a couple of years ago the credit card fee was about 15% above the price of the ticket this now appears to have stopped?? and is now about 1 or 2%

Hmmmmmmm??? Maybe until they think of something else.

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by David Walden

[SplitInfinitive]

On 9/18/2017 at 6:45 PM, opalred said:

why not get the pension payed direct to Thai bank

I've found this to be a considerable saving on using a Thai ATM to withdraw from an Australian account. 

[giddyup]

Just now, SplitInfinitive said:

I've found this to be a considerable saving on using a Thai ATM to withdraw from an Australian account. 

I have my pension paid into an Aussie bank, I just do an online transfer when necessary to my Thai bank, then I withdraw from local ATM's using the Thai bank's cash card, no fees.