U.S. Soc. Sec. Benefits & Bangkok Bank N.Y.?

[pianoman]

I am just in the beginning process of applying for U.S. Soc. Sec. Benefits thru their Office in Manilia, Phillippines, and was told that I can have the monthly amount direct deposited into a Bangkok Bank Account thru their Office / Branch in New York City....

I would like to know if others have been receiving their benefits this way, and at what point the U.S. Dollars are exchanged to Thai Baht... Obviously trying to avoid the "Off Shore" exchange rates... Also want to make sure that there is not any delays in the funds being credited to the account here in Thailand...

Pianoman

[InterestedObserver]

There is no delay, it's fast and efficient, usually 2-3 business days. The funds are transferred as USD and converted by Bangkok Bank in Thailand. There is a small service fee charged by Bangkok Bank in NY, check their website for details.

[Wash]

I am not sure you can expect this every month but this month my SSA deposit was on Dec 3 to the New York Bangkok Bank site. I usually have to wait a couple days before it shows up in my local account. Just for kicks I checked my local BKK BK account about 2 pm on Dec 3 (local time in Thailand) and was amazed to see that the deposit had already been transferred to my local account.

Not sure if special processing was done because of the upcoming holiday or anything else for that matter, but was very pleasantly surprised to see the money here so quickly.

[Pib]

I've been using this method for one of my pension's (actually I just send an allotment/portion of the pension) for about a year now. Works fine. Based on my experience you will receive the money in your Bangkok Bank account on the 1st business day of the month, which varies depending on weekends, Thai, and US holidays. US holidays have an impact since the NY branch observes them and it usually delays the transfer. Bangkok Bank NY will slice off a cut of $5 up to $2000 in a transfer and $10 for over $2,000 to $50,0000. The local Bangkok Bank will then take a 0.25% (200 Baht minimum to 500 Baht maximum). It's really nothing more than an ACH transfer with no ACH fee applied by the SS Agency. It's not like a pure US Govt Direct Deposit to a foreign bank which is available to certain countries (Thailand not included) under governmental agreements, where generally no fees of any kind are applied by the receiving bank. See this Bangkok Bank link for more info regarding transferring money from the USA to Thailand.

http://www.bangkokba...from%20USA.aspx

So, let say your SS payment is $1900/mo. As it flows through the Bangkok Bank NY branch they will slice off a $5 cut and $1895 continues on to your local/in-Thailand Bangkok Bank account. They then take a 0.25% (200B min to 500B max) to receive/exchange the dollars to baht. Say at 30 baht to the dollar, 0.25% comes to about 142 Baht on the $1895 received...Bangkok Bank will apply the 200 Baht minimum fee which is about $6.67. You will get the TT Buying Rate in the exchange which is about the best rate the common man can get in a funds transfer. Of course I'm assuming the SS Agency does not provide an option to send the money in baht versus dollars. I expect the TT Buying Rate will be better than any wholesale rate provided by a government agency. Plus, even if sending in baht, Bangkok Bank still takes it cut/fees.

So, $1900 began the transfer...Bangkok Bank NY took a $5 cut...then the local receiving Bank Bangkok takes a $6.67 cut in baht which means total transfer fees of $11.67, with $1888.33 being available to deposit to your account at the currency exchange TT Buying Rate. If the TT rate was 30 Baht to 1 USD then you end up with 56,649.90 Baht deposited.

But here is something else you need to know. Since US govt pension fund transfers have a special code assigned to them, Bangkok Bank will probably spot this code immediately or after one or two transfers and then send you a nice letter that you need to set up a Direct Deposit Only Account to continue to receive the pension deposit/transfer. They spotted my pension transfer after a few months, but maybe they won't spot yours. With such a deposit only account you have to withdraw all money "in person" and you can not have ATM/telephone banking/internet banking tied to the account. They are just trying to comply with a US law to allow continued flow of the pension and to prevent possible fraud. By fraud, I mean if the pensioner had a "regular savings account" (possibly a joint account/ATM/telephone banking privileges) which the US govt pension was transferring to and the pensioner dies, and the spouse/family members authorized on the regular account unintentionally or intentionally failed to quickly notify the US govt of the pensioner's died which stops/adjusts the pension payment, the monthly payments would continue to roll in and could be withdrawn by anyone on the joint account.

With a Direct Deposit Only account if the person can't show up physically to withdraw funds then "he just may be dead." Under this arrangement, once the US govt and/or Bangkok Bank find out the pensioner is dead, any pension funds deposit after the date of his death are put on hold/sent back to the US govt. Remaining funds which are in the account are handled via the probate / will / beneficiary processes. You would need to have a regular savings account for full banking privileges, which you would physically transfer funds to via your Deposit Only Account. It's a good way to go if you want your pension delivered like clock work while incurring the minimum possible transfer fees. If you are a member of a bank that does free ACH outbound transfers and has an easy funds transfer process, then there would be no fee advantages...just have the pension deposited in your stateside account and then transfer to your regular Bangkok Bank savings account. At lot depends on each individual's money flow desires, home country banking membership, etc...etc....etc. Pro's and Con's exist. I may stop using this transfer method soon depending on how a new banking setup works out for me, but I will definitely keep the Direct Deposit Account open in case I start incurring transfer problems with my current stateside banks due to policy/fee changes.

See attached for a cut and paste from one of the Bangkok Bank forms you must sign when signing up for the Direct Deposit Only account...it does a good job of summarizing the banking limitations of this type of account setup. Good luck and cheers.

Edited December 6, 2010 by Pib

[ksamuiguy]

I've been using this method for one of my pension's (actually I just send an allotment/portion of the pension) for about a year now. Works fine. Based on my experience you will receive the money in your Bangkok Bank account on the 1st business day of the month, which varies depending on weekends, Thai, and US holidays. US holidays have an impact since the NY branch observes them and it usually delays the transfer. Bangkok Bank NY will slice off a cut of $5 up to $2000 in a transfer and $10 for over $2,000 to $50,0000. The local Bangkok Bank will then take a 0.25% (200 Baht minimum to 500 Baht maximum). It's really nothing more than an ACH transfer with no ACH fee applied by the SS Agency. It's not like a pure US Govt Direct Deposit to a foreign bank which is available to certain countries (Thailand not included) under governmental agreements, where generally no fees of any kind are applied by the receiving bank. See this Bangkok Bank link for more info regarding transferring money from the USA to Thailand.

http://www.bangkokba...from%20USA.aspx

So, let say your SS payment is $1900/mo. As it flows through the Bangkok Bank NY branch they will slice off a $5 cut and $1895 continues on to your local/in-Thailand Bangkok Bank account. They then take a 0.25% (200B min to 500B max) to receive/exchange the dollars to baht. Say at 30 baht to the dollar, 0.25% comes to about 142 Baht on the $1895 received...Bangkok Bank will apply the 200 Baht minimum fee which is about $6.67. You will get the TT Buying Rate in the exchange which is about the best rate the common man can get in a funds transfer. Of course I'm assuming the SS Agency does not provide an option to send the money in baht versus dollars. I expect the TT Buying Rate will be better than any wholesale rate provided by a government agency. Plus, even if sending in baht, Bangkok Bank still takes it cut/fees.

So, $1900 began the transfer...Bangkok Bank NY took a $5 cut...then the local receiving Bank Bangkok takes a $6.67 cut in baht which means total transfer fees of $11.67, with $1888.33 being available to deposit to your account at the currency exchange TT Buying Rate. If the TT rate was 30 Baht to 1 USD then you end up with 56,649.90 Baht deposited.

But here is something else you need to know. Since US govt pension fund transfers have a special code assigned to them, Bangkok Bank will probably spot this code immediately or after one or two transfers and then send you a nice letter that you need to set up a Direct Deposit Only Account to continue to receive the pension deposit/transfer. They spotted my pension transfer after a few months, but maybe they won't spot yours. With such a deposit only account you have to withdraw all money "in person" and you can not have ATM/telephone banking/internet banking tied to the account. They are just trying to comply with a US law to allow continued flow of the pension and to prevent possible fraud. By fraud, I mean if the pensioner had a "regular savings account" (possibly a joint account/ATM/telephone banking privileges) which the US govt pension was transferring to and the pensioner dies, and the spouse/family members authorized on the regular account unintentionally or intentionally failed to quickly notify the US govt of the pensioner's died which stops/adjusts the pension payment, the monthly payments would continue to roll in and could be withdrawn by anyone on the joint account.

With a Direct Deposit Only account if the person can't show up physically to withdraw funds then "he just may be dead." Under this arrangement, once the US govt and/or Bangkok Bank find out the pensioner is dead, any pension funds deposit after the date of his death are put on hold/sent back to the US govt. Remaining funds which are in the account are handled via the probate / will / beneficiary processes. You would need to have a regular savings account for full banking privileges, which you would physically transfer funds to via your Deposit Only Account. It's a good way to go if you want your pension delivered like clock work while incurring the minimum possible transfer fees. If you are a member of a bank that does free ACH outbound transfers and has an easy funds transfer process, then there would be no fee advantages...just have the pension deposited in your stateside account and then transfer to your regular Bangkok Bank savings account. At lot depends on each individual's money flow desires, home country banking membership, etc...etc....etc. Pro's and Con's exist. I may stop using this transfer method soon depending on how a new banking setup works out for me, but I will definitely keep the Direct Deposit Account open in case I start incurring transfer problems with my current stateside banks due to policy/fee changes.

See attached for a cut and paste from one of the Bangkok Bank forms you must sign when signing up for the Direct Deposit Only account...it does a good job of summarizing the banking limitations of this type of account setup. Good luck and cheers.

[ksamuiguy]

I stopped mine and use my U.S. Bank Account.

Reason, YOU ONLY CAN WITHDRAW FUNDS and MUST BE THEIR IN PERSON.

The staff (tellers) have a problem handling the account, it usually takes a Manager and it does require a manager to approve any withdrawal, You must have the Bank Book, you must have your Passport.

Reason 2 very inconvenient and YOU can only withdraw at the branch the account the account was opened at.

And NO your Girl friend, mate or wife CAN NOT WITHDRAW FUNDS FROM THIS ACCOUNT, ONLY YOU and IN PERSON.

This does prevent fraud, if the account holder dies no one can touch the funds and they are eventually returned to the SS administration, when the report of the account is sent to them at the end of the year.

[lopburi3]

As said keep your US account and use on line banking to transfer funds as you need them to an account you do not need to physically visit bank to obtain funds. If you use a US bank that does not charge foe ACH transfers, such as USAA and many others, the cost will be exactly the same and you have funds in US if required for other reasons (such as mail order purchase or bill).

[Doc50]

I stopped mine and use my U.S. Bank Account.

Reason, YOU ONLY CAN WITHDRAW FUNDS and MUST BE THEIR IN PERSON.

The staff (tellers) have a problem handling the account, it usually takes a Manager and it does require a manager to approve any withdrawal, You must have the Bank Book, you must have your Passport.

Reason 2 very inconvenient and YOU can only withdraw at the branch the account the account was opened at.

And NO your Girl friend, mate or wife CAN NOT WITHDRAW FUNDS FROM THIS ACCOUNT, ONLY YOU and IN PERSON.

This does prevent fraud, if the account holder dies no one can touch the funds and they are eventually returned to the SS administration, when the report of the account is sent to them at the end of the year.

I also use my USA bank account for SS deposit.

I have a Schwab Bank acct. no transfer fees, all ATM fees (even the outrageous Thai 150 Baht) are reimbursed monthly.

It is a free acct. for direct depositors. All banking is easy online in English.

I can go to any ATM and get my money out in Thai baht. $1000 limit a day unless I call them for more.

Why would I want another level of bureaucratic BS from a Thai bank no less.

I've been here for 10 years.

Doc

[Pib]

Reason 2 very inconvenient and YOU can only withdraw at the branch the account the account was opened at.

Incorrect on this statement. You can are suppose to be able to withdraw from any Bangkok Bank branch. In fact, I have never withdrawn from the branch I set the account up at (i.e., the Silom Branch at HQ Bangkok Bank in central Bangkok); I'm been withdrawing from a little three-person branch outlet in Lotus over here in western Bangkok and I've did one withdrawal from a Nakhon Pathom branch about 50KM from where I live. Now if you have tried withdrawing from other branches and been refused, then there must be something different about your account setup or some other bank policy in play. No shortage of differences in Thailand. Cheers.