How to receive U.S. Social Security payments In Thailand?

[willyumiii]

In a little less than a year, I will qualify to start collecting my Social Security benefits from the US.

I understand that I should start filing 6 months in advance with the office in the Philippines, But I will address questions about that in a later post.

In the past I understand the best way to get your benefits was to open an account with Bangkok bank, who has a branch in The US, have them direct deposited there, and then it's easy access from Bangkok bank branches here in Thailand.

I tried to open an account at Bangkok Bank years ago when I first moved to Thailand, but was told they would not open an account for foreigners until they had lived in Thailand for at least two years. I opened an account with another Thai Bank instead.

I've talked to my Thai Bank and they have no branches in the US and can not help me.

Also, I no longer have any accounts with any U.S. Banks.

I have lived here longer than the two years Bangkok requires now, but.......

I understand that now that the US government requires reports on accounts of US citizens, Bangkok Bank is refusing to open new accounts for Americans.

Is what I have heard about no new American accounts true?

Is there another way to access the money from Thailand?

I really do not wish to return to the States just to open an account there either.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

( except off topic criticism, spelling and or grammar corrections. Those are never appreciated! )

Thanks in advance

[chuckd]

Tell the bank employee you are wanting to open a special deposit account for US Social Security. If they don't know what you are talking about have them call their headquarters in BKK to get full details about opening the account.

The BKK Bank number for their Social Security office is 02-230-1323

SS does not recognize any other bank so it is fruitless to open one at any other bank than BKK Bank.

Once activated it works like a charm.

[enuff said]

..

Bkk Bank has a special account just for retirees. Depending on the branch(up-country ones might not be familiar) they may not have the forms on hand and have to send to the head office for them.

They will call it a "USA Pensioners Account" You need to have a letter from SSA stating you are eligible for funds and your case number. They will send you that as soon as your case is approved.

'nuff said

~

[Langsuan Man]

If you don't want to have to physically go to your bank branch to sign for your monthly check then do not have it direct deposited to a Thai bank (Bangkok Bank), but to a US based bank and then transfer it to your Thai Bank. Obviously Bangkok Bank is the easiest to do this so long as you have Internet banking both in the US and in Thailand

BTW. You can only apply for Social Security 3 months in advance of your eligibility date

[Pib]

You must open a Direct Deposit account at a Bangkok Bank branch "in-Thailand." The Bangkok Bank New York branch is only for cooperate/wholesale accounts.

When transferring money to your "in-Thailand" Bangkok Bank branch you use your "in-Thailand" branch savings "account number" and the New York branch "routing number." You don't have to have an account at the NY branch to use their routing number. The New York branch is only acting as a relay point/middleman to transfer the funds. Just go to this Bangkok Bank webpage to read-up on transferring funds and setting up the special Direct Deposit account. Then you just need to give the SSA the Bangkok Bank NY branch routing number and you in-Thailand Bangkok Bank account number...it's that simple...don't try to complicate it. Since the Bangkok Bank NY branch has ACH capability, which no other Thai banks have, it makes sending money pretty cheap...much cheaper than wire/SWIFT....and also allows your pension agency to send the funds directly from the pension agency to your Bangkok Bank account if you desired not to send to your U.S. bank and then do a transfer from your U.S. bank to your Bangkok Bank account.

But keep in mind the Bangkok Bank Direct Deposit account comes with restrictions like no ATM card, no ibanking transfers out....you must show up in person at a branch with passport to withdraw/transfer out funds. This account has special rules to help prevent pension payment fraud/comply with U.S. govt laws...and of course gets Bangkok Bank a lot of U.S. customers and funds transfer fees....fees/profit for the bank. A better way may be to just open a regular savings account at Bangkok Bank, have your SS payment go to your U.S. bank, and then monthly do a manual or setup an automatic transfer from your U.S. bank to your Bangkok Bank account assuming your U.S. bank provides free/low cost ACH transfers...the great majority do but some don't--the more fee hungry one like to push their pricey wire/SWIFT transfer.

And if you think why not just send your SS payment to a regular Bangkok Bank savings account, well you can try and maybe get away with it for a while but since such U.S. Govt transfers have coding in the transfer identifying it as a U.S. govt payment Bangkok Bank will catch that eventually...caught me within a couple months when I tried it for about six months with my military pension years back. I stopped this method after about 6 months as I switched to other methods of getting my money like using no foreign transaction fee debit cards which is a whole different subject. Or I just did occasional large transfers...like 6 months worth of living money.

The Bangkok Bank person who said you had to live in Thailand two years first was either clueless or that branch just didn't want to deal with farangs or didn't want to deal with you (no to imply anything). That's when you need to walk to the next Bangkok Bank branch and try again. Happens all the time with all the banks in Thailand...not just Bangkok Bank branches....some Thai bank branches are farang friendly; others are not.

[Mrjlh]

Another option but only if you are a US military veteran or one of your parents where. You can open a banking account with USAA. Can be done over the phone using Skype. Then you could have your money transferred as Pib suggests. This is only a suggestion because they give you better interest rates on savings accounts than Thailand banks when I last checked. USAA is online too. Check them out, not for everyone.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Mrjlh

[Pib]

Another option but only if you are a US military veteran or one of your parents where. You can open a banking account with USAA. Can be done over the phone using Skype. Then you could have your money transferred as Pib suggests. This is only a suggestion because they give you better interest rates on savings accounts than Thailand banks when I last checked. USAA is online too. Check them out, not for everyone.

USAA Savings accounts, like most U.S. savings accounts, provide low interest rates ever since the Federal Reserve lowered its interest rates close to zero to help get the U.S out of the Great Rescission. Current USAA savings account interest rate is 0.1 to 0.3% (I just checked their web site plus I'm have a bank account with USAA); a regular Thai bank savings account is 0.5%...and hybrid/traditional Thai bank savings accounts go up to around 3% plus or minus a little. Interest rate wise, Thai banks offer much better savings accounts interest rates than the great majority of U.S. banks.

[thrilled]

For me I have A schwab checking account.Have it direct deposit in there.I use any ATM in Thailand schwab reimburses me all ATM fees.It works for me.

[JDGRUEN]

Another option but only if you are a US military veteran or one of your parents where. You can open a banking account with USAA. Can be done over the phone using Skype. Then you could have your money transferred as Pib suggests. This is only a suggestion because they give you better interest rates on savings accounts than Thailand banks when I last checked. USAA is online too. Check them out, not for everyone.

I think your idea is a good one ... I too have USAA accounts and they work well ... I love the USAA on line capabilities ... ONE PROBLEM HOWEVER.... for a person who has not maintained an American address as their home address - setting up a USAA account is not easy to do - in fact it will be denied... I just worked with a good friend who ran into this problem ... He/we found ways to overcome it .

As as aside -- for the life of me - since it is so easy to do - I do not understand why Americans - regardless of their intentions to stay in Thailand forever -- that they do not do the sensible thing and maintain an American address... it is so easy to do ... easy to do with little to no side effects...

I know -- others will be totally mystified why I say this as they have a life here in Thailand free of such grief relative to transferring money back to the U.S. -- but for others who need to transfer money BACK to the USA ... it is another matter...

[lopburi3]

There has never been any such restriction on opening a Bangkok Bank account - that was likely some branch not wanting or knowing what to do - just move on to another.

There is no problem opening accounts for Americans - Thai banks know and comply with reporting requirements.

Account is opened in Thailand and for direct deposit must be non ATM account to prevent access after death - you you must visit branch to obtain/transfer money each time you want.

Most people find it good to keep a US account for mail order shopping/tax refunds/insurance checks and such so I would still recommend having a US account and direct deposit into that and transfer what you need/as you need by internet banking ACH transfers to Bangkok Bank New York office.

[lopburi3]

Another option but only if you are a US military veteran or one of your parents where. You can open a banking account with USAA. Can be done over the phone using Skype. Then you could have your money transferred as Pib suggests. This is only a suggestion because they give you better interest rates on savings accounts than Thailand banks when I last checked. USAA is online too. Check them out, not for everyone.

I think your idea is a good one ... I too have USAA accounts and they work well ... I love the USAA on line capabilities ... ONE PROBLEM HOWEVER.... for a person who has not maintained an American address as their home address - setting up a USAA account is not easy to do - in fact it will be denied... I just worked with a good friend who ran into this problem ... He/we found ways to overcome it .

As as aside -- for the life of me - since it is so easy to do - I do not understand why Americans - regardless of their intentions to stay in Thailand forever -- that they do not do the sensible thing and maintain an American address... it is so easy to do ... easy to do with little to no side effects...

I know -- others will be totally mystified why I say this as they have a life here in Thailand free of such grief relative to transferring money back to the U.S. -- but for others who need to transfer money BACK to the USA ... it is another matter...

If that is true it is new as I set up using my Thai address only without issues with USAA a few years ago (savings and checking). But I never requested checks - debit cards are mailed here without issue but believe checks must have a US postal address.

[Mrjlh]

Didn't know the rates had dropped that bad. And yes the US address is a plus and really easy to set up.

[RKASA]

Didn't know the rates had dropped that bad. And yes the US address is a plus and really easy to set up.

The effective rate for many banks is neg. If you don't have direact deposit to savings or maintain a balance and or have to many transactions they charge you a fee for not paying you any interest for using your money.

[alfalfa19]

Didn't know the rates had dropped that bad. And yes the US address is a plus and really easy to set up.

It appears the interest rates are basically nonexistent for the US. I just examined my chase money market account, with about 40k us dollars in it. It seems my interest earned for the year to date is 4.48 dollars, at a rate of .02 percent. Incredible what they get away with here. However, I digress. I was wondering if you could supply some details about your remark: "And yes the US address is a plus and really easy to set up.". Would a US post office box suffice, or are you referring to something more substantial? I am thinking of making the move to Thailand, not now, but I would like to start seeing what's involved. I am 62, and could go on social security at any time, however, I am still working, to build my savings, and increase eventual SS earnings. Thanks for any replies.

[craigt3365]

Another option but only if you are a US military veteran or one of your parents where. You can open a banking account with USAA. Can be done over the phone using Skype. Then you could have your money transferred as Pib suggests. This is only a suggestion because they give you better interest rates on savings accounts than Thailand banks when I last checked. USAA is online too. Check them out, not for everyone.

I think your idea is a good one ... I too have USAA accounts and they work well ... I love the USAA on line capabilities ... ONE PROBLEM HOWEVER.... for a person who has not maintained an American address as their home address - setting up a USAA account is not easy to do - in fact it will be denied... I just worked with a good friend who ran into this problem ... He/we found ways to overcome it .

As as aside -- for the life of me - since it is so easy to do - I do not understand why Americans - regardless of their intentions to stay in Thailand forever -- that they do not do the sensible thing and maintain an American address... it is so easy to do ... easy to do with little to no side effects...

I know -- others will be totally mystified why I say this as they have a life here in Thailand free of such grief relative to transferring money back to the U.S. -- but for others who need to transfer money BACK to the USA ... it is another matter...

I have a friend who just opened a new USAA account. No US address. Has lived here for about 10 years and never been back. He also got his SS going via the Philippines. Pretty painless. He now direct deposits the checks into USAA and then does the online transfer to Bangkok Bank. As mentioned before, direct deposits to Bangkok Bank New York City have some restrictions around them.

If you don't have relatives in the US, keeping a permanent address isn't that easy. PO Boxes are not accepted by many places.

OP: if you are having problems opening a Bangkok Bank account, go to the main branch. That's what I had to do years ago. The smaller branches seem to have a hard time with this.

[Pib]

My USAA bank account was opened only using an APO P.O. box. The P.O. box was accepted as the residential and mailing address. Did it all online...I opened it as a joint account with the wife who has Thai and U.S. citizenship...within 10 minutes I had the account open/had ibanking capability. And while opening the account I funded it simply by providing the routing number and account number of one of my other U.S. banks to accomplish the funding...no charge for this. I would probably consider USAA my primary bank and they are expat friendly since so many of their customer are active duty military, military & federal retirees living all over the world.

But their their debit and credit card products charge a 1% foreign transaction fee (which is still on the low side compared to most bank card) so if a person wanted to use a debit/credit card in a foreign country like Thailand they would be off fee-wise getting a card from a bank/company that does not charge a foreign transaction fee like Schwab or St Farm Bank for debit cards, Capital One or Pentagon Federal Credit Union for credit cards, etc., to mention a few...other such U.S. bank/companies out there with no foreign transaction fee cards but they are in the minority since more cards do carry foreign transaction fees.

Opening the USAA Bank account from the comfort of my Bangkok home via the internet was very easy; others results may (will no doubt) vary depending on various factors. However, USAA late last year tightened up who they accept...before from around 2009 to late 2013 they accepted non-veterans before switching back to a more restrictive policy like talked about at this Link.

[Langsuan Man]

Pib, having an APO address is what made it easy for you since USAA knows that you are eligible by the fact that you have access to an APO. Anyone else would have to have a US address as well as meet the eligibility requirements as determined by USAA

And there is no guarantee that JUSMAG will continue to offer APO service to US Military retirees here in Thailand

[dinger]

There is a secion on the SS web site that deals with out of the country retirees and answers some of the basic questions. For some reason I can't get the address to copy. Just do a web search asking about applying for SS while out of the country and you should find it.

I will post here next month as I will be applying online for mine then

Good Luck

[Pib]

Pib, having an APO address is what made it easy for you since USAA knows that you are eligible by the fact that you have access to an APO. Anyone else would have to have a US address as well as meet the eligibility requirements as determined by USAA

And there is no guarantee that JUSMAG will continue to offer APO service to US Military retirees here in Thailand

What I really meant by the APO P.O. box crossfeed was I didn't need residential address "physically" in the U.S. to open an account. Now APO addresses are official USPS mailing addresses but are generally not accepted by most U.S. banks as a residential address when opening an account...but for USAA it was good enough for both a residential and mailing address.

[lopburi3]

Pib, having an APO address is what made it easy for you since USAA knows that you are eligible by the fact that you have access to an APO. Anyone else would have to have a US address as well as meet the eligibility requirements as determined by USAA

And there is no guarantee that JUSMAG will continue to offer APO service to US Military retirees here in Thailand

As I have already stated I did not use any US address to open USAA accounts and I do not have access to APO. My local Bangkok address was all that was provided and is still my only mailing address for these accounts.

[umbanda]

The US Social Security now give the option to use a Direct Express Master Card ATM Card that can be used in any country's bank ATMs. In Thailand any withdraw pays 180thb + 2% fee. For info about call 1-888-741-0115 or 1-765-778-6290 (international) or look at www.usdirectexpress.com

It is not necesary to have a bank account in the US.and the service is not from a private company, is direct from the US Department of Treasury.

Edited August 21, 2014 by umbanda

[Pib]

Sounds like P.O. box and international addresses work fine for USAA "if a person meets their membership requirements."

[Langsuan Man]

Sounds like P.O. box and international addresses work fine for USAA "if a person meets their membership requirements."

It appears that only certain USAA accounts will accept an International address, see this discussion on the USAA web board regarding their investment products and the changes that the Patriot Act has caused:

https://communities.usaa.com/t5/Other/INVESTMENT-ACCOUNTS-WITH-OVERSEAS-ADDRESS/m-p/31350?SearchRanking=18&SearchLinkPhrase=foreign%20address

[Pib]

Sounds like P.O. box and international addresses work fine for USAA "if a person meets their membership requirements."

It appears that only certain USAA accounts will accept an International address, see this discussion on the USAA web board regarding their investment products and the changes that the Patriot Act has caused:

https://communities.usaa.com/t5/Other/INVESTMENT-ACCOUNTS-WITH-OVERSEAS-ADDRESS/m-p/31350?SearchRanking=18&SearchLinkPhrase=foreign%20address

Those few posts in that link seem to focus on "investment" accounts like mutual funds or something versus bank accounts. But as we've seen in various posts on TV and other blogs some people are affected in different ways by the various impacts of the Patriot Act, FACTA, and other related law changes. But it seems overall a small minority of folks seem to be impacted and we really don't know their individual details. Plus, the FATCA requirement and how it may affect Americans being able to open bank accounts in Thailand appears to have turned out to be a tempest in a teapot. Now I probably jinxed myself and I'll get an account closure email/letter from USAA tomorrow. But when it comes to opening an expat opening a bank account with USAA all a person can do is try...all USAA can do is say no.

[sfokevin]

Go to another Bangkok Bank branch (preferably in a area frequented by foreigners) and ask to open an account... Try 2 or 3 if needed one will eventually open for you... I assume you have a retirement visa - point that out to them...

[dinger]

I opened my account at a Big C branch up country with no problems at all. Very easy, that was 2 month ago