Visa debit cards no longer mailed US to overseas?

[MJKT2014]

Not sure when this rule came out?

I was told by my brokerage account manager in the USA that because I did not use my previous account linked Visa debit ATM card within last calendar year, I can no longer renew or apply for a new one to be mailed to Thailand? The current one expired end of January. Anyone else get caught by this or know where it is documented to be the rule? How did you resolve it? Looks like I can only wire money now?

It appears now if you have an account in USA a Visa debit card can only be mailed to inside the USA unless you had one already and used it at least once a year?

Edited February 10, 2015 by MJKT2014

[Langsuan Man]

Your pretty well screwed if the rep was entirely correct. If you can renew it for mailing to a US address then you might be able to send it care of a relative or set up an account with a remailer such as Shipito

http://www.shipito.com/

It appears now if you have an account in USA a Visa debit card can only be mailed to inside the USA unless you had one already and used it at least once a year?

As far as you blanket statement about Visa Debit cards that is not true. Your problem is with your brokerage company, not Visa

[Mencken]

When I log into my brokerage here there is a disclaimer per me being overseas. I see a time when unless I'm registered as an overseas, foreign client I won't have access. Also see a time when they tire of refunding b200 atm fees. When Thailand devalues, I'm going to move what I need over here for retirement visa and spending. Topping up by wire snd from occassionsl visit. Look at Singapore for an acct.

[MJKT2014]

Your pretty well screwed if the rep was entirely correct. If you can renew it for mailing to a US address then you might be able to send it care of a relative or set up an account with a remailer such as Shipito

http://www.shipito.com/

It appears now if you have an account in USA a Visa debit card can only be mailed to inside the USA unless you had one already and used it at least once a year?

As far as you blanket statement about Visa Debit cards that is not true. Your problem is with your brokerage company, not Visa

Yes. I have previously received debit cards from them, but latest changes are they say from "their" agreement with Visa which I was clueless. I am still waiting their reply on where this information was relayed to me. Annoying thing is when I asked last month with a valid card if I needed to request a new one or was sent one automatically, they told me to wait for auto renewal. No mention of using existing card in a calendar year. Had I known, I could have gone to an ATM a few days ago to be compliant.

I have a shipito address in US but not sure if I want to use that for banking or broker accounts - or whether I could revert back to Thai address easily from it. For now I will use a quick wire transfer solution broker already offers to send money to my Citi account, which I can access with cards easily globally. One less card (broker) to worry about from now on I suppose.

[Pib]

The problem lies totally with your card-issuing financial organization...in your case your brokerage.

When a financial organization such as a brokerage/bank/etc issue a credit or debit card under the Visa/Mastercard/AmEx logo/network, sure the bank has to comply with certain card network rules....that's a contract between the card network and financial organization. But when it comes to many rules such as whether that financial organization will even approve you for a new account, issue a replacement card, card transactions limits, worldwide usage policy, etc., that's totally controlled by the financial organization. That's why you see many cards with different interest rates, foreign transaction fees, transaction limits....and ever since 9/11 many financial organizations changed their rules regarding folks with foreign residents/mailing addresses. Seems some U.S. financial organizations only want to deal with customers who live within the 50 states and its territories but others are still expat friendly or at least semi-friendly to expats....many will only mail to a residential address in the U.S.

And it's not uncommon for a card not to be replaced/renewed even if still living in the U.S. if it not used at least once or twice a year, but it's up to the "card-issuing" organizational as to what policy is implemented; no the card network of Visa/Mastercard/Amex. Yeap, don't blame Visa; blame your brokerage.

[Suradit69]

Looks like I can only wire money now?

If you have an account at Bangkok Bank you could do a domestic transfer to the Bangkok Bank branch in New York, which is a federally chartered bank branch. My broker does a transfer to Bangkok Bank for me regularly and for free since it's a domestic transfer to a bank in the US with a Fed Routing number like any other US based bank.

I keep the account address for my brokerage, credit card and Bank of America account in the US. My brokerage knows I'm in Thailand and they have my Thai phone number that they've used occasionally and also allow me to call them collect from Thailand, but having the US address as my primary account address seems to keep them happy.

Someone at "home" forwards my replacement credit cards after they are sent to the US address. If I want to use the credit cards for some relatively large amount in Thailand, I just inform them I'm here for the next three months on holiday.

[WheresWaldo]

You should also know that when you use a foreign address with a US brokerage account, you fall into a lot of Patriot Act restrictions. You could be a drug dealer, terrorist or human trafficker, you know.

I use Schwab. I also use their billpay service that allows me to send a paper check to anybody anywhere in the US free, from my computer. I decided to go "full expat," and changed my Schwab address to Thailand. Billpay got cut off.

I called Schwab (free) to find out what was wrong. The rep explained that because of the Patriot Act, it was a service they could not extend to an account holder with a foreign address. I told her to change it all back to my sister's address in the US and reinstate billpay, which she did. I haven't set foot in the US in some six years and everything works fine. I do everything online. My sister sends me the renewed debit cards that come to her address. And all ATM fees are reimbursed by Schwab.

[johnh869]

Join the Navy Federal Credit Union if you can. If you don't qualify for the NFCU then you can join the Pentagon Federal Credit Union for sure. Both will allow you to use a foreign mailing address. I joined the NFCU and Pen Fed. NFCU is the better of the two.

Edited February 11, 2015 by johnh869

[MJKT2014]

I can get my broker money easy enough, just a click online to wire it to Citi for free based in NY. I have an expat account with Citi as I am non US citizen. Broker will also offer a check book, but I haven't used one of those since last century. I just found a broker debit card useful to get quick cash on the road (plus there was no ATM fees in Thailand!).

I wonder if I should change my address from Thailand to a shipito address in USA? Would it be easy enough to do and/or change back to Thailand? I am also still waiting for broker to explain to me how I should have known about the rules of compliance if they don't tell me - or maybe I missed some small print? After they explain that I will try and ask them about using a US address to get a card and any restrictions this may incur.

[gk10002000]

I was told by my bank, Etrade bank, that they will mail new cards to me overseas if I am away traveling for long periods and the card is expiring or compromised. I have not done that, but just two or three years ago this is what they told me.

[Langsuan Man]

I was told by my bank, Etrade bank, that they will mail new cards to me overseas if I am away traveling for long periods and the card is expiring or compromised. I have not done that, but just two or three years ago this is what they told me.

Since E*trade charges your a currency conversion fee they surely are going to send it to you at a foreign address; more income for them

Edited February 12, 2015 by Langsuan Man

[MJKT2014]

Your pretty well screwed if the rep was entirely correct. If you can renew it for mailing to a US address then you might be able to send it care of a relative or set up an account with a remailer such as Shipito

http://www.shipito.com/

It appears now if you have an account in USA a Visa debit card can only be mailed to inside the USA unless you had one already and used it at least once a year?

As far as you blanket statement about Visa Debit cards that is not true. Your problem is with your brokerage company, not Visa

After several days of corresponding with the brokerage (Etrade) who offered the Visa debit card, it seems they will allow a second mailing address in US besides the billing address I have in Thailand. Problem is I only have Shipito in US as I'm not even from there, and broker requires proof of address with a utility bill. Without the proof, they won't allow it, so Shipito won't work in this case.

Therefore I have given up and rely on one less ATM card in future.

[WheresWaldo]

Your pretty well screwed if the rep was entirely correct. If you can renew it for mailing to a US address then you might be able to send it care of a relative or set up an account with a remailer such as Shipito

http://www.shipito.com/

It appears now if you have an account in USA a Visa debit card can only be mailed to inside the USA unless you had one already and used it at least once a year?

As far as you blanket statement about Visa Debit cards that is not true. Your problem is with your brokerage company, not Visa

After several days of corresponding with the brokerage (Etrade) who offered the Visa debit card, it seems they will allow a second mailing address in US besides the billing address I have in Thailand. Problem is I only have Shipito in US as I'm not even from there, and broker requires proof of address with a utility bill. Without the proof, they won't allow it, so Shipito won't work in this case.

Therefore I have given up and rely on one less ATM card in future.

"roker requires proof of address with a utility bill. Without the proof, they won't allow it."

"They" is the euphemistically named Patriot Act. Don't blame the broker; blame the invasive and paranoid US Government.

[Langsuan Man]

Fidelity is a brokerage and they will send their ATM card to a temporary overseas address

Schwab is a brokerage and they will send their ATM card to a temporary overseas address

So E*trade is the problem not the the Patriot Act, Waldo

[MJKT2014]

Fidelity is a brokerage and they will send their ATM card to a temporary overseas address

Schwab is a brokerage and they will send their ATM card to a temporary overseas address

So E*trade is the problem not the the Patriot Act, Waldo

Actually to be more precise Etrade will send their ATM card to overseas address if its a renewal and if the user has used their expiring card in the last year. If not used (where I failed to use mine) its impossible to get another. Etrade also doesn't tell ATM holders this upfront. At least that's the message they gave me and there is no going back they say.

[gk10002000]

Fidelity is a brokerage and they will send their ATM card to a temporary overseas address

Schwab is a brokerage and they will send their ATM card to a temporary overseas address

So E*trade is the problem not the the Patriot Act, Waldo

Etrade has some very bad policies that they chose to implement but that are NOT required by the Patriot act or any other law. Example 1: Etrade will not accept money orders for deposit! Crazy because many institutions insist on money orders instead of personal checks! Etrade's explanation to me was money laundering issues and Patriot act! I said money order do leave a paper trail. Example 2: Etrade will not accept checks drawn on foreign banks.

I have been with etrade for 16 years now, checking, saving, money market, brokerage, Traditional IRA and Roth IRA and I used to have my primary credit card with them until they did away with their credit card service. Overall they have been good and the one site shopping has been convenient. Prices are OK. Money transfers between accounts are OK. Never had a tax form or record issue. Lots of Transaction fee totally free funds of reasonable quality. Standard ATM fees are instantly reimbursed (if you have over 50 K USD aggregate across your accounts).

[WheresWaldo]

Fidelity is a brokerage and they will send their ATM card to a temporary overseas address

Schwab is a brokerage and they will send their ATM card to a temporary overseas address

So E*trade is the problem not the the Patriot Act, Waldo

Schwab would NOT send a permanent ATM card to me overseas. They would send a temporary one good for 30 days.

As fr the patriot Act, it is I can't remember how many 1,000's of pages it is, and I have not read it. I know that it has affected me in innumerable ways, since I have become an expat, including not being able to have a domestic (US) bill pay service from an account registered to a foreign address. Many company reps do not even know that some of their policies spring from the PA.

Edited February 22, 2015 by WheresWaldo