vogie Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 I'm a bit of a newcomer to the UK pension and its workings, my pension was due to be paid into my Thai bank acc over 7 days ago, but it has not gone in. Is this a normal occurance or should I be worried. Will I have to contact Pensions Dept? Thanks in advance.
oncearugge Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Not normal Check with Pension people and ensure they have your correct bank details.
vogie Posted September 14, 2015 Author Posted September 14, 2015 Mine came one month after my birthday..... Yes mine did too and it has been going in every 28 days since May but failed to materialise this month.
Jip99 Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Mine came one month after my birthday..... Yes mine did too and it has been going in every 28 days since May but failed to materialise this month. Get on the phone..... I have heard the same and - hearsay only - someone phoned DWP to be told that the Thai banks were holdimng up all their payments for 14 days. Now - that sounds odd to me and I would like to see further confirmation before being certain. It could be a life certificate situation - a few cases locally where the pension payment was stopped and the life certificate request letter arrived 10 days later.
prakhonchai nick Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Mine came one month after my birthday..... Yes mine did too and it has been going in every 28 days since May but failed to materialise this month. Get on the phone..... I have heard the same and - hearsay only - someone phoned DWP to be told that the Thai banks were holdimng up all their payments for 14 days. Now - that sounds odd to me and I would like to see further confirmation before being certain. It could be a life certificate situation - a few cases locally where the pension payment was stopped and the life certificate request letter arrived 10 days later. I am not personally involved, but I heard this morning from someone who telephoned the DWP, thatthe Thai banks are indeed delaying payment for 14 days (not sure whether that is 14 working days or not), and that the DWP are aware. Supposedly the DWP have issued a letter to all those receiving direct payments, dated 1st September, advising them of the payment delay. No doubt being DWP, these letters will not be received for a further week or so, having wended their way around Europe first in order to save a few pennies postage.
Jip99 Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 I have just spoken with DWP who confirm that they now have to include a SWIFT code (of a correspondent bank) and this can delay the payment by up to 14 days. Everyone who is affected has been written to..........
sandyf Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 I have heard the same and - hearsay only - someone phoned DWP to be told that the Thai banks were holdimng up all their payments for 14 days. Now - that sounds odd to me and I would like to see further confirmation before being certain. It could be a life certificate situation - a few cases locally where the pension payment was stopped and the life certificate request letter arrived 10 days later. I am not personally involved, but I heard this morning from someone who telephoned the DWP, thatthe Thai banks are indeed delaying payment for 14 days (not sure whether that is 14 working days or not), and that the DWP are aware. Supposedly the DWP have issued a letter to all those receiving direct payments, dated 1st September, advising them of the payment delay. No doubt being DWP, these letters will not be received for a further week or so, having wended their way around Europe first in order to save a few pennies postage. I have received the letter and it was dated 25th August. This is the text. Dear xxxxx The information we have shows that your British State Pension iis paid into a bank account in Thailland. Our banking- provider, Citibank, has told us that banks in Thailland now need a Bank Identification Code (SWIFT/BIC), which can be either 8 or 11 characters long. This change is from July 2015. We will be changing your banking details on our system to show this new iinformation. We will not be changing your account number. Unfortunately the first payment using a SWIFT/BIC code will take longer to appear in your account. It will take about 6 days longer than you would normally be expecting it. After this first delay, your payments will start showing in your account every 4 weeks. What will happen next After we change your banking detaills, you will get a letter BR2200, which is printed and sent automatically. This letter will tell you that your bank detaills have been changed. Please ignore this letter as you do not have to do anything. Yours sincerely, Miss F Slater
Jip99 Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Thanks for posting that Sandy. Odd - they have always needed a SWIFT code (KASITHBK is mine). At least it looks like the delay could be less than the lady at IPC indicated to me.
prakhonchai nick Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Thanks for posting that Sandy. Odd - they have always needed a SWIFT code (KASITHBK is mine). At least it looks like the delay could be less than the lady at IPC indicated to me. One occupational pension provider in the UK also using Citibank, took 2 months to accept the thrice repeated fact that Thai banks do not have sort codes! If the banks would only talk to each other!
gerry123 Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Thanks for posting that Sandy. Odd - they have always needed a SWIFT code (KASITHBK is mine). At least it looks like the delay could be less than the lady at IPC indicated to me. One occupational pension provider in the UK also using Citibank, took 2 months to accept the thrice repeated fact that Thai banks do not have sort codes! If the banks would only talk to each other! thai banks do have sort codes it is incorporated within the acc number however y0u are correct in the no sort code as we know of as in the uk banking system which of course does not have the same format as the thai system but again that is not the swift code as mentioned before
sandyf Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Thanks for posting that Sandy. Odd - they have always needed a SWIFT code (KASITHBK is mine). At least it looks like the delay could be less than the lady at IPC indicated to me. The payments to date could not have been made without a swift code. The form of the code determines how the payment can be routed. DWP staff are unlikely to know the difference. I posted the following in the other thread. "I suspect that the problem is not in the Swift code itself as indicated by the DWP but in the branch code. Without the branch code the payment cannot be completely automatic. Here in Thailand banks only use 8 character Swift codes for retail accounts, the head office. 11 character codes are only available for corporate business, the last 3 characters being the branch code. When I completed my pension application form I put the branch code in the branch code field and may have inadvertently avoided a problem. I would think that many were unaware of the branch code and left the field blank. In the absence of a branch code the payment would be made to head office and distributed to accounts from there. I suspect that Citibank will have to identify the branch from the account number and add it the branch code field in the details held by DWP and it is this that is causing the delays."
colinneil Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 My UK pension was due on the 4th of september. It was paid in to my Krung thai account on the 4th of september, no problem.
sandyf Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Thanks for posting that Sandy. Odd - they have always needed a SWIFT code (KASITHBK is mine). At least it looks like the delay could be less than the lady at IPC indicated to me. One occupational pension provider in the UK also using Citibank, took 2 months to accept the thrice repeated fact that Thai banks do not have sort codes! If the banks would only talk to each other! thai banks do have sort codes it is incorporated within the acc number however y0u are correct in the no sort code as we know of as in the uk banking system which of course does not have the same format as the thai system but again that is not the swift code as mentioned before thai banks do have sort codes it is incorporated within the acc number however y0u are correct in the no sort code as we know of as in the uk banking system which of course does not have the same format as the thai system but again that is not the swift code as mentioned before I know what you mean but not quite true. The Thai banks have a branch code in the account number, different to a sort code. Sort codes are 6 characters and are used in the IBAN number, branch codes are 3 characters and are the difference between an 8 character swift code and an 11 character swift code. For example the sort code for my UK bank is 40-43-52 and the branch code is 54F
sandyf Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Anyone had a letter.......? Sorry bit behind with this stuff but who does the UK pension folk/service use to make THEIR payments abroad..? Post No 10.
gerry123 Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 sorry i thought maybe you had made a spelling mistake i see now fanks =thank you what =pardon
arfurcrown Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Jacky 54 post # 9. why are the Thai banks doing this? Might the true reason be that the Thai banking system and the economy is in a somewhat parlous state and the excuse offered by the finance ministry and the bankers is to their minds acceptable. Thailand, LOS: Land of Scams
vogie Posted September 14, 2015 Author Posted September 14, 2015 Thanks for posting that Sandy. Odd - they have always needed a SWIFT code (KASITHBK is mine). KASITHBK is mine too, they don't have a swift code as such? At least it looks like the delay could be less than the lady at IPC indicated to me.
chiang mai Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Jacky 54 post # 9. why are the Thai banks doing this? Might the true reason be that the Thai banking system and the economy is in a somewhat parlous state and the excuse offered by the finance ministry and the bankers is to their minds acceptable. Thailand, LOS: Land of Scams Keep taking the medication and you'll be OK.
vogie Posted September 14, 2015 Author Posted September 14, 2015 I suppose this is going to be a very big problem who have to maintain a reserve of 400,000 and 800,000 baht. If the payments are say two weeks late will our next payment be two weeks after that?
arfurcrown Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Chiang ma I've been here a lot longer than you may think around 24+ years, I have seen a number of scams and I also had funds''lost or misdirected into'' an ex bank employees, later recovered after some 5 months of argument. The truth here is certainly an odd beast as I am sure you well know,. Certainly I would question the authenticity of the medicine you take which lets you assume all is so squeaky clean and honest here.. Remember all those comforting comments concerning a certain banks liquidity and its oh so honest management too in 1997 do you?
Jip99 Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 I suppose this is going to be a very big problem who have to maintain a reserve of 400,000 and 800,000 baht. If the payments are say two weeks late will our next payment be two weeks after that? No, your next payment should be 28 days after the 'delayed' payment - as per the letter.
Jip99 Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Jacky 54 post # 9. why are the Thai banks doing this? Might the true reason be that the Thai banking system and the economy is in a somewhat parlous state and the excuse offered by the finance ministry and the bankers is to their minds acceptable. Thailand, LOS: Land of Scams Do you have your own set of worry beads ? I could well be wrong but I think this about Citibank and how they undertake the transactions. Whatever they did before (that worked perfectly and could guarantee receipt every 28 days) they cannot now do.
vogie Posted September 14, 2015 Author Posted September 14, 2015 I suppose this is going to be a very big problem who have to maintain a reserve of 400,000 and 800,000 baht. If the payments are say two weeks late will our next payment be two weeks after that? No, your next payment should be 28 days after the 'delayed' payment - as per the letter. It seems to me that it is not a delayed payment, but a non payment. We are getting two weeks payments to last ourselves a month, am I missing something here?
Jip99 Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 I suppose this is going to be a very big problem who have to maintain a reserve of 400,000 and 800,000 baht. If the payments are say two weeks late will our next payment be two weeks after that? No, your next payment should be 28 days after the 'delayed' payment - as per the letter. It seems to me that it is not a delayed payment, but a non payment. We are getting two weeks payments to last ourselves a month, am I missing something here? Yes. You are missing the fact that your next monthly payment is predicted to be delayed by circa 6 days. The payment after that will be 28 days later. Normal amounts.
chiang mai Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 Chiang ma I've been here a lot longer than you may think around 24+ years, I have seen a number of scams and I also had funds''lost or misdirected into'' an ex bank employees, later recovered after some 5 months of argument. The truth here is certainly an odd beast as I am sure you well know,. Certainly I would question the authenticity of the medicine you take which lets you assume all is so squeaky clean and honest here.. Remember all those comforting comments concerning a certain banks liquidity and its oh so honest management too in 1997 do you? With all due respect to your tenure: the fact that Citibank now requires a correspondent bank in order to make overseas payments, should not be confused with the financial stability of the Thai banking system. And yes, I do remember all those comforting words in '97 which was a totally different scenario from today, foreign currency reserve holdings, balance of payments, current account status and debt being just a few of the radical differences.
billd766 Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 I have heard the same and - hearsay only - someone phoned DWP to be told that the Thai banks were holdimng up all their payments for 14 days. Now - that sounds odd to me and I would like to see further confirmation before being certain. It could be a life certificate situation - a few cases locally where the pension payment was stopped and the life certificate request letter arrived 10 days later. I am not personally involved, but I heard this morning from someone who telephoned the DWP, thatthe Thai banks are indeed delaying payment for 14 days (not sure whether that is 14 working days or not), and that the DWP are aware. Supposedly the DWP have issued a letter to all those receiving direct payments, dated 1st September, advising them of the payment delay. No doubt being DWP, these letters will not be received for a further week or so, having wended their way around Europe first in order to save a few pennies postage. I have received the letter and it was dated 25th August. This is the text. Dear xxxxx The information we have shows that your British State Pension iis paid into a bank account in Thailland. Our banking- provider, Citibank, has told us that banks in Thailland now need a Bank Identification Code (SWIFT/BIC), which can be either 8 or 11 characters long. This change is from July 2015. We will be changing your banking details on our system to show this new iinformation. We will not be changing your account number. Unfortunately the first payment using a SWIFT/BIC code will take longer to appear in your account. It will take about 6 days longer than you would normally be expecting it. After this first delay, your payments will start showing in your account every 4 weeks. What will happen next After we change your banking detaills, you will get a letter BR2200, which is printed and sent automatically. This letter will tell you that your bank detaills have been changed. Please ignore this letter as you do not have to do anything. Yours sincerely, Miss F Slater I have not yet received a letter from anybody notifying me of anything which pisses me off. For 6 years now my pension has been paid every 4th Friday with absolutely NO problems and normally shows up in my KBank account on the Monday unless there is a holiday in Thailand. I expected it on September 6th and as there was no sign of it on the afternoon of the 7th I rang KBank. They saw no sign of it anywhere in the Thai banking system so I rang the DWP. A nice guy explained to me and amended my details on the spot and said that it would be sent that day. By Friday afternoon 11th September there was still no sign of it so I rang the DWP again and a lady answered this time and told me that the payment had been sent, on the Wednesday and not the Tuesday and that I should get it today, 15th September. She also mentioned, but I cannot confirm it that the DWP now use the Bank of Ireland as their transfer bank, probably to save money. I will see if it arrives and I will post back later this afternoon.
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