Att: U.S. Citizens... S.S. 'Are you alive?' letters are out.

[dave s]

On 6/12/2017 at 8:37 PM, Pib said:

Since I applied late last year through Manila (application approved and been drawing benefits for over a half year now) and just finished helping another American apply through Manila (he got his first check last week), I've got a couple info items to add.

 

1)   Attached is the Social Security Security Claimant Info Worksheet to submit to Manila to start the application process.  Very easy.   You can submit directly to the Manila Social Security Office and/or the U.S. Bangkok Embassy American Citizen Services (ACS).   ACS does not process the worksheet but forwards it to the Manila SSO.  You may want to send it to both to play it safe.   Manila will contact you to setup a telephone interview date/time.   During the telephone interview the Manila Office will ask you a variety of questions which if you were applying online would be included in the online application.

Most of the responses here are from 2017. At the URL:

    https://th.usembassy.gov/message-u-s-citizens-regarding-social-security-services-overseas/

it says:

 

    The Social Security Administration (SSA) has consolidated its overseas operations into several

    regional offices that provide a full range of SSA services for U.S. citizens residing outside of the

    United States.  Effective October 1, 2017, individuals residing in Thailand who require social

    security services or have questions about SSA benefits must contact the SSA Federal Benefits

    Unit (FBU) located in the U.S. Embassy Manila, Philippines, rather than the U.S. Embassy, or U.S.

    Consulate in Thailand. Please be advised that as of October 1, 2017, the U.S. Embassy, and U.S.

    Consulate in Thailand can no longer accept telephone calls, emails, or walk-in consultations

    regarding Social Security issues.

 

There is a benefits eligibility report, SSA-7005, that shows what you earned each year. In the past I had gone to the embassy outreach in Phuket, showed my passport to identify myself, and they sent in the form SSA-7004 for me. SSA back home mailed me a paper copy of the report. It sounds like the Bangkok embassy will no longer do this. For example, I need a replacement SS card, but the SSA web site

    https://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ss5doc.htm

with "An Adult", "Replacement" and "U.S. Born Citizen" says "we may use your U.S. passport as proof of both citizenship and identity", but I am reluctant to have to mail my passport along with the form.

 

I applied online for retirement benefits at the end of last month, and the first week of this month I got an e-mail from an FBU claims adjuster in Manila, asking some questions. Attached was a PDF of form SF-1199 for direct deposit sign-up, with the Bangkok Bank information already filled in, including the Routing Transit Number, 026008691, of their New York office. The Bangkok Bank shopping mall offices like Central or Big-C are "micro-banks", and tell you that you must go to the main office downtown in the Thalang Road area to set up direct deposit. I filled out lots of forms with the desk clerk, as her supervisor directed in Thai, made an initial deposit, got a passbook for the non-NYC, local savings account.Then the bank manager refused to sign the paperwork, claiming I could not set up direct deposit until I started getting benefits and brought them the original of the benefit approval letter, my social security card, and one of the first paper payment checks I receive. The bank web page
    http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/ReceivingFundsfromUSA/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUSA.aspx

(click on the second plus sign) seems to echo the first two requirements but not the third, and she claimed to have called their Bangkok headquarters to confirm this. This seems to be not SSA policy but BB policy, and may not be uniformly enforced.

 

    As Bangkok Bank is the only provider in Thailand offering a direct deposit

    services into a Thai bank account, you can ask the relevant US government

   agency to route your payments into your Bangkok Bank account via  Bangkok

   Bank’s New York branch. If you reside in Thailand, you can apply for the

   service in person at any Bangkok Bank branch (except for micro branches).

 

and

 

    Submit all forms to Bangkok Bank with the following supporting documents:

        * Identification Card/Government Official ID Card/Passport together with a

          customer identification document such as your Social Security Card.

        * A document from the relevant agency giving evidence of your right to

          receive the payments.

 

This seems circularly impossible to me: Manila wants direct deposit before they do my application (that's OK if SSA does not want to do paper checks any more), but BB will not give me direct deposit until my application is finished!?! I wonder which BB office that Pib was dealing with in part 2) below. If anyone has successfully gotten direct deposit local and NYC access at BB since last October, could you please tell me exactly what you did, at which bank office? It's possible I might be able to set up DirectExpress, at least until my benefits start, and then go back to BB, but that sounds more expensive and less convenient. I could not find an online or brick and mortar USA bank that would let me open a savings account for direct deposit from a foreign address, without physically walking in to one of their branch offices. Also, since Equifax keeps things for 5 to 7 years, and I have had no physical nor financial presence in USA for 3 or 4 times that long, won't my credit report be empty or non-existent?

 

Quote

2).  You can open the Bangkok Bank Direct Deposit Account "before" even applying for Social Security Benefits and then just provide the Bangkok Bank NY branch routing number and your in-Thailand Bangkok Bank Direct Deposit savings account number during the telephone interview with Manila.  This is what I did when applying as I already had a Bangkok Bank Direct Deposit account for many years and I just provided the info during the Manila interview.  And for the person I recently walked through the process he opened his Bangkok Bank Direct Deposit account about a week before the Manila telephone interview and provided the Direct Deposit account info during the interview.  No need for the Bangkok Bank to mail the Manila Office any account paperwork although the bank will probably offer to do that for you and it wouldn't hurt anything.

 

The bank appeared to really not want to mail the form to Manila themselves, and said it would take them a couple months to do so. But then the manager decided to destroy all the paperwork, close the account and give me my deposit back, because everything was all wrong.

 

Quote

Instead of mailing your "original" Naturalization Certificate and/or U.S. Passport to Manila, you can take the document(s) to the American Embassy ACS who will copy them, certify/notarize these copies, and send the certified/notarized copies to the Manila Social Security Office....this is "free of charge" when applying for Social Security Benefits versus the normal $50 charge per notarized document. This way you don't need to put your precious "original" documents into the mail system.  This is per the Manila Social Security Office guidance provided during the telephone interview.

 

Has anyone gotten ACS at the Bangkok embassy to do this, since last October? What kind of appointment did you make, the notarize-papers kind? I would not mind having to physically go to Bangkok or even Manila in person with my passport and papers, if it would get this resolved, but having to fly literally half way around the world (Phuket is the furthest place on land from Michigan, on the whole surface of the earth ? ) and then come right back seems excessive. I get the feeling that once my-social-security was set up, they removed any other way of doing a bunch of things, or at least removed the instructions for alternate ways to push people to log in to my-social-security, but some things now appear to be impossible unless you either reside in USA or have a virtual mailbox and lie about where you physically live.

 

I would like to thank Pib, NancyL and all the other contributors for the very helpful information in ThaiVisa.

 

[NancyL]

Your local Bangkok Bank should talk with their HQ on Silom Rd. in Bangkok.  The branches send the applications for SS direct deposit accounts there for processing and the HQ sends them onto Manila.  You never receive a paper check.  And yes, you need to have a Bangkok Bank SS direct deposit account number to give to SS when you apply to start your benefit if you want it direct deposited to Bangkok Bank.

[Pib]

Regarding setup of the Bangkok Bank Direct Deposit account "before" applying for social security benefits I helped my neighbor do that a little over a year ago "before applying for social security benefits."  And since my wife will be applying for social security benefits in another month or so she also opened a Bangkok Bank Direct Deposit account in advance also...opened it earlier this year.  In both cases the account was opened at the Silom Road branch on the first floor of the Headquarters Bangkok Bank building which happens to be the bank I use for all my Bangkok Bank accounts since I live in Bangkok.

 

In both cases paperwork that Bangkok Bank will mail to the social security agency which just provides the Bangkok Bank ABA/ACH routing number and your account number was "not" mailed because the neighbor and wife said they would provide the info to the social security agency.   

 

For the wife's account opening, the Bangkok Bank rep had the wife hand write and sign a statement on the form that my wife would provide the account routing/account info.   At time of the account open the wife made the point she was opening the account in preparation of filing for social security in a few months as she needed the account for direct deposit of payments.   I don't remember the neighbor needing to write that statement.

 

And if going back in time almost a decade when I opened a Bangkok Bank Direct Deposit account at the same Silom Rd branch for my military retirement pay, I told them there is no need to mail the completed paper work to the Defense Finance Accounting Center (DFAS) which makes my benefit payment since I would just call-in the info to DFAS which I did later that night.  The Bangkok Bank rep said OK.  As mentioned, I called in the account info....direct deposit payments began arriving no problem....did that for a few months before shifting the payment to a U.S. bank as I made banking adjustments as an expat. Bangkok Bank said they would not mail the paperwork per my request since I was going to provide it.  But even if they did mail the paperwork that would be OK....cause no problem as DFAS would have got it weeks after I had already called in the change and I expect DFAS would have just treated that paperwork as a late, duplicate submission of a change already implemented.

 

I still have  and use that Bangkok Bank Direct Deposit account to this day and occasionally transfer funds to it from my U.S. banks.  And who knows, maybe someday I'll have my U.S. govt benefit payments start going back to it as my banking needs/desires change. 

 

I guess what I'm saying opening a Bangkok Bank Direct Deposit account in advance of applying for social security or other U.S. govt benefits has not been a problem for folks I've assisted such as my neighbor and wife.   And telling Bangkok Bank there was no need to mail the paperwork to the U.S. govt agency was not an issue for me, the neighbor, or the wife.  

 

But if your Bangkok Bank branch is insistent on mailing the paperwork to the social security or other govt agency even if you have not applied/started the govt benefit yet, then I would just say, "Ok, sure....thanks...but there is really not need since I will provide the info to the govt agency....but thanks again for doing it."   

 

Why do I say above?  Well, first that makes the Bangkok Bank rep happy and when the paperwork arrives that govt agency "before" you even have any approved benefits I fully expect that govt agency would see there is no payments approved/payments going out and they would just bin the paperwork...figure the person has not applied yet...nothing that govt agency can do with the paperwork now...and then just destroy the paperwork Bangkok Bank sent them knowing the benefit receiver can provide the paperwork/info once applying for benefits.   In the end you got what your needed....a Direct Deposit account opened and Bangkok Bank got to mail off the paperwork to satisfy their understanding/belief of the required procedures.  

 

But you should hold onto the paperwork Bangkok Bank gives you just in case the govt agency demands some paperwork when you do apply for benefits....for whatever reason they will not accept the account info by any other means.  I sure know the social security agency has no agency-wide policy requiring a signed form from the bank; not to imply Manila may not require it because "of your particular situation/application for benefits."   If they do, then mail off the paperwork Bangkok Bank gave you when you open the account.

 

From "my experience" with various govt agencies over the years that payout U.S. govt benefits they no longer require any paperwork mailed to them from a bank showing/validating your bank account as you can call it in or change it yourself if you have an online account with that agency.   Those govt agencies will still accept such paperwork thru snail mail and there website may even imply such a form is required, but it's usually no longer required if you can provide it via other means such as a call, online account, etc.   Still fine to mail it in if desired...but not necessarily required anymore if you can instead provide the info via online account, call-in, etc.

 

 

 

Edited June 26, 2018 by Pib

[pmarlin]

Mail from Thailand to the US really sucks. Mailed  the form back registered Mail on 6 June 2018  and arrived at New York on 4 July 2018 to clear customs.  6 July on the way to its destination.  Last year was slow but this time ridiculous.