scorecard

Maybe same for old age pensions from other countries?

If you mean which K Bank account does the SSO direct bill from (I guess when you say 'direct bill' you mean which K Bank account does the SSO deduct the 432Baht monthly member contribution from)? Answer: The SSO auto deducts 432 from the K Bank I nominated to the SSO / asked the SSO to deduct from. One account only. Hope that answers your question.

If my post above (@scorecard) upset you or in your view is arrogant, I apologize.

Wow, how can we ever survive, if not a youtube king?

Why do you need to use the word 'SMUG'? - In old history the SSO had it's own exclusive member numbering system. - Then the SSO decided to change the member numbering system to be the Thai national ID number. And within a short period the old exclusive number system died. - Plus the member number for foreigners who already had a pink ID card was also changed to be the number on the pink ID card. - But this change over wasn't so smooth (E.g. my employer didn't change my SSO member number from the old SSO system number to my pink card and they continued to send my monthly member contributions to the SSO using the old member number for about 7 years. - When I retired and applied for the member contributions refund the SSO at Din Daeng realised that my SSO member number on payments received by the SSO was still the ancient numbering system. They did a long month by month check of member payments received via 2 employers to eventually establish the total amount of member contributions I had made over 13 years. And I got the refund. The member card: this has had a roller coaster history: - card issued on joining (initially a cardboard card with a photo stuck with glue) - then a plastic card, - then member cards abandoned completely, - then reinstatement of the plastic cards, - then changed to 'you can apply for the plastic card if you want it, but not compulsory'. On the SSO website there's still an option for members to apply for a plastic card.

Suggest call SSO 1506 hotline for an answer.

That depends: - When you retire most foreigners probably take the refund of member contributions which can be quickly arranged at an SSO office. - The member can also elect to continue their membership for Injury and Sickness benefits. Having already received the retirement payment DOESN'T cancel the entitlement to continue Injury and Sickness benefits using the 'Voluntary insurance' facility. You can inform the SSO officer at the time of receiving the retirement payout that you wish to continue Injury and Sickness benefits using the 'Voluntary insurance' facility, or you have six months to inform them that you want to continue your Injury and Sickness benefits. This is called 'Voluntary Insurance'. Some details: - 'Voluntary Insurance' can continue until death. - The SSO website gives comprehensive details of what health benefits are available. Hospitals in the scheme have paper handouts of the benefits available. - Small downside; Single occupancy hospital room is normally not totally covered. Check at the hospital you nominated for full details. - Dental is covered to a max amount per year. I've had inspections and 2 fillings in one year and this didn't reach the max benefits entitlement for one year. Excellent professional dental work, dentist spoke good English. - Member completes a form which gives the SSO the members approval to automatically deduct the monthly member contributions from a Thai bank account nominated by the member. Super easy to set up / let it automatically operate if you have internet baking. - The standard member contribution deducted from your bank account is 432 Baht per month. This can change. - The 432Baht monthly member contribution is auto. deducted on the 15th of each month but it moves to a day or 2 later if the 15th is a Sat or Sun or a Thai public holiday. - Easy to check your bank account on line to see if the deduction has activated. Or you can go into the SSO website and find the facility to check that the SSO has received your monthly payment. -

The SSO 1506 Hotline has Thai and English language options. If you select English and nothing happens it means that an English speaking SSO officer is not available at that time. Don't panic / don't give up. Call again later or call the next day. It's worth waiting till you can get an English speaker, they are all good listeners, they check that they understand the issue. when connected they occasionally ask you to wait 1 or 2 minutes so they can get advice from a more senior SSO person. But you will get specific clear advice. For anybody who is already a current SSO member you can go to the SSO website (easy to find) and look for the Chat facility option. This opens up a typical chat line. You can ask questions in Thai or English. If no quick reply in English it means the system is waiting for an English speaking officer to be available. The chat facility will ask for typical details: name, SSO number mobile phone no etc. You will get a telephone call when Eng. speaker is available, could be well into that evening (e.g. 10.00 pm or similar), because it seems the SSO has a policy the member must get a reply the same day. It works.

Not true. My 5 accounts (K Bank) are all in my legal western name, copied from my western passport. These accounts at the suggestion / push of the K Bank supervisor were updated in the customer details database to show my pink ID card number. Two of the 5 accounts were opened at this K Bank branch. The other 3 K Bank accounts were opened at 3 different locations: CM different branch, Bkk, Pattaya. As mentioned above all 5 have been updated in the K Bank customer details database to show my pink ID card number. The update of all 5 accounts was done at my local big branch in CM.

Call the SSO hotline 1506. I suggest they will have an answer on this. My pink card was issued at the Chiang Mai muang amphur office when I received my PR book. My name (and new ID number) was entered in the dark blue Tabien Baan book of a Thai friend. I did not live at the address in that TB book. The actual ID number number was issued at the muang Pattaya (city hall) office around 27 years ago when i received approval for PR.

Please keep in mind the K bank supervisor mentioned it was now BOT policy, all banks must use the number of the personal pink ID card. (Where the card has been issued). But is BBL following this 'dictate'. As we all now banks in Thailand seem to make their own rules. Crossy, hope it works out for you.

Thai banks also have interest in the pink card. Two years back I had some difficulty with K bank because my passport number had expired and I went to the local K bank to update my passport number with my newly received replacement passport. I gave my K Bank passbook and new passport to the K bank officer. At the same time the K bank supervisor had arrived on the scene and politely asked in English 'Can I help?' She immediately noticed I had a pink ID card and said to the K bank clerk, 'update his K bank database record to show the pink ID card number, not his new passport number'. She explained 'all Thai banks now work to a BOT (Bank of Thailand) instruction to use the pink ID card number because it's for lifetime and can never expire (which does happen with passport numbers). And it will eventually mean foreigners who are in Thailand longer term (including PR holders) will be in all Thai gov't records / databases using one standard number - their pink ID card number.

Suggest you read my posts immediately above your post.

MORE>>> I agree that some / many Social Security offices / officers have little / zero knowledge of 'factors' outside of the immediate SSO regulations. Example: I told the Chiang Mai SSO that I don't have a yellow Tabien Baan book because I have Thai Permanent Residence (PR)* therefore my name is recorded in the standard dark blue Tabien Baan book. (* Commonly called 'Permanent Residence - PR' by all parties including Thai Immigration, But the correct official wording is Lifetime Certificate of Residence. Not to be confused by the simple letter available from Immigration which covers one purpose - to show your official address, needed to get a Thai Drivers License etc., this is also called Certificate of Residence but is a totally different matter to actual lifetime PR. Real PR is for lifetime and automatically cancels on the death of the foreigner.) Response from CM SSO Lawyer: 'There is no such thing as PR in Thailand, so what Visa do you have?' My Response: I don't have a visa. PR is issued for life and never needs renewal or review. Response from CM SSO Lawyer: 'This is not possible, you should take your passport to the local Immigration Office and ask them to tell you what visa you have and get this detail inserted into your passport.' My response: PR holders carry a separate book (Lifetime Certificate of Residence book). which has full details of holders name etc., but note the Certificate of Residence book does not have an expiry date because PR is issued for lifetime. Two lawyers from the SSO M office then promptly visited my house in CM and demanded to see my PR (Certificate of Residence) book (they already had a photocopy of every page). They explained that they wanted to see the expiry date in the PR book. After reading the small book (not that many pages) many times they shared that they could not find an expiry date. They took photos of every page of my PR book and my passport, then politely departed. I called the SSO Hotline 1506 number again, in English. The lawyer shared that she was not surprised that the SSO local staff at CM had zero knowledge about PR and about the foreigners name being in the dark blue Tabien Baan (TB) book. She mentioned that she could easily find relevant official documentation re: - Thai lifetime PR. - Copy of the PR book held by each foreigner who holds PR. - Foreigners with PR, name in dark blue TB book. A few days later she called me and advised she had sent copies of the above documents to the CM SSO manager and the SSO CM lead lawyer. and she had called them to explain. I did need to show copies of Tabien Baan books going back to about 12 years before I retired and took the SSO member contributions refund (on this point I can't explain the purpose of seeing my name in the the old TB books.) Luckily I had kept copies of every TB book where my name had been recorded (the dark blue TB book). When this was supplied to CM SSO I quickly got a letter (Thai language only) stating that my SSO membership had been reinstated under the voluntary insurance scheme. Then some quick admin stuff to quickly set up the monthly member contributions payments direct from my K Bank account and to record my name at the local private hospital in their list of local SSO members. Hope this might help. Take care.

If you believe you have been given total incorrect / wrong information about continuing your Injury and Sickness benefits (and you have some way to support this case) then there could be a chance. I got mine continued 14 years after I got the member contributions refunded when I discovered that the staff at SSO Din Daeng had given me totally false information about continuing my Injury and Sickness Self Insurance. ***************************** A good source of correct information is the SSO 1506 Hotline. You can select Thai or English to continue the call. If there's no English response don't give up, it just means there wasn't an English speaking officer available when you called. Call again later or the next day. Annoying but worth persevering because the English Speaking staff seem to be the SSO lawyers and you get good clear information. They invite you to call again if needed. I found these guys very helpful. Good luck, keep at it. Since I got my membership reinstated I've attended the hospital* that I nominated several times, (including for dental work). Yes the wait can be longer but that's outweighed by the mostly free / close to free benefits. I'm going next week for an annual health check, no charge. (* I believed that I would have to attend a local government hospital, but when my membership was reinstated the local SSO office (Chiang Mai) gave me a list of hospital to select a hospital. I discovered a private hospital in CM on the list and it has a clinic for SSO members. Doctors are the same as in the main private hospital.)