Thought I'd throw this one in for balance. Old age, disability, military disability makes no difference where you are in the world. The only thing they don't do I think is direct deposit to a foreign bank account.
Having said the above, I imagine denying benefits to citizens living abroad is a target for Congress to cut costs, or at least thought about. With the exploding baby boomer retirees the count of overseas residents is sure to increase greatly, and as it increases, a bigger target for cost cutting.
If they did it, it would spell disaster for many here. Pete
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
Thanks for that info Pete. The US has a very sensible approach IMO because they will be saving a lot of admin costs by just leaving payments alone - something a lot of people seem to forget.
Lets face it - when people qualify for age related pensions or have permanent disabilites their situation isn't going to change, so why mess around? If it ain't broke - don't fix it.
I believe you're right Pete, no direct deposits into foreign banks.
Medicare, the medical insurance portion, I believe is also useless outside the states.
I haven't heard of any proposed changes to overseas residents, but with the problems here, it wouldn't surprise me. Most of the talk I hear has been pushing the age further out, increasing the limits current employees pay into the system, and changing the taxation of the benefits.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
prcscct wrote:Thought I'd throw this one in for balance. Old age, disability, military disability makes no difference where you are in the world. The only thing they don't do I think is direct deposit to a foreign bank account.
Having said the above, I imagine denying benefits to citizens living abroad is a target for Congress to cut costs, or at least thought about. With the exploding baby boomer retirees the count of overseas residents is sure to increase greatly, and as it increases, a bigger target for cost cutting.
If they did it, it would spell disaster for many here. Pete
Actually the government is probably happy an old age pensioner (Social Security recipient) would be living outside the USA. 'Medicare' the very expensive medical health benefit part of Social Security is not usable outside of the USA. So the government would actually save money if you lived outside the USA.
Yes, correct on all counts. I just applied for and was approved for Social Security and it can be mailed as a check to an overseas address but can only be direct deposited into a U.S. bank. And yes, you cannot use medicare here. I wonder if Obama-care kicks in will we expats have to get health insurance in the U.S. even though we can't use it, or pay the fine ($700, I think).
BTW, for anyone thinking of applying, if you live in Thailand you have to apply to the SS office in Manila, Philippines.
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
Where is all this interesting made up story coming from? YES you can have your Social Security deposited directly into only a Bangkok Bank account. Read the Social Security website--its there. Bangkok Bank has a New York branch that makes this possible. You must, however, open a direct deposit account with Bangkok Bank and take a check stub with you (print off from online). You can see the procedure on the Bangkok Bank website for opening this account. When you go to the bank you will probably have to see the bank manager as none of the personnel will know of this account or the procedure. The manager will then go online and read it and follow the procedure to open the account as detailed there. I printed it all off when I went so they could not blow me off and yes the manager had not heard of this process and had to read the information on the website in front of me.
The big problem I found in the whole process is that with this account you can ONLY withdraw or move money to any other Bangkok Bank account (like my savings which has an ATM card) in person at the bank. They will not give you any information on this account online so to do anything with the account you MUST go into the bank--even to check the balance or if the deposit arrived. It was this provision that killed my desire to open this account. Much easier to continue to have the SS check sent to my American account and ATM it over here. Yes a fee for doing so but any ATM is much easier and simpler than having to go into the branch to do anything with the account.
I might add that I did set up with my bank in the U.S. the Bank to Bank transfer with Bangkok Bank New York branch which might be handy in the future for large movements of money. If used, the money goes directly from the Bangkok Bank NY branch and is converted and directly into your bank account here in Thailand. There is a fee I am sure taken by Bangkok Bank of New York but if your wiring money, there is a similar fee there also and this is much simpler.
All this information is on either the Bangkok Bank or Social Security website. I also think this same information appeared on this website in some previous posts. That is how I found out about the Bank to Bank transfer with Bangkok Bank.
YES you can have your Social Security deposited directly into only a Bangkok Bank account. Read the Social Security website--its there. Bangkok Bank has a New York branch that makes this possible.
Yes, you can have it deposited into the U.S. branch of Bangkok Bank but can you open that Bangkok Bank account at the New York branch from Thailand or do you have to do it in New York? The SS agent I worked with didn't indicate that it was possible since I was already in Thailand (and I asked).
And yes, we've talked about this before on other banking threads (having an account at Bangkok Bank in New York to get your money from a Thai branch and save ATM fees) and I think the consensus was the same as you discovered, it's possible but you have to jump through a lot of hoops and it's not very convenient.
I think Migrant has the details on this from either first hand experience or from his customers doing it.
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
brianks wrote:
Much easier to continue to have the SS check sent to my American account and ATM it over here. Yes a fee for doing so but any ATM is much easier and simpler than having to go into the branch to do anything with the account.
I opened a USA Charles Schwab Bank Acct. and they refund all ATM fees worldwide. SS does the direct deposit, I use the ATM here. So much easier than dealing with a Thai Bank and their staff.
i got my s.s. check direct deposited to bangkok bank. it was a pain in the ass setting it up. went 3 times to bangkok,you can only set it up at bkk bank's main building in bkk. if i remember right you can only withdraw from local banks[2 in hh]. anyway it was only 1300 bucks so i would just suck it out in one fell swoop. when we[wife and 2 kids] moved back to states i wanted to get an american bank in bkk to set up account and then when we got back wire transfer money to bank in states. no dice. you can't. however my wife can atm out of bkk bank here to usa so that's one way to get money out.
bill wrote:i got my s.s. check direct deposited to bangkok bank. it was a pain in the ass setting it up. went 3 times to bangkok,you can only set it up at bkk bank's main building in bkk. if i remember right you can only withdraw from local banks[2 in hh]. anyway it was only 1300 bucks so i would just suck it out in one fell swoop. when we[wife and 2 kids] moved back to states i wanted to get an american bank in bkk to set up account and then when we got back wire transfer money to bank in states. no dice. you can't. however my wife can atm out of bkk bank here to usa so that's one way to get money out.
What kind of fees do the Thai banks charge for ATM withdrawals in the USA?
Less or more than they charge us for using our USA cards in Thailand?
Mags mentioned a survivor benefit on the UK pension thread and thought I would mention the US benefit. HHF having just researched all of this may be in a good position to fill in the blanks.
Regardless of age, the surviving spouse does get an ongoing portion of the deceased's benefit, I think up until the age they're eligible to receive their own benefit. What % he/she gets I don't know.
What many do not know is that any children under 18 get the deceased parent's full (I think) benefit up until age 18. Again not sure but would think this is divided equally between any children.
There is also about 250-300 USD funeral benefit. Pete
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
According to my SS contact, my missus (having not worked and paid in long enough in the U.S. to get her own benefit) can only get a survivor benefit from my Social Security account when she is 62 years old. Also, my company pension ends with my demise so it is in her best interests to keep me alive for another 21 years (when she will be eligible for the survivor benefit). At the rate I'm drinking, that will be easier said than done.
I think a surviving wife can get the benefit at any age if there are children under 18 years old to support, or if she has a disability that will prevent her from holding a job.
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
I've been using Wells Fargo accounts that I set up about three years ago with an old friend who is now a Broker for WFB. I changed my pension plan to an IRA and had the whole amount deposited into a managed account, and also opened a checking account to have my Social Security deposited to. All of my stuff in Calif. was done over the internet, and I have bill pay on the checking account as well.
What's left of my pension plan after the melt-down is managed by WFB money managers and I've been pretty happy with the results so far.
Over here we moved from K-Bank to Bangkok Bank which by comparison was not as easy, but with a Thai wife all I have to do is sign here, here and here and let her do the rest. We spent several visits setting up on-line banking which technically we're not allowed to do with me being a white boy and all. So the work-around was to close our joint accounts and re-open them in her name only. Once they were set up she had to close all of those and re-open them in both our names. We are at Cha Am, so less waiting and we have seen much less turn-over of personell than at K-Bank , making these arrangements somewhat easier as we saw the same person all the time.
I had online access at K-Bank as well without all the naming hassle but overall Bangkok Bank's offering was more robust, and handier to get to. Also, just in the past year or so it seems my two banks have really got their act together vis a vis bank to bank transfers. I just set up two transfers at WFB, one to my checking account from there to here, (piece of cake all on-line), and the second from WFB Managed Account to an account in New Zealand at ANZ. Quarterly issues on both have been in force for six months without a hitch.
The only thing I have to do not on-line, being here instead of in the U.S. is call an 800 number in the states when I want to make a transfer from WFB in Calif. to my checking account here in Cha Am......I get an authorization code that I have five minutes to put in on the transfer request.....if something goes wrong you just do it again.
Although I decided to have my Social Security deposited in the States, we filled out all the paperwork to do it to the Cha Am branch of Bangkok Bank and it would have worked nicely.....but it did take some work on the Branch's end to get everyone to agree to it in Bangkok....that was three years ago so I would hope it's easier to do now.
Finally, I do bill pay and account transfers through Bualuang Banking at Bangkok Bank and it's a snap to both set up accounts and to pay them. I transfer funds to a couple of relative's accounts in Bangkok and another to a business account my wife set up with Oriflame of Sweden.....not sure which bank that goes to. Those are a snap too.
Oh, almost forgot. Bank fees. It cost me just three dollars to have a thousand dollar test run from Ca. to my Bangkok Bank account last month...I would imagine the rates would depend on amounts transferred.
Because the other transfer to New Zealand comes out of my pension money they don't charge me anything specifically but I'm sure it's included in their quarterly charge for managing the money.
Incoming costs at Bangkok Bank have been zero.
As far as sending money to America from Thailand I rarely have to do that, but when I do we just go to the bank and send a wire transfer.
