KhunFred Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 I've noted that Thailand will be a participant in IDD for the first time. Heretofore, Only Bangkok Bank could receive Direct Deposit of SSA payments, ostensibly because they had a branch in New York City. It would certainly be nice to be able to choose your bank. Does anyone have any info on this? I have downloaded all the documents pertaining to it and there was no mention of which banks might be included. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 We don't know yet which Thai banks will and which (if any) won't. Your question is simply premature. The Bangkok Bank thing is not the same thing. Those are ACH transfers. Also since you seem to have some document, what will the Thai rules be? At Bangkok Bank you can't have an ATM attached to the receiving account and you need to show up in person to withdraw cash. Social Security treats some countries that way, and others not. Will the same restrictions apply with the new setups? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noise Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 jINGTHING is correct, it is premature to wonder. On 10 December, I received an email from the SSA office in Manila stating: "As of this moment we can only process Bangkok Bank direct deposit accounts in Thailand." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post iamariva1957 Posted December 14, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted December 14, 2018 Oh wait a while it will all get even more complicated, remain unknown by many at both the banks and at Immigration, and others will find ways around the whole thing. We will all have to wait and see what really happens. To those of you that have posted that it is all very simple ... "Just put 800k or 400k into a Thai account and you will have no problem"... glad that you have the capability, belief in the Thai banking system, and have no other things to pay for overseas (changing Thai Baht into Pounds or Dollars or Euros?! Yeah right like that is a good idea). Not everyone does and not everyone has been bucking the system either (by using agents, law firms, or lying on their affidavits, etc). OPAs and Vets do not always have the capability to bury that much money (or the 65k monthly) in one lump sum! Most take out from overseas what they need every month (65k is actually pretty much average I would think... what with rents, etc) for those of you that live in BKK, CM, or on the islands. But for those of you that live in other parts (like Mae Sot, or in Issan) I will bet that you can get by on a good deal less! That is the issue. To make Thai richer is not our job, however, we do that daily at the stores and at the malls... just not at the banks or the government (though the latter certainly tries to do exactly that!). 2 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thailand49 Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 5 hours ago, noise said: jINGTHING is correct, it is premature to wonder. On 10 December, I received an email from the SSA office in Manila stating: "As of this moment we can only process Bangkok Bank direct deposit accounts in Thailand." So what is the difference between IDD and " only process Bangkok Bank direct deposit accounts in Thailand "? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 2 minutes ago, thailand49 said: So what is the difference between IDD and " only process Bangkok Bank direct deposit accounts in Thailand "? IDD is done directly from the SSA to a bank here. The ones to Bangkok Bank are done via their New Your branch by ACH. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featography Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 7 hours ago, noise said: jINGTHING is correct, it is premature to wonder. On 10 December, I received an email from the SSA office in Manila stating: "As of this moment we can only process Bangkok Bank direct deposit accounts in Thailand." Noise, I have been trying to get in touch with Manila SSA to no avail. Do you have a current phone number for them? Some claim SSA has been closed down in Manila. I called SSA in the States and got more ignorant answers. No one seems to know anything. After receiving a warning that my once a year questionnaire from SSA was not received in June, another was sent stating I had 45 days to mail the 2nd one back to Pa. I sent it with tracking. Tracking showed it delivered to of all places, GENERAL DELIVERY, in spite the address on the envelope being correct with zip code and PO Box number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pib Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 7 minutes ago, featography said: Noise, I have been trying to get in touch with Manila SSA to no avail. Do you have a current phone number for them? Some claim SSA has been closed down in Manila. I called SSA in the States and got more ignorant answers. No one seems to know anything. After receiving a warning that my once a year questionnaire from SSA was not received in June, another was sent stating I had 45 days to mail the 2nd one back to Pa. I sent it with tracking. Tracking showed it delivered to of all places, GENERAL DELIVERY, in spite the address on the envelope being correct with zip code and PO Box number. https://ph.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/social-security/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 8 minutes ago, featography said: Do you have a current phone number for them? Some claim SSA has been closed down in Manila. Still open. Phone number and email address is here. https://ph.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/social-security/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thailand49 Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 2 hours ago, ubonjoe said: IDD is done directly from the SSA to a bank here. The ones to Bangkok Bank are done via their New Your branch by ACH. Thanks, I wrote this on another thread since my brother who is always in the dark a bit? I found out tonight that his S.S. is currently as you noted being done as an ACH from New York which is what I thought since he said he was paying a small fee? Through this process he noted to me just last week he checked his account here with Bangkok Bank his S.S. is something like 1550.00 USD, his deposit into his BB account was 48,000 baht. I remember not exactly the rate was something like 32.85, of course, that isn't what I expect but after doing the math he only got something like 31.50 by BB which I considered not a very fair rate even if there is a fee to be paid for the ACH. I have my check deposited into my Charles Schwab account and here in Pattaya I removed it via Aeon ATM, the rate I been getting is much better and the ATM fee is 150 which I get all back from Charles Schwab. Another reason I don't plan to make any changes for S.S. I just hope the IDD method when in place will provide a better or fairer rate. As noted, in the U.S. Embassy notice for ACS, it notes they are working with S.S. to get the IDD with Bangkok Bank in place sometime in late January? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KhunFred Posted December 15, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 15, 2018 19 hours ago, iamariva1957 said: To those of you that have posted that it is all very simple ... "Just put 800k or 400k into a Thai account and you will have no problem"... glad that you have the capability, belief in the Thai banking system, and have no other things to pay for overseas (changing Thai Baht into Pounds or Dollars or Euros?! Yeah right like that is a good idea). Not everyone does and not everyone has been bucking the system either (by using agents, law firms, or lying on their affidavits, etc). OPAs and Vets do not always have the capability to bury that much money (or the 65k monthly) in one lump sum! Most take out from overseas what they need every month (65k is actually pretty much average I would think... what with rents, etc) for those of you that live in BKK, CM, or on the islands. But for those of you that live in other parts (like Mae Sot, or in Issan) I will bet that you can get by on a good deal less! That is the issue. To make Thai richer is not our job, however, we do that daily at the stores and at the malls... just not at the banks or the government (though the latter certainly tries to do exactly that!). Best post I have seen on this subject. It always amazes me how incredibly arrogant the "monied elite" are when discussing idling 12 to 24 thousand USD in a Thai bank. "Oh, no problem, old chap, I'll just take that money out of my change purse and you riff raff who didn't retire wealthy with a "golden parachute" can just suck it up and rally". I am happy to know that there are those who can spend money in such a cavalier fashion, but many of us retired here because our retirement funds go farther, not because we like warm climate. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacko45k Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 3 hours ago, KhunFred said: but many of us retired here because our retirement funds go farther, not because we like warm climate. Is that the complete picture? Surely there are places as cheap or even cheaper to live than Thailand? A British person could live more cheaply in the UK on benefits! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Gunn Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 On 12/14/2018 at 11:16 AM, Jingthing said: We don't know yet which Thai banks will and which (if any) won't. Your question is simply premature. The Bangkok Bank thing is not the same thing. Those are ACH transfers. Also since you seem to have some document, what will the Thai rules be? At Bangkok Bank you can't have an ATM attached to the receiving account and you need to show up in person to withdraw cash. Social Security treats some countries that way, and others not. Will the same restrictions apply with the new setups? Actually that’s not true regarding an ATM card with a BB acct that receives ACH xfers. When I opened my BB acct I got an ATM card after requesting it and also applied for online banking, which took a little while longer to get. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Gunn Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 28 minutes ago, jacko45k said: Is that the complete picture? Surely there are places as cheap or even cheaper to live than Thailand? A British person could live more cheaply in the UK on benefits! Most non-Americans don’t realize the cost of health insurance in the US. This is what drives many of us to retire overseas, especially if you’re married to a local lady or wanted to retire early. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 13 minutes ago, Hank Gunn said: Actually that’s not true regarding an ATM card with a BB acct that receives ACH xfers. When I opened my BB acct I got an ATM card after requesting it and also applied for online banking, which took a little while longer to get. For a normal account that is correct. But for a direct deposit account to have SS or military retirement payments direct deposited no online banking or a ATM card is allowed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhunFred Posted December 15, 2018 Author Share Posted December 15, 2018 40 minutes ago, jacko45k said: Is that the complete picture? Surely there are places as cheap or even cheaper to live than Thailand? A British person could live more cheaply in the UK on benefits! That is certainly an interesting comment. I don't know about your particular case, but ALL of the British people I know who are retired here in Thailand tell quite a different story. I will CERTAINLY agree that the superior British healthcare system is a valid reason to live there. Same deal with Australia and Canada. In order to access Medicare, I would have to fly back to the USA. No problems collecting Social Security here, but healthcare is another kettle of fish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Gunn Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 3 minutes ago, ubonjoe said: For a normal account that is correct. But for a direct deposit account to have SS or military retirement payments direct deposited no online banking or a ATM card is allowed. Yes but I was responding to JingThing’s claim about BB acts that receive ACH transfers. From his post: Quote The Bangkok Bank thing is not the same thing. Those are ACH transfers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhunFred Posted December 15, 2018 Author Share Posted December 15, 2018 3 minutes ago, ubonjoe said: For a normal account that is correct. But for a direct deposit account to have SS or military retirement payments direct deposited no online banking or a ATM card is allowed. It's a simple matter to transfer all or part of your Direct Deposit payment into a separate ATM account. It must be done in person, though. That's a good feature to avoid fraud. Not EVERYTHING done by the US government is stupid. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 40 minutes ago, Hank Gunn said: Actually that’s not true regarding an ATM card with a BB acct that receives ACH xfers. When I opened my BB acct I got an ATM card after requesting it and also applied for online banking, which took a little while longer to get. As Ubonjoe mentioned you're conflating two different things. A BB account that gets regular ACH transfers in via New York (which will soon need to be IAT formatted) and such accounts that receive SOCIAL SECURITY payments. Totally different situations. Social security has demanded no ATM access for such accounts. I also have a regular BB account with ATM that receives ACH transfers but not social security payments. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 23 minutes ago, Hank Gunn said: Yes but I was responding to JingThing’s claim about BB acts that receive ACH transfers. From his post: I never said you can't get ACH transfers to a BB account that has as ATM card! You took a sentence out of context distorting what I was saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Gunn Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 (edited) 19 minutes ago, Jingthing said: I never said you can't get ACH transfers to a BB account that has as ATM card! You took a sentence out of context distorting what I was saying. I beg to differ, for it was you that established the context of BB accounts receiving ACH transfers. Here is the main part of your post with an edit on my part showing how you could have re-established context with regards to direct deposits of SS checks. And before you take offense, this is not meant as a “grammar police “ post, but meant to defend myself from your accusation of taking you out of context and “distorting” what you said. “The Bangkok Bank thing is not the same thing. Those are ACH transfers. Also since you seem to have some document, what will the Thai rules be? At Bangkok Bank you can't have an ATM attached to accounts that receive direct Soc Sec deposits, the receiving account and you need to show up in person to withdraw cash.” (I used underline as there is no strikeout option.) Edited December 15, 2018 by Hank Gunn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 I beg to differ, for it was you that established the context of BB accounts receiving ACH transfers. Here is the main part of your post with an edit on my part showing how you could have re-established context with regards to direct deposits of SS checks. And before you take offense, this is not meant as a “grammar police “ post, but meant to defend myself from your accusation of taking you out of context and “distorting” what you said. “The Bangkok Bank thing is not the same thing. Those are ACH transfers. Also since you seem to have some document, what will the Thai rules be? At Bangkok Bank you can't have an ATM attached to accounts that receive direct Soc Sec deposits, the receiving account and you need to show up in person to withdraw cash.” (I used underline as there is no strikeout option.)Sorry but you totally misread my meaning. Give it a rest. I never said you can't get bb accounts with an atm if the account isn't dedicated to SS transfers. Don't bother insisting I said or meant something that I never meant. That is obnoxious. Change is afoot but we don't yet know if the new SS transfer thing will still require an ATM restricted account or not. Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Gunn Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 1 hour ago, Jingthing said: Sorry but you totally misread my meaning. Give it a rest. I never said you can't get bb accounts with an atm if the account isn't dedicated to SS transfers. Don't bother insisting I said or meant something that I never meant. That is obnoxious. Change is afoot but we don't yet know if the new SS transfer thing will still require an ATM restricted account or not. Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app I think you need to chill. The OP made a comment about BB receiving electronic deposits from the US and you made the comment that he was confused with ACH transfers to BB which is a different thing. After mentioning BB accts. that receive ACH transfers you ask the OP about some document he has, then made the statement about those BB accounts not being able to have ATM cards. I then made a simple correction about that (BB accts being able to have ATM cards) based on my personal experiences, which is quite normal on this forum. I'm not "insisting" you said or meant something. I quoted you verbatim and showed an edit of your post that would have been more clear and prevented my misunderstanding of it. I merely pointed out the vagueness in your reply to my response, in which you accused me of taking something "out of context" and "distorting" what you said. In fact, taking a minor misunderstanding caused by your poor communication and then calling me "obnoxious" is highly hypocritical. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Pib Posted December 15, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted December 15, 2018 When IDD does become available in the first quarter of 2019, keep in mind you will need to have your Thailand address on-file with the SSA. I expect some have their SS payment going to Bangkok Bank via ACH, however, have kept their U.S. address on-file with the SSA. A US address on-file when using ACH for your payment is no problem; however, for IDD you must have your foreign address on file with SSA. This also means you'll get an annual/biennual (depends on foreign country.....for Thailand its annual) "are you still alive letter." See below SSA instruction regarding IDD for Thailand....MBR means Master Benefit Record. Full instructions at SSA weblink....partial snapshot also below. https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0202402419 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyL Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 As usual, Pib is on-the-mark with info about this type of subject. When the U.S. Embassy/Consulate had their recent meeting about Income Letters, etc recently here in Chiang Mai this new "enhancement" about how we can have our U.S. SS and VA payments direct deposited into ANY Thai bank sometime next year was mentioned with the news to "stay tuned" more info will come. Unlike Pib, they didn't go into the technical details about why or how. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhunFred Posted December 15, 2018 Author Share Posted December 15, 2018 17 minutes ago, Pib said: When IDD does become available in the first quarter of 2019, keep in mind you will need to have your Thailand address on-file with the SSA. I expect some have their SS payment going to Bangkok Bank via ACH, however, have kept their U.S. address on-file with the SSA. A US address on-file when using ACH for your payment is no problem; however, for IDD you must have your foreign address on file with SSA. This also means you'll get an annual/biennual (depends on foreign country.....for Thailand its annual) "are you still alive letter." See below SSA instruction regarding IDD for Thailand....MBR means Master Benefit Record. Full instructions at SSA weblink....partial snapshot also below. https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0202402419 Excellent information. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven2018 Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 That is really cool info about international direct deposit. Now, if Medicare would allow international benefits to approved hospitals internationally, they could save money by allowing services at a possible lower cost than a service done in the U.S. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven2018 Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 I was looking at the SSA IDD info and it appears that Vietnam is on the list. https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0202402408#b I was under the impression that the U.S. Gov did not allow this to take place for the country of Vietnam. SSA IDD master country list: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0202402200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhunFred Posted December 15, 2018 Author Share Posted December 15, 2018 38 minutes ago, steven2018 said: That is really cool info about international direct deposit. Now, if Medicare would allow international benefits to approved hospitals internationally, they could save money by allowing services at a possible lower cost than a service done in the U.S. I don't think that extending benefits to those retired outside of the USA is a very high priority for the current administration. They are too busy antagonizing other countries, with the exception of Russia and North Korea. During the Obama administration, there was talk of extending Medicare to retirees in Mexico with other countries to be added at a later date. No move was ever made in that direction, since the focus was on passing the Affordable Care Act. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pib Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 SSA has been adding more and more countries to their IDD list. Vietnam in Aug 18;....Thailand in Nov 18 (although not active yet) plus others in Nov 18;...Philippines in Feb 18;....Algeria, Macro, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Sengel in Dec 18, etc...etc...etc. More the better. Some of this is probably driven by the US Treasury/National ACH Assn (NACHA) tightening-up on funds transfers that actually leave the US like current payment to Bangkok Bank via ACH. In other cases, it simply the SSA expanding the countries it feels it safe to send funds to and their are no U.S. polices/laws restricting funds flows to those countries. At this movement in time below weblink will show IDD countries as of "Nov" 18. Expect come Jan 19 when clicking it, it will also show those countries which were added in December. The list continues to grow. https://www.ssa.gov/deposit/foreign.htm When you look at the instructions for the various countries you will see usually in Paragraph D what currency must be used for payment. Many countries it's only their local currency....many countries it's only US dollars...and for a few it can be in local or US dollar currency. In Thailand's case the Thailand payment must be to a US dollar account. Have no clue what SSA will only pay in US dollars to some countries and only in local currency for others. And actually it's not SSA that makes the actual payment. SSA sends payment instructions to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City who makes the payment on behalf of the US Treasury/SSA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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