Bank Fees For Direct Deposit of SS In Philippines

[OnMyWay]

5 hours ago, Roadhawg said:

Is it best to have a dollar account or both dollar and Peso.

You will probably need both unless you want to keep large amounts of money under your mattress.

[graham59]

'Large amounts of money'.  That would be a fine thing. 

At the moment I'm maintaining my bank account in the UK. I have my pension paid into it, and then send money to my wife's BDO  peso account, but I suppose once they get a sniff of me being expat in the Phils, they'll probably get upset and want to close the account.  

The UK govt. will pay my pension into the BDO account direct, but I'm loathe to change what has been a working arrangement so far.  

[hk blues]

40 minutes ago, graham59 said:

'Large amounts of money'.  That would be a fine thing. 

At the moment I'm maintaining my bank account in the UK. I have my pension paid into it, and then send money to my wife's BDO  peso account, but I suppose once they get a sniff of me being expat in the Phils, they'll probably get upset and want to close the account.  

The UK govt. will pay my pension into the BDO account direct, but I'm loathe to change what has been a working arrangement so far.  

I also maintain an account in the UK and they have my address in the Philippines and send my replacement cards and regular statements here so it may not be an issue. 

[graham59]

Thanks hk blues... reassuring to know that. I suppose it depends upon the bank though. 

I could give them my son's address of course.  Anyway, all is good at the moment. 

[Gratefuled]

Ok, here is what I did. You decide what's best for you.

When I decided that I was going to live here off and on, I opened up a joint account here with my wife. 

I arranged to have money transferred from my bank in the states to my joint bank account here. 

I get charged $4 for each transfer. The money is sent in US dollars and received in Pesos. My bank here does not charge me for anything. I have it deposited to my checking account and withdraw what I need when I need it. 

Very simple. I use BPI for this but I, we also have an account with BDO. Both banks are very professional but the BPI bank branch that I use knows how to do the transaction. The first time, it took a while because the girl had to inquire how to do it. Now she, they know. 

[graham59]

I more or less do the same... just that I use Worldremit to take the money from my UK bank and deposit into my wife's BDO one here... which I have access to online or with the ATM card.

Still only a small fee involved... from Worldremit, not the bank. 

[hk blues]

14 hours ago, graham59 said:

Thanks hk blues... reassuring to know that. I suppose it depends upon the bank though. 

I could give them my son's address of course.  Anyway, all is good at the moment. 

As far as I am aware, if you have an account they won't close it but you will have a problem if you tried to open a new one.  Using someone else's address is problematic unless you happen to share the same name - it's all to do with money laundering regulations.

Another option is to open an account with one of the "UK offshore" institutions in the Channel Island/IOM/Jersey/Guernsey.  It's a way to have a UK bank and all interest is paid tax free as long as you are not a UK resident.  It's not just for the super-wealthy either. 

[Abe]

On 5/31/2018 at 5:03 AM, OnMyWay said:

The end result was ........

Both Metrobank and BDO refused to accept the official letter that SSA gave us to open the accounts.  They both insisted that an "award notice" is required before they will open an account.  SSA says those will not be available for months.  There seems to be a disconnect between SSA and some of their partner banks.

I took the letter to my manager at BPI yesterday and she said no problem.  We went back today to open the accounts.  After about 15 minutes waiting, it took the CS agent about 2 hours to finish!  Lots of papers as my wife is the representative for the kids so it is a bit more complicated than usual.

Unfortunately we have to eat a $6.50 per kid service charge each month.  About $156 per year.  However, it will be easier to have the accounts at our main bank with our other accounts.

Metrobank were asking for the "Award Notice", what the hell is the "Award Notice" anyway, been searching all over and I can't even find a sample of this so called >award notice<, I emailed SSA at the American embassy, Manila, and I was asking about the Award Notice and here is the response:

"Unfortunately, we cannot use a regular bank account for your Social Security payments.

However, Direct deposit are available in the Philippines. To open an account, please go to your bank of choice, complete an SF-1199 which the bank will have, and present the enclosed endorsement letter. Once you have opened an account, you may send us a copy of the SF-1199 for us to update your records in advance."

This is the 2nd time she is not responding correctly to my request. Is there anyone knows what is that "Award Notice" is all about? I appreciate all the help I can get, thanks.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

4 minutes ago, Abe said:

Metrobank were asking for the "Award Notice", what the hell is the "Award Notice" anyway,

For my veteran's disability the VA sends an awards letter every year. It says my disability percentage and monthly amount.   I am too young for SS so I have no idea if they send one... but I guess that is what they are asking for?

[Abe]

3 minutes ago, Tukaram (Tim) said:

For my veteran's disability the VA sends an awards letter every year. It says my disability percentage and monthly amount.   I am too young for SS so I have no idea if they send one... but I guess that is what they are asking for?

Thanks, I will keep note on that, but I haven't been receiving any of that except adjustment a couple of weeks ago, and that's about it. Well anyway this is my first year in the philippines, been absent for 35 years, with all the changes and people everywhere, still adjusting life here but it's ok though.