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Social Security Direct Deposits ?

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YellowTail
  8/2/2018 17:52 EST

This month will be the first month my wife will receive a US SS payment,made directly into our Mexican bank.

I came across this site which to me is a little confusing :
https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10031-2018.pdf

Does everyone normally get their check on the 3rd ? Is it based on birthdate ?

Thanks

giershift43
  8/2/2018 18:48 EST

No my husband and I get our Soc Sec checks the last wednesday of every month.

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YellowTail
  8/2/2018 18:57 EST

Last or fourth ? In Oct of this year there are 5 Wednesdays,

The day portion of your birth is 21st – 31st ?

BlackForestgal
  8/3/2018 00:39 EST

I WISH it was the 3rd! It would make budgeting easier. My husband started getting his SS checks last December, and he was told the date he would receive it was based on his birthday. His birthday is on the 18th, so he gets his checks on the 3rd Wednesday of each month.

Chucklesg
  8/3/2018 00:54 EST

Yes but if you have direct deposit, the check is deposited in the bank on the Friday before the Wed. My BD is the 17 and that happens each month. I expect my August check will be deposited on August 10

kentcoguy00
  8/3/2018 02:00 EST

I also got my direct deposit in the middle of the month until I changed my address with SSA to my address in Mexico. Now I get mine on the 3rd.......

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YellowTail
  8/3/2018 15:49 EST

Yes - we went through the federal benefits unit at the embassy to set up her SS payments. So somehow (probably through the bank of Mexico) pesos will be deposited into our Mexican account,

We do not see the monies deposited today (yet). Do you get any sort of email confirmation sent from SSA that a payment has been made ?

hockeyrick
  8/4/2018 15:57 EST

In Thai it was always there on the 3rd, same here to my HSBC acct. No idea about BD, they just mail them out.

YellowTail
  8/5/2018 12:37 EST

I just checked the SS website for her account and it says a payment was sent on 8/3 to our account. They show the last 4 digits of the CLABE for our HSBC account. I called HSBC on Friday and asked if anything was pending and they said they could not give any info without a confirmation number - which of course we don't have.

It is not the end of the world if we have to wait a day or two. It is just that this is the first month we are trying this and I'd like to see it work.

YellowTail
  8/6/2018 14:00 EST

Well the monies still have not arrived so we called SS in US, We gave them the same CLABE for our HSBC Mexico account we used to wire monies from our US brokerage account. Apparently that won't work because these SS payments are NOT wire transfers, What they need is the routing code (something like BIM.....) and our account number. Now we need to once again contact the FBU in Mexico City and change things. Expected timeframe - another month.

longtimelurker
  8/6/2018 14:15 EST

Don't bother with speaking with anybody in the USA SSA. They don't know much about anything outside the USA.

You should always speak with the FBU covering your area. They know how the banks work with direct deposits. They know the codes needed.

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giershift43
  8/6/2018 15:07 EST

On the outside chance this applies, the month youare eligible is not the first month you get a check. It is the following month.

Retiree2
  8/6/2018 15:17 EST

If your birthday in the 21st. or later the SSA amount is direct deposited on the 28th. of each month into your bank account. If you get it deposited into a foreign bank SSA sends you a letter every year you reply to to make sure you are still living. If you use a US bank they never send you that letter. If you don't reply on time to the letter they stop depositing your SSA in your foreign bank.

YellowTail
  8/6/2018 15:25 EST

As I think I said earlier - the SS website shows that the payment was made on Friday 8/3. It just never hit our account.

We set this whole process up via a phone call with the FBU at the embassy in Mexico City. The woman we spoke with DID NOT HAVE A CLUE regarding account numbers etc. We recited all the numbers we have and she responded - ok that should work,

Trouble is - you can;t communicate with ANYONE at the embassy regarding anything directly, (I once called their emergency contact phone number just to hear a human voice). So now we have used their appt scheduling procedure to request a call back. We have paid a lot of taxes over the years and we should be able to expect a better level of service. After all - we are no longer driving on their roads not even breathing their air... Yet they still get our taxes !

Have you been to the embassy lately ? A US citizen - passport in hand - is treated little better than an undocumented immigrant at Texas border.

giershift43
  8/6/2018 15:27 EST

Thank you. I know that everyone getting social security on the third was true years ago, but has not been for some time. My husband and I both get our on the last Wednesday of the month.

giershift43
  8/6/2018 15:28 EST

Can Social security trace it?

YellowTail
  8/6/2018 15:37 EST

If you live in Mexico and have your 'check' direct deposited into Mexico that transaction occurs on the 3rd of the month.

SS has not received any info back yet regarding the transfer on Friday - but they have said that the CLABE it was sent to will never work. They said we need to have FBU correct the bank transfer info and then it may take a month to see the deposit. It is a good thing we are not dependent on the money to live.

We set this up months ago. It is a shame they could not have sent a $1 USD transaction to assure it was set up properly...

How many expats in Mexico do you think have their SS checks direct deposited into Mexico ?

Cozumeldeb
  8/6/2018 15:44 EST

Thus the reason we never opened a MX bank acct on the advice of our lawyer in 2001..I've heard a lot of these stories through the years.

YellowTail
  8/6/2018 15:52 EST

I would feel like I was a cave man if I did not have a Mexican bank account, I simply would not be able to live - not in the manner we do..

Not a week goes by that I do not transact a SPEI transfer, I rely on my Mexican Credit Card when my US cards are not accepted, And - my Mexican investment accounts (CETES) are returning greater than 8% at the moment,

But - we are here full time and are very integrated in the way of life.

bigfootbill
  8/6/2018 17:28 EST

What is clabe

YellowTail
  8/6/2018 18:02 EST

A clabe is an 18 digit (I think) means to move money around. In the past, when we wired money from a US brokerage to Mexico we needed to provide the CLABE, the bank routing code and the bank account number The CLABE has the bank account number embedded.

When we move money around in Mexico (SPEI transfers) we use clabes.

giershift43
  8/6/2018 18:40 EST

Why not just use a Schwab account ??

giershift43
  8/6/2018 18:40 EST

Why not just use a Schwab account ??

YellowTail
  8/6/2018 19:01 EST

We have Schwab accounts.
But if we have the US treasury deposit our money directly into our HSBC Mexico account we avoid any currency exchange rate hits we would normally incur if we went through Schwab.
(The US Treasury gets a very favorable exchange rate (for now)).

It is all just a bet of sorts I guess.

YellowTail
  8/6/2018 19:30 EST

Plus - if we were to have the deposit made into a US account - it would require a 3 day settlement period (at least) for the monies to arrive in Mexico

YellowTail
  8/7/2018 07:18 EST

Some kind person at the FBU emailed my wife last night and asked for a scan of a cancelled check and a recent bank statement, Once again they were looking for the interbanc clabe,,,

My wife called HSBC in Mexico City and explained the situation, That person said the US Treasury needs to use the routing number not the clabe, We sent that along to the FBU as well as the phone number for HSBC DF.

I wonder if the problem might be that I, not my wife, am the titular on the account (she is the co-titular).

It is a pretty nice service that SS is willing to put the money in Mexico for us,,,

giershift43
  8/7/2018 07:33 EST

Could explain the exchange rates hits that you mentioned with Schwab accounts?

giershift43
  8/7/2018 07:56 EST

I am curious. What are the benefits of a Mexican bank account and investment accounts?

YellowTail
  8/7/2018 08:44 EST

"Could explain the exchange rates hits that you mentioned with Schwab accounts?"

I'm probably going to over-simplify this but - if you were to look at the price for USD/MXN on yahoo's website (18.43 at the moment) - I call that 'spot'. When you ask a US financial institutions to send some dollars to your Mexican bank (holding pesos) someone is going to take a cut. That cut is usually in the range of 1-3%. Often times the cut is dependent on the size of the transfer.

Of course you could leave the dollars in your US account and then use a debit card in Mexico. In that case you will pay the cut to companies such as Visa or MC - and the size of the transfers would be limited in size.

As I understand it the US Treasury works with the Bank of Mexico neither of which take a cut when you have your SS check direct deposited into your Mexican bank account,

Cozumeldeb
  8/7/2018 08:44 EST

Same as giershift, why not Schwab. They reimburse fees end of every month.

giershift43
  8/7/2018 08:46 EST

That is helpful about the exchange rate hit. I guess I though having a Schwab account skirted that. I have not noticed a cut for using an ATM. in Mexico.

YellowTail
  8/7/2018 08:56 EST

Businesses are in business to make money.

There is an algorithm companies such as Visa use to compute their cut when you use a US debit card in a Mexican ATM. In fact you can search on 'Visa Exchange Rate Calculator'.

Schwab reimburses the ATM fees - true. But they do not reimburse the 'exchange rate'. However they do not CHARGE a cut of their own. When you use the Visa calculator you can use 0% for the bank fee.

Cozumeldeb
  8/7/2018 08:56 EST

The exact amount of our SS awards are deposited the 1st of every month.

giershift43
  8/7/2018 09:08 EST

How does a one open a Mexican investment account in Mexico?

Cozumeldeb
  8/7/2018 09:11 EST

We prefer the safety and convience of keeping our accounts in the states. That may change with current Trump administration. Until and if that happens we will decide what's best.
In our years in MX we've seen 2 severe peso devaluations. We know many Mexicans that keep US bank accts.

Cozumeldeb
  8/7/2018 09:12 EST

We prefer the safety and convience of keeping our accounts in the states. That may change with current Trump administration. Until and if that happens we will decide what's best.
In our years in MX we've seen 2 severe peso devaluations. We know many Mexicans that keep US bank accts.

giershift43
  8/7/2018 09:40 EST

Sound reasonable.

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