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Old 11-11-2016, 12:37 PM
 
Location: equator
11,022 posts, read 6,564,832 times
Reputation: 25480

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I hate this. Turns out we should NOT have been honest on our SS application about where we are living (So. America). We established a mailing address with a sibling in the U.S., but on our application for SS, truthfully wrote down we lived here, NOT at the mailing address. OOPS!


Though we have direct deposit, those occasional snail-mail letters the SS sends HAVE to reflect the address you LIVE AT. They send those to deter fraud, which I understand. We went through supervisors at SS, explaining our situation, to no avail (thank God for Skype) We were told payments would stop if their letters weren't returned with current information they require. We'd have to reinstate them with SS each time.


The situation being that there is virtually NO mail delivery here. Maybe in the big cities, but not here. There aren't even real addresses for the most part. No hope of receiving mail. Not a major problem since everything else is online but now it IS a problem with SS.


FYI, local bills here are all paid in person at a certain time of month.


So what on earth do you retired RV-ers do? You can't get mail in your RV where you actually LIVE. What if your lifestyle requires a P.O. box---you don't live there.


Does everyone in these situations really LIE? Using other's addresses or 3rd-party mail services....


Other expats have said they did lie and this really bothers me.
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Old 11-11-2016, 02:07 PM
 
12,050 posts, read 10,206,287 times
Reputation: 24782
How strange. I live in a very small town with limited home mail delivery. Parents have had a post office box number since the 1940s.
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Old 11-11-2016, 02:53 PM
 
Location: Miraflores
813 posts, read 1,129,929 times
Reputation: 1631
I also live in South America and have all SS mail delivered here. It always arrives about a month late and this year during a postal strike was usually coming about three months late. I had to send in that form you are referring to and was able to get it postmarked here within the 60 day window,
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Old 11-11-2016, 04:21 PM
 
Location: Central Massachusetts
6,533 posts, read 7,024,571 times
Reputation: 9275
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sand&Salt View Post
I hate this. Turns out we should NOT have been honest on our SS application about where we are living (So. America). We established a mailing address with a sibling in the U.S., but on our application for SS, truthfully wrote down we lived here, NOT at the mailing address. OOPS!


Though we have direct deposit, those occasional snail-mail letters the SS sends HAVE to reflect the address you LIVE AT. They send those to deter fraud, which I understand. We went through supervisors at SS, explaining our situation, to no avail (thank God for Skype) We were told payments would stop if their letters weren't returned with current information they require. We'd have to reinstate them with SS each time.


The situation being that there is virtually NO mail delivery here. Maybe in the big cities, but not here. There aren't even real addresses for the most part. No hope of receiving mail. Not a major problem since everything else is online but now it IS a problem with SS.


FYI, local bills here are all paid in person at a certain time of month.


So what on earth do you retired RV-ers do? You can't get mail in your RV where you actually LIVE. What if your lifestyle requires a P.O. box---you don't live there.


Does everyone in these situations really LIE? Using other's addresses or 3rd-party mail services....


Other expats have said they did lie and this really bothers me.

Isn't it possible to do bank to bank transfers? If you have a bank in the US where the check is deposited. You can bill pay by electronic check and should also be able to make transfers. I have not researched this quite yet but having been mainly doing our banking electronically for the past 10 years it should be simple I thought.
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Old 11-11-2016, 06:27 PM
 
Location: OH>IL>CO>CT
7,482 posts, read 13,508,906 times
Reputation: 11822
Quote:
Originally Posted by golfingduo View Post
Isn't it possible to do bank to bank transfers? If you have a bank in the US where the check is deposited. You can bill pay by electronic check and should also be able to make transfers. I have not researched this quite yet but having been mainly doing our banking electronically for the past 10 years it should be simple I thought.
US banks do not want to open accounts for US citizens living in foreign countries. Various IRS rules make it cumbersome and risky for the banks. Worse, some foreign banks don't want to deal with US citizens either. My son lives in England, and has had to deal with similar issues because of this. See https://www.americansabroad.org/banking/ for more info
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Old 11-11-2016, 07:04 PM
 
Location: Central Massachusetts
6,533 posts, read 7,024,571 times
Reputation: 9275
Quote:
Originally Posted by reed303 View Post
US banks do not want to open accounts for US citizens living in foreign countries. Various IRS rules make it cumbersome and risky for the banks. Worse, some foreign banks don't want to deal with US citizens either. My son lives in England, and has had to deal with similar issues because of this. See https://www.americansabroad.org/banking/ for more info
https://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/home/bus...4Asw&gclsrc=ds

Well what about this? I don't have an account but there appears to be at least one financial institution that deals with it.
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Old 11-11-2016, 08:11 PM
 
Location: Central Massachusetts
6,533 posts, read 7,024,571 times
Reputation: 9275
A bit more research and I found this piece on banking abroad.

Best Bank Accounts for Foreign Travel & Expats - MagnifyMoney
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Old 11-11-2016, 08:20 PM
 
Location: OH>IL>CO>CT
7,482 posts, read 13,508,906 times
Reputation: 11822
Quote:
Originally Posted by golfingduo View Post
https://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/home/bus...4Asw&gclsrc=ds

Well what about this? I don't have an account but there appears to be at least one financial institution that deals with it.
If you look close, this is only for multi-national business accounts. Most US major banks also handle business accounts, but not personal accounts.
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Old 11-11-2016, 08:22 PM
 
Location: OH>IL>CO>CT
7,482 posts, read 13,508,906 times
Reputation: 11822
Quote:
Originally Posted by golfingduo View Post
A bit more research and I found this piece on banking abroad.

Best Bank Accounts for Foreign Travel & Expats - MagnifyMoney
The title mentions ex-pats, but the article only talks about travelers, or other short-term visitors, not US citizens living abroad permanently.
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Old 11-11-2016, 08:29 PM
 
Location: SoCal
6,418 posts, read 11,560,620 times
Reputation: 7093
Can you give your sibling a limited POA to authorize that sibling to reply to these letters?
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