CITI BANC, ANY INFORMATION ON THEIR REPUTATION & FEES IN VN?

You cannot have your SS deposited to a bank in Vietnam. Once you are here more than 6 months the SS will suspend your payments. You can make arrangements to pick up your SS in person at the Consulate. Budman can give you alot more useful information on that.

Now on Citibank in Vietnam, in order to open a USD account you must have a foreign passport. Also if you are a US citizen they report directly to the IRS any interest you earn and if your account is over 10k. They did have a service where you could transfer funds from Citibank USA to Citibank Vietnam but they suspended it. I am not sure if it has started back up again.

Wells Fargo has a relatively inexpensive money transfer to Vietinbank and Vietcombank you might be interested in checking out.

Thanks for the info Parmyd.

Parmyd,
  That is new info to me on the SS suspending your check once you have been here "6 months". How would they know you are here any length of time. Most of us are here on tourist visa's. It seem in theory then that we never "Live" here.
Having said all that I did not get my SS check this month in the usual cycle. I am still waiting for the other foot to drop as to why. When I lived in Mexico they changed my date to the first Wed of the month. All who live outside the country are to get their checks then. My normal date by my birth date would be the fourth Wed of the month. So this Wed will tell me more. I am assuming they detected I was no longer in Mexico because I filed my federal tax returns using a stateside address.
  But I have never heard they drop you after a given time. I have never read this in their own rules either. Although I am aware of VN "restricted" status.
  Would you happen to know what SS would do if they did learn yo were here and you elected to not show your puss at the embassy each month so you could get paid? Will they pay you all the back pay if, say, you just went to the embassy once a year, or even waited until you returned to the USA. I plan on moving back, perhaps in 5 years. I don't NEED the money. However, I don't want to lose it either.
  For the OP. Citi USA and Citi Vn are not equals. Not heard anything good about them USA or VN. I had them in the USA and dropped them very fast. It is fees fees fees. First $25k for free checking then within a month of opening the account they raised it to 50K

Hi bta87,
From what I read on SS pages, they will give you all of your back checks when you go to a country that can receive them, that is if they have suspended yours. I had never heard of the 6 month rule either, but I do not doubt it, as I was told by the local SS here that I had to report to the American Embassy within the first 30 days there to change my address. I was also told by them that they did not have a problem with me having my SS check sent to me from the states, so I figured I should be able to send it to myself in that case. I just don't want to get there and find out then that I can't, also wanting to know the best banks to deal with.
I was told Western Union would let you send as much as $2999.00 free from a bank account in the USA to a bank account in VN with on line banking knowing the account #'s of both accounts, has anyone tried this? Thanks for any help I can get on these issues.

Osage,
Thanks for the SS info. I too knew they order us to update our address. However, I purposely never did as I knew what the result would be once they learned I was in a restricted country. I'm now thinking that the immigration/ border patrol folks in the USA data base is cross linked to other federal agencies. Perhaps when they swiped my bar code on my passport when I left the USA last that info was sent to the SSA. Because it was exactly 6 months that my SS checks stopped getting my check. It is reassuring to that I will get the back checks when I finally go see them. At any rate this Thursday I will know more about what happened to my check. I wished VN would begin reporting vital statistics. However, I doubt it is in their interest to do so. Our VNese wives can not draw our checks when we die anyway.

bta87 wrote:

Parmyd,
  That is new info to me on the SS suspending your check once you have been here "6 months". How would they know you are here any length of time. Most of us are here on tourist visa's. It seem in theory then that we never "Live" here.
Having said all that I did not get my SS check this month in the usual cycle. I am still waiting for the other foot to drop as to why. When I lived in Mexico they changed my date to the first Wed of the month. All who live outside the country are to get their checks then. My normal date by my birth date would be the fourth Wed of the month. So this Wed will tell me more. I am assuming they detected I was no longer in Mexico because I filed my federal tax returns using a stateside address.
  But I have never heard they drop you after a given time. I have never read this in their own rules either. Although I am aware of VN "restricted" status.
  Would you happen to know what SS would do if they did learn yo were here and you elected to not show your puss at the embassy each month so you could get paid? Will they pay you all the back pay if, say, you just went to the embassy once a year, or even waited until you returned to the USA. I plan on moving back, perhaps in 5 years. I don't NEED the money. However, I don't want to lose it either.
  For the OP. Citi USA and Citi Vn are not equals. Not heard anything good about them USA or VN. I had them in the USA and dropped them very fast. It is fees fees fees. First $25k for free checking then within a month of opening the account they raised it to 50K

They will pay it all back when you go to a country that is not restricted. If you have your money direct deposited to a bank back home they would have a difficult time knowing that you are here more than 6 months unless you register at the Consulate.

bta87,

Is your wife a USA citizen also? I just ask as my wife has her Nationalization Papers and the SS office told her she could receive my SS if I pass or after she is 62 (1/3) or at full retirement age of 66(right now anyway) she could receive 1/2). If I would pass she can get 70%. They have so many laws I was never aware of.
Hope it all turns out well for you.

Osage,
  This may be one of those situations of whether you asked the right questions. Indeed, the answer you received is correct. Yet it does not apply to all. EVEN if your VNese wife is a U.S. Citizen she may not be able to draw your S s when you pass ( or your children). This is how it could turn out for example. Say your VNese wife is a U.S. Citizen, but she leaves the U.S. For longer than two years. She would lose her right to draw your SS. Moreover, for those reading this that have come to VN and married and don't plan on moving back to the USA or getting thief wive's citizenship paperwork she would never have the right to draw your SS. If you do get her citizenship she must live in the USA for five years before she can qualify for your SS. If she ever leaves the USA for more than two years her SS payments will end. Many do not realize this and their estate a king is thus flawed

Update on missing SS check. Seems there is ateast some connection to the 6 months mentioned before. I let the entire month pass in order to make sure I was indeed not getting a check. Then I called SSA. Seems they send out an address verification letter every 3 months. They sent mine to my last known address in Mexico. Of course, I could not get it as I now live in VN. So when I did not respond to the letter they stopped my check.
Now all I need to do is report to the embassy in HCMC or Hanoi and prove I'm still alive. Them they will release my check.
Fortunately they will allow me to go whenever I want to ( once a year etc.) and they will pay me all the back checks I did not receive. Thank go oddness. I was notooking forward to a trip from DaLat to HCMC every month. So I will go every year or so, unless I just have some real need to do other things in HCMC.
Would anyone know if the new appointment system the embassy has applies to showing your puss for your SS check also.

bta87 your in for a hell of a surprise I'm afraid  when you go to the Consulate but I'll let you find that out. To answer your question, no, an appointment is not needed just go to window Number 4 on M,T,T,F between 0830-1130hrs.

As a second thought, maybe it would be worth your time to or e-mail them and explain what the folks at SS have told you about current reporting requirements, or another maybe better option would be to call or e-mail the SS people in Manila, they run the program out here in SEA. On another note the verification letter that they send out are normally once or sometimes twice a year and then sometimes none for a few years at a time. I've never received any and my wife has only receive one since 2007. Hit and miss I guess.

The below link is the contact information for the Consulate. Indicators are they no longer reply to direct e-mails and no longer provide a telephone number to contact ACS, in less it's an emergency type of situation:

http://hochiminh.usconsulate.gov/contact_acs.html

Contact Information for SS in Manila:

Phone: (632) 301-2000 ext. 9
Fax: (632) 708-9723 and (632) 708-9714
E-mail: FBU.Manila@ssa.gov

Budman,
   Thanks. I sent you a PM. But I will call Manila on Monday as well. But I would like you to tell me about the surprise that awaits me

osage wrote:

bta87,

Is your wife a USA citizen also? I just ask as my wife has her Nationalization Papers and the SS office told her she could receive my SS if I pass or after she is 62 (1/3) or at full retirement age of 66(right now anyway) she could receive 1/2). If I would pass she can get 70%. They have so many laws I was never aware of.
Hope it all turns out well for you.

Osage,
  You do not say where your wife is living or plans to be living when you croak. Yes, if she is naturalized U.S. citizen and has been for at least 5 years before you croak she can draw your pension (if you have minor children they too can draw). However that is only if she remains in the USA to live. If she leaves the USA for longer than 2 years she can no longer get your SS pension. Sometimes when we ask these folks a question we do not know what the right questions are to ask. Who would ever think that with the correct answer your wife received she should then ask "does it matter where I am living in order to draw the check". So she walks away happy all is fine. Hope it works out for you and your family. Crazy laws!!!

Glad to hear you can get it without too much hassle. Thanks for posting I was wondering about that myself, as far as having to show up every month. Take care.

Yet another update. Budman suggested I call the SS office at the embassy in Manila. Manila was very prompt in getting in touch with me. Had to fill out a form they sent me and return it. As soon as I sent it they replied " we will review your file to see if your SS be edits can be reinstated. Scared the doodoo out of me. A
Must have went well as SSA deposited the two back checks to my bank account last night. I wi have to report to HCM next month I suppose. But I will be returning to the USA next month on the first anyway. I should get a formal reply from Manila any day and I will let you all know what they say.

Thanks for this information, I will have her call and ask this question so she can hear it for herself, she may think I do not know what I am talking about or not want to believe it, lol. Thanks again, hope all works out for you as well.

If you had your SS deposited into a US Citi account and you are here as a tourist you can withdraw from many ATMs, and there are Citi banks in major cities, International fees are not cheap, however.

As for time constraints: I have been here on and off for years, this last time for 14 months and withdraw funds monthly, no problem. Good luck...

Citi will transfer 4 times free per month, but I am not sure of the international fee you are speaking of: do you mean transferring from Citi VN to a smaller bank in VN? Can this be done also? Thanks for your help.

You can send money to any bank with a SWIFT code.  For Citibank (US) the fee is $30 flat.   Citibank Global Transfers (CGT) which allow sending money from Citi US to Citi VN are again available for free after being shut down for a few months last year.

Hi Thigv,

Thanks for the info, not sure what a swift # is, but will check with Citi Bank here. Thanks again.

You need the SWIFT code for the bank you are sending to and you supply that info to the bank you are sending money from, plus account numbers of course.    For Citi HCMC the SWIFT code is CITIVNVXHCM, for Ha Noi it is CITIVNVX.

Here is a link with SWIFT codes for other banks in Vietnam.

http://www.theswiftcodes.com/vietnam/

I notice that some of the big state owned banks like Agribank don't seem to be on the list.  Also the full names of the banks are used, not the common names so you may have to dig a little deeper.

I appreciate the list, saves me a lot of time figuring this out, I figured it was an account #. Take care.