SSA benefit recipients

If you have yet to resolve this issue, suggest you contact these people who are responsible for SSA issues for all South-East Asian countries.

I had a similar problem a few years ago, and my delayed SSA payment was delivered into my direct-deposit account in Bangkok in three business days.

Lanna Prince


Contact:
Bea Evangelista

Social Security Administration

Manila, Philippines

Office tel: 02-3012000 Press 9

Fax: 02-7089714 / 02-7089723

Alternative e-mail : FBU.Manila@ssa.gov

Yes, I am aware of the folks in the PHL. Here it happens every year. And yes, Manila gets is squared away quickly. Although the first time scared the crap out of me when they said to send these forms and they would present it to some committee and see if I would ever be able to get my benefits ever again.
Just wish I could find a way to prevent it each year. Apparently not. And now with out COLA increased I would like to find out how to get my income tax statement from them as the Part B has been increase.

Vagabondone wrote:

Just wish I could find a way to prevent it each year. Apparently not.

The SS folks knew ahead of time that although we were to move overseas, our daughter's address continued to be our permanent contact info.  Since then, they've been sending all correspondence to her address and our checks to Schwab.  No question asked, and we've never submitted any form annually.

Vagabondone wrote:

Yes, I am aware of the folks in the PHL. Here it happens every year. And yes, Manila gets is squared away quickly. Although the first time scared the crap out of me when they said to send these forms and they would present it to some committee and see if I would ever be able to get my benefits ever again.
Just wish I could find a way to prevent it each year. Apparently not. And now with out COLA increased I would like to find out how to get my income tax statement from them as the Part B has been increase.

You didn't get the COLA increase? I believe it is supposed to show up in January checks.

Are you getting direct deposit now? I was wondering if the reporting requirement would change if a person stopped getting checks and started getting International direct deposit. Do you know?

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

Vagabondone wrote:

Yes, I am aware of the folks in the PHL. Here it happens every year. And yes, Manila gets is squared away quickly. Although the first time scared the crap out of me when they said to send these forms and they would present it to some committee and see if I would ever be able to get my benefits ever again.
Just wish I could find a way to prevent it each year. Apparently not. And now with out COLA increased I would like to find out how to get my income tax statement from them as the Part B has been increase.

You didn't get the COLA increase? I believe it is supposed to show up in January checks.

Are you getting direct deposit now? I was wondering if the reporting requirement would change if a person stopped getting checks and started getting International direct deposit. Do you know?

Everybody should have got the 2.8% COLA increase, my wife and I just got the notification letters  from the SSA. Checks or IDD they still want us to fill out the "this is where I am  and no change in our status form" if your outside the USA for more than 6 months.

Rick

We did get the increase.  The notification was sent to daughter.  The direct deposited check reflected the change.

It has always been direct deposit with everything in our life since the late '70s, including the paychecks back when we were still working, so SS checks are the same.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

I was wondering if the reporting requirement would change if a person stopped getting checks and started getting International direct deposit. Do you know?

OB -- if I may butt in on your above question to Vagabondone, I think you're absolutely correct about international direct deposit.  The 7162 has to be the result of a change in procedure on the part of the person who receives the check, not the SSA. 

Budman -- We didn't move our money, that must be the reason no one asked us to fill out any address form annually, even though they knew we no longer live in the States. 

Did you change your direct deposit to international, Vagabondone?

Yes, a stateside address would be great. But I have no family there. So it would be difficult for me. I think I was misunderstood when I mentioned COLA. Yes, I got the increase and it reflected in my direct deposit. But I have never received any paperwork at all here in VN in regards to my reporting for IRS purposes. There is a certain amount that is deducted for Part B. For the longest time it stayed the same amount in benefits each moth and consequently the Part B remained the same. So all I had to do is multiply my benefits by 12 to get my annual amount I was paid for IRS purposes and the same for Part B.
This tax season of course I know the figures tax season and I have no clue what the breakout will be for this coming year. Can not access the IRS data in the USA at all in regards to my account. Maybe Manila can get it for me.
I hope that makes it clearer.

I think many who have a real address here e.g. in HCM may get paperwork fro SSA. But no me. The only way I can receive anything is to have it Fedex'ed. The SSA-7162 must be sent back every two years for most who live outside the USA. But we are lucky here in VN to have to do it every year. They are sent out in May and must be returned by November. If not your check will be cut off promptly with the February check. So I expect my next check will have been stopped. I sent a registered letter to Wilkes-Barr. But no reply. Tried to contact Manila, but nothing yet. And yes, I have my check direct deposited to my stateside bank (schwab)

Many countries, VN being one do not report vital statistic to other countries. Hence the need for the annual verification requirement. They do not want us to kick the bucket and no one report our death.

Hello Vagabonmade:


I got my notice of the new figures only yesterday the 7th  (I currently reside in Chiang Mai, but relocating to HCMC in May). My direct-deposit was made on the 3rd of this month, as per usual.

You my get your notice in a couple of days.


Lanna Prince

@ Lana Prince
I think living in Thailand is much different than living in VN when it comes to addresses. I too never had an address problem when living in other countries. VN had an odd approach to planing when it came to their street naming conventions. The3y got a group of a few folks together and that group decided that street names would be limited to famous Vietnamese throughout history. As you might imagine the list of names was very small. So you might have a street that runs north and south called "XXX". But there maybe a street that branches off to the right of "XXX", well as you might expect it will be called "XXX" also. That is just the beginning. Then there number system is constantly in flux. This year your address could be 101 XXX. But then some genius comes up with the idea that we need to renumber the entire street. He decided that you are now living at 406 XXX. So you will see on the building 101 XXX and 406 XXX.
Then as in my case my landlord was a highly placed government official that received many " envelopes". With his envelopes he built many homes in another city. So as to avoid discovery all the homes have the same address listed for the water and electricity bills, but no address at the home. My home only has a name. So I guess it is understandable that SSA has problems getting mail to me. I will never get anything unless it is sent by FedEx or DHL. I will soon be moving to another place that might have an address that can receive mail. There are villages here that have no street names or addresses. We are in the dark ages here in some ways. Maybe Thailand is in the 20th century or the 19th. Us, we are much further back in some ways....17th?

Not sure this will help but I have been in South East Asia for 10yrs. When I was in Bangkok I had less problems. Each year as I recall, I had to make long Skype calls to Bea in PHI. She would take care of contacting SSA for me after "proof of life" paper was faxed to me and I faxed it back. When I came to Cambodia, where I have been for 4yrs now, Cambodia is a little more "primitive" shall we say. I immediately opened a Post Office Box (POB), reported it to SSA online and the doc came there without a hitch. I would simply take it to the Post Office desk, fill it out, double check it and pay $30 or so to Express Mail Service (EMS) it to SSA in the return envelope provided and the direct deposit continued to my Hawaii account. I simply use my Hawaii debit card. There was one year that I did not receive the "proof of life" letter in a timely fashion (April) and another one came to my POB in June automatically. That worked fine.

Seeing that you are in Vietnam, you could run into a whole different raft of problems to solve. Good Luck

Hope this helps someone out there somewhere.

@GuestPoster678 SSA benefit 7162. This reply is kind of late. If You've managed to solve the problem please tell me how you did it. The SSA has many suggestions... Lol but they're all different. I was told to download it and send it via EMS... which is $50 I'm willing to part with to save the aggravation of having my benefits stopped.

Hello Mr.Jonez,

Welcome on board !

Please note that not only the thread is old but Guestposter*** is no longer on the website. All profiles starting with Guest are no longer active.

May I suggest that you start your own topic on the Vietnam forum so that active members may shed the light on your queries ?

All the best,

Bhavna

@GuestPoster678 Yes, same problem. But now you cannot copy the form and send. It is coded for each individual. Call Manilla

@OceanBeach92107 checks in March 2023