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Topic: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?  (Read 4689 times)

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Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« on: October 08, 2019, 08:55:53 PM »
Not sure where to put this, on the board.

So, those of us who are receiving US Social Security get it direct deposited every month. Mine comes in through the Bank of Ireland which shunts it over to my UK bank.  Since BofI is EU and the bank here in Scotland won't be EU in a few weeks, has anyone heard anything about potential issues with the direct deposits coming in from EU banks?

I tried calling the US SSA number for overseas persons several times now, and left a message once with a callback number. I haven't gotten a call back, and can't get anything other than the voicemail there. Not sure if I'm worrying needlessly, but every time I don't check on this sort of thing in advance I end up "getting bit", so I thought I'd nose around a little.


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Re: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2019, 09:21:17 PM »
First question I suppose is why you don’t have it deposited to your bank in Scotland since you are having it converted to Euros and then into £’s. You’ve probably got a good reason and have explained why before, so apologies ahead of time.

I really don’t know if Brexit is going to change inter bank transfers with EU countries, I can’t see why it would.
Dual USC/UKC living in the UK since May 2016


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Re: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2019, 01:25:29 PM »
Perhaps a bit of confusion over the Irish bank. I believe all SSA payments to UK residents do go through Ireland, but it's Citi Bank in Ireland.

Check your statements. My statement has the following:
03 Sep 19   CR   CITIBANK IRE FIN S

durhamlad, I believe we use the same bank for this.

What happens after BREXIT is anyone's guess. I'm also interested as to what happens to pension payments from the EU. My guess for both would be that, hopefully, nothing will change: SSA payments remain with a competitive exchange rate and EU pensions remain being paid.

Coincidentally, my EU pensions do go directly to my UK bank from the EU provider. The UK bank then takes ups the exchange rate by about 2%. Before some bright spark suggests Transferwise (or whatever it is), it's impossible for a US Person to have a non-residents account in that EU country.


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Re: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2019, 05:13:38 PM »
Yeah, that's the US government shunting it through Ireland, not me! :)  I gave them my UK bank info and that's how they do it. (Yeah,. it might be Citibank, IE.)

Still nothing from them, still not able to reach a live body at SSA.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2019, 05:54:04 PM by Nan D. »


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Re: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2019, 01:33:05 PM »
So, I tried again last night, and then this morning. Still the voicemail. So I tried emailing the London benefits unit. Assuming it's still there - the e-mail hasn't bounced - maybe they will have an answer for me.


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Re: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« Reply #5 on: October 10, 2019, 02:06:06 PM »
So, I tried again last night, and then this morning. Still the voicemail. So I tried emailing the London benefits unit. Assuming it's still there - the e-mail hasn't bounced - maybe they will have an answer for me.

When I emailed them earlier this year on a SS question they took so long to reply that I’d forgotten that I’d even emailed them.

Patience, grasshopper....

PS
I don’t think you have much chance of getting a meaningful answer in time for October 31st, but I hope I’m wrong.
« Last Edit: October 10, 2019, 04:13:37 PM by durhamlad »
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Re: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« Reply #6 on: October 10, 2019, 04:11:29 PM »
I don't know if you can change back and forth but if you're worried, could you go back to getting a US deposit and bringing the money over yourself at your leisure?  Probably too close now for this date but if there is another extension...


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Re: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« Reply #7 on: October 10, 2019, 06:13:20 PM »
Yeah, I just brought over a little extra cash (Transferwise) just in case there are any hiccups with the 3 November direct deposit.

I think if there are, I will immediately switch it over to my US bank. I'd rather pay the $20-ish it'd cost to bring a monthly amount over here from there than worry about if it was going to show up on time here via Ireland.  I can always use my US credit cards, which have a great exchange rate, but would rather just have things work properly.  ;)


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Re: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2019, 06:31:02 PM »
Yeah, I just brought over a little extra cash (Transferwise) just in case there are any hiccups with the 3 November direct deposit.

I think if there are, I will immediately switch it over to my US bank. I'd rather pay the $20-ish it'd cost to bring a monthly amount over here from there than worry about if it was going to show up on time here via Ireland.  I can always use my US credit cards, which have a great exchange rate, but would rather just have things work properly.  ;)

Good plan,  money transfers are not likely to be affected but always good to have enough cash on hand just in case.
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Re: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2019, 09:29:55 AM »
From the SSA office in London this morning:

At this time we do not have any information to share about how payments may be affected after October 31.  Unless our office contacts you to notify you otherwise, you should expect to receive payments on or about the 3rd of each month by direct deposit to your UK bank account.


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Re: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« Reply #10 on: October 11, 2019, 12:57:51 PM »
From the SSA office in London this morning:

At this time we do not have any information to share about how payments may be affected after October 31.  Unless our office contacts you to notify you otherwise, you should expect to receive payments on or about the 3rd of each month by direct deposit to your UK bank account.

Cool, a timely response, and pretty much what was expected, "We don't know".
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Re: Direct Deposit of US SSA to UK bank and Brexit?
« Reply #11 on: October 11, 2019, 01:32:58 PM »
Frankly, that's the least of my essentially non-existent concerns. HSBC in Eire is simply a convenient middleman; it's not like they will stop doing business with the SSA, their branches in the UK or wherever or any other UK bank. why on earth should there be any hiccups?


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