Good news as this is by far the best expat checking account, in my opinion. Been using it for years with great success.

Unfortunately, some of the best features like internet deposit of paper checks (Deposit@Home and IPhone deposits) are still available for ex-military only.



Story from NYTimes:

August 10, 2009
Bank Will Allow Customers to Deposit Checks by iPhone
By SUSAN STELLIN
The Internet has taken a lot of the paperwork out of banking, but there is no avoiding paper when someone gives you a check. Now one bank wants to let customers deposit checks immediately — through their phones.

USAA, a privately held bank and insurance company, plans to update its iPhone application this week to introduce the check deposit feature, which requires a customer to photograph both sides of the check with the phone’s camera.

“We’re essentially taking an image of the check, and once you hit the send button, that image is going into our deposit-taking system as any other check would,” said Wayne Peacock, a USAA executive vice president.

Customers will not have to mail the check to the bank later; the deposit will be handled entirely electronically, and the bank suggests voiding the check and filing or discarding it. But to reduce the potential for fraud, only customers who are eligible for credit and have some type of insurance through USAA will be permitted to use the deposit feature. Mr. Peacock said that about 60 percent of the bank’s customers qualify.

USAA may seem like an unlikely innovator in mobile banking. It ranks in size just below the top 20 banks in the United States, and serves mostly military personnel, though many of its products are available to anyone.

But with just one branch, in San Antonio, and customers deployed all over the world, the company has been aggressively developing an anytime, anywhere banking strategy. Three years ago, it introduced the option of depositing a check from home using a scanner. That laid the groundwork for the phone deposit feature, which USAA plans to offer on other phones this year.

“Mobile is going to be a bigger part of how people do commerce and how they interact with their financial institutions,” Mr. Peacock said. “The great value that we see is the time savings.”

About a million of USAA’s 7.2 million customers use their cellphones to access their accounts — either via text message, a mobile browser or an iPhone application introduced in May. The deposit feature, which USAA previewed in an online video, puts the bank in the vanguard of the effort to turn cellphones into portable branches.

“USAA has been pretty progressive with this,” said Nick Holland, a senior analyst with Aite Group, a financial services research company.

The most popular banking tasks done on cellphones are reviewing account balances, transferring money, making payments and finding A.T.M.’s, analysts say. But in general, mobile banking has been slow to catch on. Mr. Holland said tighter budgets have forced banks to focus on using technology in ways that cut costs or generate revenue, rather than simply creating buzz.

“If banks can get people to stop calling call centers for mundane inquiries and instead send a text message,” he said, “that saves a bank about $14 for every one of those inquiries.”

Mr. Holland predicted that other banks would follow USAA and offer some type of mobile deposit capability, especially deposit options aimed at small-business customers who may be willing to pay for the convenience.

A study released recently by comScore, a digital audience measurement company, found that more than 15 million people in the United States used mobile banking each month, a number that is expected to grow as networks become faster and more people migrate to smartphones.

“It’s the iPhone that really propelled things to the forefront,” said Marc Trudeau, a senior director at comScore.

While comScore found that just 3 percent of mobile banking customers use Apple devices, Mr. Trudeau said the iPhone had paved the way for applications that let customers accomplish tasks more efficiently than with a phone’s Web browser.

For instance, Bank of America, which has an iPhone app, has more than three million mobile banking customers, and 43 percent of them bank with an iPhone or iPod touch, said Tara A. Burke, a company spokeswoman.

A cellphone is also always at hand, so it is potentially a more convenient than a computer. In fact, comScore found that people most often use mobile banking services at home.

“We’ve all seen the ads showing people banking from a beach in the Caribbean,” Mr. Trudeau said. “The reality is much more mundane than that.”

This post has been edited by daxbr: 2009-08-14 16:17:21

Email from USAA:

USAA CEO Announces Expanded Member Eligibility‏

(...)

hope you agree that all men and women who have honorably served in the U.S. Armed Forces deserve to do business with a financial services company that understands their unique needs, appreciates their service and does the right thing because it is the right thing to do.

Your USAA Board of Directors believes so, and I am very pleased to let you know that USAA membership is now open to anyone who has honorably served in the U.S. military.

(...)

USAA - perfect in all regards. I think they won the top customer service award last year and are always in the top five. Everything is easy, done by humans, and they are very expat friendly.

They are on a hair trigger for Asia, Africa and Russia. If I move from country to country too fast or change my spending habits quickly they will freeze my accounts immediately. A simple phone call during US business hours will resolve the situation but it can cause duress if you are not aware. While it can be frustrating, I always appreciate the protection it offers. I can usually bypass this inconvenience if I call them in advance with my travel plans when in that part of the world.

All in all, an excellent bank with reasonable rates and unequaled customer service.

On their website, you can click your credit and/or debit accounts, go to "manage travel notifications," and fill in your travel itinerary for the next 90 days.

Now, having to go to their website every 90 days to 'refresh' my Thailand 'visit' isn't convenient. However, they, without any quibble, opened a permanent file on my plastic to say, 'expect most activity in Thailand, some in the US.' Good stuff!

They have toll free numbers from Thailand.

Can USAA accounts be opened from LOS on the phone or internet and CC applied for and received?

Yes, after reading this thread I opened a checking account over the internet with no problems. I do keep a US mailing address which might have helped. I did put my physical address as being in Thailand.
TH

Their toll free number from Thailand is: 001-800-531-87220

Mon-Friday: 7:30 AM - 10:00 PM Central time
Sat: 8-6

So will they open accounts for people with NO military connections, or not?

Yes. I opened a savings & checking 2 months ago online. It was easy...took about 15 minutes.

Some of their services...insurance perhaps...is restricted to military connected but they seem pretty open in general

Great news! I think I will look into them as my most recent SWIFT transfer with Citibank USA was a total nightmare. I don't trust them at all, they have treated me more as a criminal suspect than a valued customer.

I thought I would give USAA a try. Here is the latest email from them;

Dear Mr *********

USAA is restricted from marketing and/or fulfilling new account requests for individuals residing in specific countries. Unfortunately, Thailand is one of these countries. For this reason, we are unable to proceed with your application request.

We regret any inconvenience.

Thank you,
Roxanne Alderete Ramirez
USAA

Apparently you have to lie about your address. I'm NOT going to do that.

This post has been edited by Gary A: 2009-11-12 07:24:51

I have no problem with that. I do the same for ALL of my US based accounts. There is a choice when OPENING a US based account?

This post has been edited by Jingthing: 2009-11-12 11:06:20

Another question occurred to me. If you opened the account using a US address and LATER changed it to a Thai address, do you think they would close the account. The poster above said they would not OPEN new accounts with Thailand addresses. That is a different thing than changing the address on an existing account.

Quite a few years ago when estatements weren't as popular, I changed address to Bangkok PO Box. Account stayed opened. Since then, I changed it back to US PO Box. Still no problems.

It won't hurt to ask them directly, their toll free number from Thailand is 001-800-531-87220. Hours of Operation: Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. CT
Saturday, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. CT

I just opened an USAA account last week, giving a US mailing address (a forwarder) and giving a Thailand physical address. No problem.

Will probably try my first SWIFT transfer in a few weeks. Will post how it goes.
TH

Bottom line, some kind of US address IS required.

Banks seem to vary with their policy. My wife sent her checking debit card to her sister in NongBuaLamphu about 8 years ago where her sister has taken money out of the ATM there every week since. Never had any questions asked and the card has been automatically renewed . We also sent her one of the new USAA debit cards where she has been using that since 3 months. No questions yet. It may be that they maintain the link to their formally "all military" policy by accepting only physical addresses in those countries where the US has bases....I just don't know.

It may be that, while USAA maybe isn't totally expat friendly, they might be the most workable choice of a group of less than desirable options. Probably be safe to just give them your virtual address and then select all statements, correspondence, etc to be online. What type of virtual residence have you been using. I have started looking at some like usa2me, earth mail,etc. although I am probably a year from moving.

The easiest way for a SWIFT with USAA is to set up a template for each account in Thailand where you regularly send money. These templates are given names, and when you call USAA to do a wire transfer, you just mention the template's name -- and the amount you want sent. They'll, of course, ask a few security questions, pre-established between you and them. You can do this by phone call during CT business hours, using the toll free Thai number. Or by fax. In the latter case, they'll normally call you back at the registered Thai phone number they have on file. Cost for an international SWIFT: $35.

If you have a Bangkok Bank account, it's a lot easier -- and cheaper -- to do an ACH transfer (saving you at least $25 over a SWIFT). You can set this up, without human intervention, on the USAA site. Then, it's strictly key strokes to send the money -- no phone or faxes involved. (Plenty of info on ACH with Bangkok Bank on this forum, so I won't elaborate.)

I've forgotten the default ceiling on ACH transfers. But, no matter -- I raised it up to my requirement with a simple phone call to USAA.

ACH transfers between USAA and Thailand take two business days, while SWIFT transfers normally take one business day. So if you're in a hurry, it'll cost you. But, a two-day ACH is usually just fine -- and a few days quicker than Bank of America, and several others, that use a middleman, CashEdge, who also adds additional cost to an ACH transfer.

A USAA ATM card costs about 1.5% off the interbank exchange rate (IER) per my rather lengthy spreadsheet, when I was going this route (even more when you include ATM fees on the Thai side). An ACH transfer costs less than half this, so that's what I've been doing of late. (USAA says they only charge the 1% foreign transaction fee, but the figures I accumulated say otherwise.)

The USAA MasterCard (debit and credit) also costs about 1.5% off the IER. But, there's a 1% rebate on all purchases using their credit card (.5% rebate for the debit card in signature mode), so using their MC credit card in Thailand costs about the same as an ACH transfer. Thus, using the USAA MC credit card for shopping in Thailand, and using the Bangkok Bank card in ATM mode only, for needed cash from ACH transfers, maximizes plastic security in Thailand -- and costs about .5%. Not the best you can do -- cost wise -- per recent and lengthy discussions on this forum. But a lot better than most.

USAA does offer a Visa credit card. But transactions with it don't, I believe, have the 1% rebate feature. And, their transactions ride the MC/Cirrus network, so there's no potential upside of using the Visa/Plus network.

And, as said by many, customer service is tops.

In the past I've had no problems using my USAA account to send money to my Bangkok Bank account (via ACH). I could do it simply, quickly, and online.

I'm now in a position where I want to send some of that back to my USAA account (moving back to US sooner than expected, and therefore have more than needed in my Thai account and less than I want in my US acct).

I went into my Bangkok Bank branch today and she said my options were SWIFT (400 baht) or Western Union (I didn't ask about this option, assuming it was over-priced and that the SWIFT code would work).

But USAA doesn't have a SWIFT code, according to their website. They give only their ACH # when instructing account holders on how to send funds to the USAA account.

How do all of you do this transaction in reverse?

I don't understand why the branch can't route it back thru BBK/NY as an ACH transfer....just reverse the original process

It's definitely not an option online (BKK Bank doesn't allow you to withdraw via ACH "pulls," only to deposit with "pushes" from other banks).

The bank employee didn't list "pushing" an ACH txn from BKK Bank to USAA as an option. Are you saying that the bank will do it -- and you know this for sure? Or are you merely opining that the bank "should" do it (because they "should" make online withdrawals an option too, but they don't).

From the BB website on ACH transfers:



Interestingly, when I set up ACH to BB with USAA, I answered the question about my account in Thailand as something like "I don't have authority over it." As such, the transfer particulars were set up as "push" only. No trial deposits required.

I got curious, so I set up another ACH to BB (to a second account), this time indicating I *did* have authority over it. Well, as advertised, USAA sent two trial deposits to my account in Thailand. But then, USAA notified me that the BB system had advised that no "pull" operations were allowed -- so it defaulted to a "push" only operation.

So, there's no way I can physically log onto USAA and attempt to "initiate" an ACH transaction from Thailand. That option just isn't available. Nor can I log onto the BB internet banking site to try this -- that option isn't there.

A few years ago, BB hadn't yet placed a block on ACH "pull" operations, so you then could physically initiate such an operation. And, unlike SWIFT transfers, where additional information related to security is required, ACH transfers originating outside the US were restricted. This is why, apparently, Bank of America suspended ACH operations to Thailand (they've now been reinstated).

And, as of Sept 2009, the Feds have tightened up even more with cross border ACH operations -- focusing particularly on money *entering* the US -- and the ACH sytem. New security software is now required, and fines for violations increased (since you still can physically do a "pull" into the ACH system -- unless, like BB, you implement a firewall).

Here's what I got when I recently went to the Virginia taxation (TAX) website. They, like many, are scrambling to avoid fines by having you 'certify' that your ACH payment transaction did NOT cross the border:



Anyway, too much information, I know. My concern is that "push" operations will, if they haven't already, come under similar scrutiny. And ACH to Thailand will be stopped, at least until the new procedures and software (expensive) can be put into place.

You can send a SWIFT to USAA. And, per the BB website, believe it's only 300 baht. A lot cheaper than the $35 USAA charges for going the othe way.

You use the Bank of New York Mellon, and their SWIFT code, as the intermediary.

See HERE and click on "Foreign Incoming Wire Transfers."