A Bank Account Abroad?

The Sunday Edition

Sunday, February 22, 2004
A reader wrote earlier in the week:

"I have a retirement home in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I believe I have to maintain a U.S. address to receive my Social Security and would like to know how this can be done. I would like to keep my bank accounts where they are presently. Is this possible?"

To clarify (as many are confused on this point), no, an American does not need to maintain a U.S. address to receive his Social Security. You can arrange to have your Social Security check delivered to you almost anywhere, even direct-deposited on your behalf into many banks around the world.

Still, you may want to maintain a U.S. address, for credit cards and as a place to collect mail. We (and many I know) use Mail Boxes Etc. This gives us not a P.O. box (which can cause complications), but a street address. We have our mail forwarded to us here in Ireland monthly. The cost is about $30 a month.

We do all our banking online and pay our credit card bills that way, too. (The only downside is that my husband can know instantly if I've been on a shopping spree with the credit cards…)

We (and, again, most expats I know) have retained our U.S. bank accounts and also have opened local Irish accounts. This gives us flexibility, diversification, and maybe some added sense of security.

You need residency status (or at least a physical address, proven, typically, by producing two recent utility bills) to open a bank account in some countries, though in most it's possible (if not easy) to open a non-resident account. In Nicaragua, for example, you don't need to prove an address if you can produce an escritura showing that you own property in the country. And in France (and elsewhere), a non-resident can open an account on the personal introduction and recommendation of another account-holder with the bank.

Kathleen Peddicord
Publisher, International Living

P.S. Our postcard earlier this week about unofficial expat clubs in some of our favorite destinations sparked this reader response:

"I have been living in the north of Belize for the better part of a year. I found out about the expat 'pot-luck' the second Monday of each month and the gringo breakfast every Sunday morning only after I'd been here more than four months. If other readers are interested, both take place at TJ's Hotel & Restaurant in Corozal Town. While we do have street names here, they are rarely used, but anyone in town can give you directions. If you'd like more information, contact me (Mike Shuler) by e-mail: grinch42@mindspring.com."

P.P.S. We've spent the week detailing practical issues of importance to the expat and anyone thinking about a move abroad. We'll do a lot more of this at our next Live Overseas Conference, planned for March 14-17 in Delray Beach, Florida. Eighteen speakers (most of them expats themselves) will address the group on every aspect of how to organize a new life overseas--taxes, health insurance, residency, banking…plus, of course, firsthand accounts of what expat life is really like in our favorite foreign havens, including Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Honduras, Argentina, Italy, Spain, France, and Ireland. This program will be our best yet. One week remains to reserve a place taking advantage of the Early-bird Registration Discount. For full details: http://www.ildiscoverytours.com/conf/los0304/

Editors' Choice: International Banking

Sovereign Society Membership

Setting up an offshore bank account is a first, but very important, step in a sound asset protection plan. Right now, a secure, private bank account is reserved for your personal use in countries with some of the strongest bank privacy laws on earth.

Panama: The Owner's Manual

Panama doesn't just have some of the cheapest beachfront in the Caribbean
and the best retiree benefits in the world, but is also the most
sophisticated offshore haven in the Americas. Here, your bank account
secrecy is protected by law.