For those living overseas on monthly pension payment

[Denis-NFA]

Scheduled payment for November was supposed to be made by Thursday, November 3rd but so far nothing.

Rang C/L International yesterday afternoon and was told that many others had also not received their pension and they figure it may have been because of public holidays and if it wasn't there on Monday, November 7th then ring us again.

Have rung my bank here in Philippines both yesterday and today but 'nada'. Plus I have online access to my account.

Philippines had public holiday's on Monday and Tuesday this week and maybe the Reserve Bank had Melbourne cup day off on Tuesday.

Just wondering if anyone else has not received their monthly payment and if so what country are you in?

Thanks.

[Banjo]

I have a couple of PMs from a concerned member living in the Philippines as well.
I received mine earlier in the week without problem, no public holiday in Thailand apparently.

[Denis-NFA]

Nov 5, 2016 10:48:12 GMT 7 Banjo said:

I have a couple of PMs from a concerned member living in the Philippines as well.
I received mine earlier in the week without problem, no public holiday in Thailand apparently.

Thanks Banjo,

For me to ring C/L International is a full charge overseas call. No '1800' number access at all because that only works if you have PLDT as opposed to Globe Telecom which is what I have.

If it is not there Monday 9am Philippine Time (same as West Australian time), 12pm AEST, I will have to ring back to C/L International. After checking with my Philippine Bank of course.

Being paranoid I have to say that if it is not there then someone is covering their losing bets on the Melbourne Cup and/or I will rip it up them.

I'm actually teed off with the way that the Reserve Bank of Australia sends through payments without any advice whatsoever. Reminds me of how the Victorian government used to treat the sawmill I used to work for. And they would hold up payments whenever it suited them.

The AUD$/PhP has probably gone against them.

I wish I could change back to fortnightly payment payed into my Australian bank account and do the transfer myself!

[Banjo]

I dare say it's a relatively simple process.
Try doing it online, there's a "change bank" section there last time I looked, it just could not be used with... as in to... an international bank.
Can't think why it wouldn't work to go back to an Australian bank.

[nomadic]

Banjo are you around next week? I hope to be in the Rai for lunch on the 14th. I hope to get to Mae Sai on the 13th and first bus to Rai next day unless border is closed before i arrive on 13th. But i made it last time. Either way I should be in Rai on 14th even if later in the day. Coffee on me as I had a win on the horses. Not the cup but another race. Cheers.

[ghostbuster]

Hey Denis i had same prob. but my money is now in bank, yours will be there soon.

[Banjo]

Nov 5, 2016 18:15:19 GMT 7 nomadic said:

Banjo are you around next week? I hope to be in the Rai for lunch on the 14th. I hope to get to Mae Sai on the 13th and first bus to Rai next day unless border is closed before i arrive on 13th. But i made it last time. Either way I should be in Rai on 14th even if later in the day. Coffee on me as I had a win on the horses. Not the cup but another race. Cheers.

No worries, give me a time when you're organised.

[downunder]

Question on living overseas:

Nearly finished my 2 year residency period for OAP portability so my question is.

Once I have portability can I still have payments paid into my Australian Bank account or does it have to go into my Thai Bank Account?

How does the exchange rate work out if paid directly into overseas Bank account is it in our favour or less than would be expected if one does own remittances.

[Banjo]

You can use any account you want, if you already have a Thai account I suggest you give Centrelink the details while you are in Australia otherwise you have to send them by snail mail, or I did anyway.

The main difference I found is that your payments become 4 weekly instead of 2.

I found a considerable saving in fees because I was using an ATM for withdrawals, others use money transfer companies and claim it's much cheaper than an ATM.
The exchange rate is at the Thai end, the bank receives the dollars from Centrelink and pays the rate they have on the wall, so as to speak.

[downunder]

Thanks Banjo

I was wondering how Centrelink sent money whether they sent as AUD or whether they converted to Baht in Australia before sending.

Thought I read somewhere that it was sent as a Foreign currency and that if the recipient judged that there was more than ??% difference that you could challenge Centrelinks conversion rate.

Just need to decide whether to receive in Aust or Thailand 4 weekly.

Guess if I take the Thai option that cannot say that I did not have portability.

When they grant Portability do they send a letter setting out conditions? Dont think I would trust them with anything verbal.

Thanks for your assistance

[nomadic]

When i got DSP portability after winning an appeal i received nil from them in any way shape or form. i still get mine paid into my Australian account and when i go back yearly i transfer enough to my Thai account to last a year and/or bring enough cash back and still have the ATM card as a last resort. But fees and charges are horrid so I never use it if i can help. Early on when i did use the ATM i was losing $500.00 a year which was a full two weeks pension at the time. So it equated to the bank keeping all my pension one fortnight. I swore never again will I allow them a cent that I don't have to. I can live on about 5K for a year so happy to carry it back as over the years i have also built up my Thai account and when exchange rate is bad I use that.

[Banjo]

I checked MyGov for my last payment a few days ago and worked out the rate from what I got in the bank here and it came to 26.37 Thai baht to the dollar.

[Denis-NFA]

Nov 6, 2016 4:02:51 GMT 7 ghostbuster said:

Hey Denis i had same prob. but my money is now in bank, yours will be there soon.

Sent the following to Senator Siewert,

Dear Senator Siewert

I would appreciate if one of your staff could possibly investigate the non-payment of my pension as it is now 5 days past due.

As I am on a 4 weekly payments it was meant to be paid into my Philippine bank account on or by November 3 but to date nothing has been paid.

I have rung my bank here in the Philippines on 3 occasions, Friday 4/11/2016, Saturday 5/11/2016 and today Monday 7/11/2016. They have no record of anything being received.

I also contacted Centrelink International on Friday 4/11/2016 and was told,
- I am not the only one who didn't get paid;
- Centrelink considers they have done their part;
- Told to ring back Monday, today, 7/11/2016.

I tried to call Centrelink International today but after an hour being on hold I hung up because what Centrelink will not acknowledge is that 1800 freecall from the Philippines only works if you have PLDT and not Globe Telecom, which is what I have.

My Centrelink CRN is xxxxxxxxxV.

Either Centrelink has stuffed up or the Reserve Bank has stuffed up!

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Kind Regards
Denis

PS I am a forum member of DSPoverseas.proboards.com and other members were also affected by I understand some may have already had their late payment.

Stuffed up that last sentence at PS.

[Denis-NFA]

Maybe it's good things that happen.

Finally got the money.

[Denis-NFA]

Thanks folk.

But I am going to find out exactly how overseas payments are made.