Anyone with US investments having annoying regulatory issues

[origami]

I got a call this week that my current financial advisor is not allowed to advise me anymore, until I move out of Korea. I have to get moved to someone else in the company who has a license to deal with Korea because it has been deemed a "sensitive nation" by the US govt. Because terrorists or some bullshit. And then today I got forms sent to me that I'm supposed to have DH's employer's HR dept fill out regarding our tax compliance. Ummm have fun with that since they don't speak English and even I have no idea what these forms are on about. I'm so annoyed.

[dorothyinAus]

Earlier this year Merrill Lynch dropped handling my IRA (a 401K rollover) because they said that I 'no longer reside in the US and they could not maintain the account." It was hell to get it quickly rolled over to something else. Actually, they cut a check to me, withholding taxes, even though they had the instructions to roll it over to another company who assures me there is no problem with my account. When I confronted them with the evidence that they were in the wrong, their answer was that I could get the taxes back from the IRS by filling out some form. Ohh, HELL TO THE NO! It took 3 months but finally I got the taxes back and the entire amount, plus interest, rolled over to a new account.

Merrill Lynch told me they were not informed that I was living outside the US when I set up the account, but that was one of the first things I discussed with my agent, and we had several other conversations about naming DH as the beneficiary as he is not a US citizen and has no plans to become one. I was open and up front when I rolled over my 401K into the IRA account but Merrill Lynch just decided they could not longer handle my account. It was all within the terms and agreements, even though NONE of my paperwork indicated there was any need for my to actually reside in the US, I know, I read every. damn. word. of that agreement.

I understand the frustration.

[origami]

Wow you guys actually made me feel better that at least I still have an advisor!! WTF is up with the US govt. it's like they want to punish every citizen who moves away.

[potatopie]

Oct 1, 2014 20:38:42 GMT -5 neeps said:

USPS mail forward to my parents house, online statements, and a US Skype number. NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW.

This exactly.

[origami]

Oct 2, 2014 4:13:19 GMT -5 potatopie said:

Oct 1, 2014 20:38:42 GMT -5 neeps said:

USPS mail forward to my parents house, online statements, and a US Skype number. NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW.

This exactly.

I had to wire transfer money to my Korean account to buy a car.

[potatopie]

origami, yeah we did that too when we first moved. But not for the whole car. We gave dollars to a friend who had a US bank account and he gave us South Africa Rands.

[dorothyinAus]

Oct 2, 2014 4:06:19 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

I really hope this doesn't ever become an issue for us. At least I live in an ally country?

I live in an ally country as well.  And I have everything sent to my property in the US, which I still own (and pay taxes on!), and have not only a US Skype number but I still maintain my US cell number.

[origami]

Oct 2, 2014 4:06:19 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

I really hope this doesn't ever become an issue for us. At least I live in an ally country?

I did get the impression from my guy that it was a "sensitive nation" problem, not an "overseas" problem in general. But I guess each company has their own policy. That completely sucks that they would dump someone while they're overseas. Ugh. I will tell everyone to keep their move on the DL from now on.

[origami]

Oct 2, 2014 5:25:49 GMT -5 neeps said:

Oct 2, 2014 5:03:41 GMT -5 origami said:

I did get the impression from my guy that it was a "sensitive nation" problem, not an "overseas" problem in general. But I guess each company has their own policy. That completely sucks that they would dump someone while they're overseas. Ugh. I will tell everyone to keep their move on the DL from now on.

Nope. Our first move abroad was to the UK and that's where I learned to keep it hush hush for the subsequent moves. 

origami Do you have an XE account? That's how we bought our car. 

I just mean for the firm we are at- I got the impression they only cared because it's korea (and other trouble spots like Iraq. Because Korea is totally like Iraq. Grrr). No I don't have an XE account. I'm not even sure what that is.

[origami]

Oct 2, 2014 5:39:58 GMT -5 neeps said:

Oct 2, 2014 5:30:53 GMT -5 origami said:

I just mean for the firm we are at- I got the impression they only cared because it's korea (and other trouble spots like Iraq. Because Korea is totally like Iraq. Grrr). No I don't have an XE account. I'm not even sure what that is.

Money transfer/conversion website. No fees and better rates than most banks/investment houses. It's a pain to set up, but then moving money is really easy. And you go from your US account - XE - foreign account.

www.xe.com/xetrade/

Thanks! I'll check out the rates. I don't pay wire transfer fees but I'd be all over a good exchange rate

[UnderProtest]

Oct 2, 2014 5:55:20 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Oct 2, 2014 5:03:41 GMT -5 origami said:

I did get the impression from my guy that it was a "sensitive nation" problem, not an "overseas" problem in general. But I guess each company has their own policy. That completely sucks that they would dump someone while they're overseas. Ugh. I will tell everyone to keep their move on the DL from now on.

Yes, sucks to add to the list of things to deal with as part of an overseas move.  I've already told our advisor about our move and hopefully this will be one of those times where being with a small shop pays off.  They didn't seem to have any issue with it (though, of course, DH is still in the U.S.).

We have Morgan Stanley and haven't had an issue yet.  I hope it doesn't become one since we are already restricted by my husband's employer as to who we can use.  I will say we have not transferred money so I'm not sure if that triggers issues.

[Cicero]

This is why we don't have a broker. We couldn't find a US investment firm that wanted to deal with us when we were living in Switzerland and at the same time the Swiss didn't want to deal with us because of the US government.

We are now of the it's none of the bank's business school of thought and don't tell them we're not residing in the country. When we have had to say something it's been of the, "temporary short term assignment" variety.

[GilliC]

I told our broker when we divided our investments after the divorce, since we suddenly had different addresses. Thankfully they just said they'd pretend they didn't hear that and did we each have a US address we could use.

I did just get the letter from my Norwegian bank saying, "We think you have ties to the US, so we have to inform you that we're required to share your banking information with the US government. Please let us know if you're not actually a US person." Sigh. At least Norway is pretty ga-ga for the US, so they're willing to comply rather than dropping us as customers. I hate the foreign account reporting requirements. Such a PITA.

[audette]

We have bigger issues with trying to report foreign investments on our US taxes. Pain in the ass!

But, we're military folks overseas on orders. Our bank (and most of our investments) are at a bank that mostly handles military accounts, so they're familiar with things. They did indicate to us we would have difficulty getting a _new_ investment or insurance while over here, but that we wouldn't have a problem with our already existing investments, accounts, as well as no issues with putting money into those investments.