This section describes how to code bank data for international direct deposit (IDD)
of Title II benefits to a financial institution (FI) in Panama. We store IDD bank
data on the MBR in the same fields used for U.S. direct deposit.
Special coding identifies the bank data as a Panama direct deposit. This allows us
to route benefit payments through the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (FRBKC)
and the processor bank in Panama to the beneficiary's local FI.
IDD for Panama (along with Poland and Hungary) requires more digits than are available
in the SSA direct deposit (RTN and DAN) fields. Full information must be on ITS.gov so the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (FRBKC) can add the extra digits before
sending the payments to Panama’s banks. All bank accounts in Panama are U.S. dollar
accounts. The U.S. Embassy in Panama City reviews all completed forms for correct
data. The Federal Benefit Unit (FBU) in San Jose, Costa Rica, makes the inputs to
ITS.gov . Procedures vary according to the office that
receives the IDD request. Panamanian IDD enrollment forms are available at the end of this section.
If you receive an IDD request in a U.S. domestic (i.e, non-border) field office (FO),
forward all appropriate information to the Office of Earnings and International Operations,
(OEIO), Division of International Operations (DIO) to process.
For detailed instructions on IDD requests and forwarding information, see
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GN 02402.201 Background and Policy for Direct Deposit Outside the U.S.
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GN 01702.310C Routing of Claims for U.S. Benefits Involving Totalization