Effective Dates: 10/14/2022 - Present Previous | Next

TN 224 (10-22)

GN 02402.380 Coding Costa Rica Bank Data on the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR)

This section describes how to code bank data for international direct deposit (IDD) of Title II benefits to a financial institution (FI) in Costa Rica. We store IDD bank data on the MBR in the same fields used for United States (U.S.) direct deposit. Special coding identifies the data as a Costa Rica direct deposit and allows us to route benefit payments through the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (FRBKC) and the processor bank in Costa Rica to the beneficiary's local FI. 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 more detail 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 02402.205 Direct Deposit Enrollment Outside the U.S.

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    GN 01010.255 Adjudication of Foreign Claims

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    GN 01702.310C Routing of Claims for U.S. Benefits Involving Totalization

A. How we receive IDD bank data

We receive requests to input bank data by mail, phone, or fax in the form of:

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    blank check;

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    Form SSA-1199-OP51 (Direct Deposit Sign-up Form (Costa Rica); or

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    any document containing required banking information.

NOTE: If upon receipt of the information there are any discrepancies, follow instructions in sections GN 00203.020 and GN 02402.025.

B. Multi-country contract

The processing FI for Costa Rica has a prefix of “68” at the beginning of the Routing Transit Number (RTN).

C. Overview of IDD for Costa Rica

The beneficiary must provide complete information to DIO or the Federal Benefits Unit (FBU) for input. DIO will fax incomplete forms to the FBU that serves Costa Rica. The FBU contacts the beneficiary or FI for additional information.

D. Description of Costa Rica IDD bank data

The data to code IDD for Costa Rica comes from the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) provided to the beneficiary by his or her FI. The IBAN for Costa Rica consists of 22 characters. However, the bank data reflected on the MBR consists of 25 characters including Costa Rica’s country code of “E.”

E. Procedure to code Costa Rica bank data

The FRBKC relies on SSA to provide the complete bank data to ensure correct posting of payments to a customer’s account. If the information is incomplete, the FRBKC rejects the payment and returns the funds to our agency. When you establish or change IDD bank data for Costa Rica through an SSA system (i.e., Modernized Claims System (MCS), Manual Adjustment Credit and Award Data Entry (MACADE), etc.), you must go to ITS.gov to enter:

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    account ownership;

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    account type;

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    country;

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    enrollment status;

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    first and last name of beneficiary;

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    beneficiary address; (no P.O. box address allowed)

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    beneficiary ID (beneficiary tax ID)

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    IBAN;

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    payee indicator; and

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    Society for Worldwide Internet Financial Telecommunication-Business Identifier Code (SWIFT-BIC).

1. Swift-BIC code obtained from the FI

The SWIFT code contains a minimum of 8 characters, and a maximum of 11 characters:

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    first four characters - bank code (only letters);

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    next two characters - ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 country code (only letters);

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    next two characters - location code (letters and digits) (passive participant have "1" in the second character); and

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    last three characters - branch code, optional ('XXX' for primary office) (letters and digits).

2. Initial award processing

If you are working on an initial award, you must update ITS.gov using the bank account information prior to processing the award to ensure that the beneficiary receives his or her payment. If the complete bank account information is not in ITS.gov when the payment processes, the payment rejects and returns to our agency.

3. Add or update bank data using SSA systems

You must update ITS.gov on the same day if you use an SSA system to add or update bank data on the MBR (i.e. Post Entitlement Online System (POS), MACADE, etc.). Enter all POS direct deposit changes according to normal procedures. When coding IDD bank data in an SSA system for Costa Rica within four business days of the current operational month (COM) cutoff date, use the procedure outlined in the chart in this section.

Step

Action

1

Are you coding an initial claim?

If yes, go to step 3.

If no, go to step 2.

2

Is the beneficiary's address on the MBR in a foreign country (PCOC = 8)?

If no, STOP.

REASON: The MBR does not accept the IDD information unless the address is in a foreign country.

If yes, go to step 3.

3

Is the beneficiary's account a CRC account in Costa Rica?

If no, STOP.

REASON: Beneficiaries in Costa Rica can only receive IDD payments in CRC accounts.

If yes, go to step 4.

4

To derive the nine-digit RTN for Costa Rica, code as follows:

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    prefix of “68,” (the multi-country prefix SSA and FRBKC designated to use for IDD to Costa Rica);

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    two filler zeros “00”;

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    four-digit Bank Code; and

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    one-digit check code (obtain through Title II Interactive Comps).

5

Code the Type of Account as an “S” for savings, or a “C” for checking. If there is no indicated account type, use a “C” for checking account.

6

Code the Depositor Account Number (DAN) for Costa Rica as follows:

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    start with a country code of “E” designated for Costa Rica; and

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    code the 14-digit Customer Account Number.

7

You must take action on the same business day to update ITS.gov with full IBAN, SWIFT-BIC, along with the information listed in the introduction of GN 02402.380E, in this section.

If you do not have access to ITS.gov, ask a co-worker who has access to update the required information into ITS.gov. FRBKC needs all of this information to process the IDD payment. When this information is not available, FRBKC rejects the payment and returns it to SSA.

F. Example of coding Costa Rica direct deposit

The customer provides us with the IBAN CR05015202001026284066.

NOTE: The first two characters of a Costa Rica IBAN are “CR,” which represents the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) country code. The third and fourth characters of the IBAN are the IBAN check digits. The technicians should never code the IBAN ISO country code or the check digit to the MBR. The fifth through eighth characters of the IBAN represent the four-digit bank code. The last 14 digits of the IBAN represent the 14-digit account number.

The technician should take the actions in this section.

1. Derive the RTN

The technician codes the RTN with:

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    the prefix of “68”;

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    three filler zeros “00”

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    three-digit bank code, “0152”

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    one-digit check code (i.e., 7) (obtained from the Title II interactive Comps from the Main Menus 07/Sub Menu 16); and

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    the type of account as a “C” for Checking, or an “S” for Savings. If there is no account type indicated, use a “C” for Checking.

2. Derive the DAN

The technician codes the DAN:

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    start with a country code of “E” designated for Costa Rica; and

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    code the 14 digit Account Number “02001026284066.”

a. The technician obtains the bank data

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    IBAN: CR05015202001026284066

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    RTN: 680001527

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    Checking

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    DAN: E02001026284066

b. The coding in an SSA System reflects the bank data

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    DIRECT DEPOSIT ROUTING TRANSIT NUMBER: 680001527

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    ACCOUNT TYPE (C/S): C

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    DEPOSITOR ACCOUNT NUMBER: E02001026284066

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    CANCEL DIRECT DEPOSIT (Y):

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    DIRECT EXPRESS (Y):

c. The MBR reflects the bank data

RTN- 680001527 DAN-CE02001026284066

To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0202402380
GN 02402.380 - Coding Costa Rica Bank Data on the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) - 10/14/2022
Batch run: 10/14/2022
Rev:10/14/2022