Adventures in Pension Land - The Final

You, the guy in Russia who—for God knows what reason—reads my blog will remember that I was denied a pension because—according to the Social Security System—I had not paid my Social Security for the proper amount of weeks to said system.

Never mind that I had worked since 1967 and I, or my employers, had paid religiously; never mind that I had paid voluntary Social Security for my mother for years; never mind that I could prove that I had worked for several employers for a total of at least 18 years, that if you do the math (18 x 52 = 936 weeks) you would come up with more than enough weeks to warrant a pension.

All of this had meant nothing to the Social Security System.

Trying to see if there was a solution (i. e. a logical and reasonable way of getting the Social Security to acknowledge my payments) I had gone to the Sub-delegation to inquire about a "recount" only to be told that I had been dropped from the System because I had not paid any Social Security since 1999.

OK, so granted that that was true. "You mean to say," I queried the fellow who was telling me that if I wanted a recount, I would have to go back to work for a year so I could be "reinstated" in the system, "you mean to say that from 1967 to 1999, which is a total of 32 years, and given that God or the Universe have not changed the amount of weeks in a year, that out of the 1664 weeks of that time period, I only paid Social Security for 402?"

"Yep," said the fellow and he bid me good day with a smile. I wondered if he, being an employee of the IMSS, would have as much trouble getting HIS pension.

So, given the boot in the rear end that I got from the IMSS, the only thing left to do was to get the money that I and my employers had saved for my retirement, i. e. the so-called AFORE.

In the taxi I took to the bank where I was going to claim my savings, I told the driver my story. He said,

"That's why I don't pay Social Security."

"You mean to say that you taxi drivers don't have Social Security?"

"Nope," he said. "What's the use? They are going to find a way to deny it anyway. And a lot of people say that they are going to go broke soon and they will stop paying pensions. Their hospitals are a mess so I go to a private doctor anyway."

This is recurrent comment regarding Social Security which I hear from a lot of people. It is not only a common worker like a taxi driver that repeats it; I have friends who have been in business for years, and who have been educated in the best universities—they too believe that the SS system will soon go bust.

HELOOOO, SOCIAL SECURITY! ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION? Most people in Mexico believe you will either cheat them out of their pensions or that you will stop paying the few pensions that you ARE paying because you will go broke! YOU HAVE DONE A LOUSY JOB NOT ONLY PAYING PENSIONS BUT IN INFORMING PEOPLE WHAT IS GOING ON!

The taxi dropped me off at the BANAMEX module that handles the AFORE accounts. I took a number (Oh, God, how many numbers must one take in the world before we can find peace?) and waited...and waited...and waited.

Fortunately, the girl executive who called me into her office was very efficient. She took my "denial of pension", processed it, and within fifteen minutes she had the proper papers for me to sign. I did and she said,

"Now you will have to come back in two weeks to claim your money."

"What? Why?"

"Well, it is not up to us," she said. "The request has to go through several government offices and it takes them two weeks or so to process it."

It seems the government is not aware that we are in the computer age.

She wrote the date I should come back on my paperwork and also gave me her email so I could check back with her to see if the money had been freed.

Sigh! Off I went: back to Dolores Hidalgo on the night bus. (There are no direct flights to Dolores. Why? There is no airport in Dolores or even close by). Six hours later, at 4:30 in the morning, I was trudging along the quiet street of Dolores.

Fast forward two weeks. I email the girl in BANAMEX and she replies promptly that my money is ready to be collected. Off I go on a bus. Six and a half hours later I am taking a taxi from the Central Bus Station in Monterrey and I am headed for the BANAMEX module to collect my "pognon", as "Les Tontons Flingueurs" put it.

At the BANAMEX module I was told I could go directly to the "Client Services" window. I could claim my money there—but I had to (sigh) take a number. I did. It was 32 and the number on the counter was 29. Well, that's not too bad, I though. Wrong!

OK, so now I am sitting before the "Client Services" window along with the other two people who had numbers before mine. I look at the corresponding window and notice that there is NO ONE there! Well, me thinks, the girl must be in the "powder room" or somewhere like that. She will be back soon. Wrong!

An hour later, no girl. Empty window. Next to the "Cient Services" window is another window that is happily doing "services" for other customers. When that girl was free I saunter up and ask,

"Excuse me, where is the person that is supposed to be in the "Client Services" window?"

"Oh, she will be back soon. You see, she has two jobs, so she is at the other job now."

"And, pray tell, when will she be free from her "other" job and come to do this one?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said smiling beatifically as she flapped her false eyelashes.

Oh, that did it! Boy was my dander up!

I spied a guy with a suit and a tie. That must be the manager, I thought. I got to him just before he punched the code to go through a secure door and into the back office.

"Are you the manager," I asked.

"Why, yes," he said.

"Would you step this way, please? Can you read what it says in the far window?"

"Yes," he said a bit puzzled.

"Do you agree with me that it says, 'Client Services'?"

"Yes, yes, what is..."

"Then why the Hell is there no person there to give us clients the services we require!?"

He was, uh—how shall I put it—taken aback.

"Uh, I am sorry," he stammered, "how can I help you?"

"First of all, get someone to give the people who have been waiting for an hour the services they require. Now as for me, I have come on a damned bus 500 kilometers to collect the money from my AFORE. So, how about it? Give it to me."

"Please come this way," he said and he took me to his desk.

Before he looked up my file, he called someone over and asked them to tell the girl in "Client Services" that there were people waiting for her.

The man told me that it was his last day on the job. He was being promoted to a bigger branch office. (Must be for the fine services he offered on this one, I thought.) He quickly got to the bottom of things and soon my money was in an investment account with a bit left over so I could (finally) buy my desired MacBook Air!

I called my son and he took me to the nearest Apple distributor. I got my beautiful MacBook Air and a Magic mouse! Ah, the wonders a Apple technology. I love both things, but that is another story.

So, brrrrrummm, back I went to Dolores on the night bus.

Well, that's the end of it, I thought. WRONG!

About a week after I had "finished" with the Adventures in Pension Land, I got an email from the girl in the BANAMEX module. She told me that the SAR, (Sistema del Ahorro para el Retiro, the System for Saving for Retirement) had kept 10% of my money, and that if I didn't claim it within 20 days, they would consider it a "voluntary donation" to the government's SAR.

Now, think about this: why, if there is an AFORE (which is saving the money they take from your paycheck and from your employer so that you can "supplement" the pension the government is going to give you); and there is the IMSS (the Social Security System), the INFONAVIT (which is supposed to help you save for a house); and I don't know how many agencies that are supposed to give you money back (which they have taken from you throughout your working life) when you retire, why is there yet ANOTHER system, the SAR?

Who the hell created such a mess of agencies and systems and what not, that are not only costly to run but are so inefficient that they make a mess of things, in fact, make it impossible to get a pension unless you hire someone to wade through the mess? And even then, who knows if you get the damned pension or if the IMSS won't go broke in a couple of years and you will get nothing?

Well, tired of busses, I decided to take a flight from Mexico City to Monterrey to claim that last portion of money. Even if I broke even with the cost of the flight, I would not let the government have a single penny of my money.

I had been invited to a friend's birthday in Puebla, so it would be an opportunity to take a bus to Mexico City, go to Monterrey on an Interjet flight, and come back to Mexico City to go on to Puebla for my friend's birthday.

This time things went smoothly (almost). I got to BANAMEX, got (sigh) my number and waited for the "Client Services" girl to call me up. (This time there WAS a girl at the window!). When my turn came up, I said,

"I have come to claim the portion of the money the SAR kept. I have recently retrieved my AFORE but the SAR portion was not included."

She looked at me as if I was speaking Upper Babylonian or Ancient Greek or a combination of both.  She hit the panic button (literally). The manager came running. (The new manager was a woman. I don't know why women complain about equal job placement: they seem to be running everything nowadays, but that's another story.)

"What is the problem?" asked the Manageress.

"This man says that we have to pay him...what was it, sir?"

I explained to the Manageress what I wanted and told her to consult the girl who had warned me about the money the SAR had kept. The Manageress when off to consult with the girl executive and back she came.

"I will have to see if you are on the list," she said.

That sounded ominous so I asked, "What list?"

"The list the SAR puts out what authorizes us to give back the money."

"What!? It is my money. Who the hell are they to say if I can or can't retrieve it?"

"That's the way it is," she shrugged.

Off she went. I sat down and waited...and waited...and waited. An hour later, she came back with a printed list.

"It seems you are on the list. We will pay you the money."

She gave the "Client Services" girl a printed sheet that authorized the payment.

Well, NOW it will finally be over, I thought. WRONG!

The Client Services girl clicked and clacked on her keyboard and then said, "OK, the request has been put through. It will take an hour for the SAR to approve it and we will give you the money then."

I was dumbfounded. They just refused to make things easy for me! I just sat down and stared at the wall for an hour. After that, she called me, gave me the money and I left without saying another word.

Tomorrow I will write an EPILOG. I have emailed a couple of the Directors of the IMSS, and their reply and my reply to their replies, are worth a mention.