Opening Bangkok Bank new account

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sgt
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Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by sgt » January 12, 2019, 5:21 pm

I've had an account for years with Kasikorn, opened when I bought house here. But, with the new hoops to jump through for extension of stay at immigration I decided to open an account at Bangkok Bank main branch as years ago they had an English speaker, I can't speak Thai-only about 50% of my hearing is left, and they seem to have a lot of farang accounts. It shouldn't be that hard, WRONG! I went to the main branch yesterday with passport, signed blue book copy by wife and signed ID card copy by wife. I'm not applying for a joint account, only a fool bigger than me would do that and besides it won't work for immigration. After the obligatory wait I went to the new accounts etc. desk with my paper work and the lady did understand I needed to open an account. Where your wife? Call your wife, I did and she was told she had to be there in person with blue book, her ID and marriage certificate and I was told to go sit. I slowly counted to 1,000. Nobody speaks English there, yes I know this is Thailand thanks for the comments that are coming on that, and I never expected to have to jump through all the hoops, especially with wife. I am on retirement extension of stay, not marraige. it was worse than immigration ever has been. When the wife got there we were sent to another person, maybe a good idea. About 2 hours total I have an account, I think, maybe, I believe, I hope.

One hell of a week with banking, my credit union no longer will send wire transfers overseas, I had to open new account at Naval Federal Credit Union, no I was NOT Navy-USMC, and I refuse to use the big banksters. Then today after 2 missing debit cards in the Thai mail for my main account the card finally got through. Alright, quick activation and now I don't have to keep transferring money to another account, WRONG! Instead of the old automated activation now I get some women in I guess India, I couldn't understand her, she spoke like a M-60 going into a hot LZ and no matter how many times I told her to slow down I couldn't understand her she just keep rattling on. The straw that broke this camels back was when she wanted the last 3 digits of my phone # on file which is a stateside # and refused to send her digit code to my Thai # after telling her numerous times I was not now in the states but in Thailand. If that call was ''recorded for quality" they got some "SE Texass quality" alright after that, and then a hang up in the middle of her machine gun rattling on. Now back to the credit union to get them to straighten out. I believe I've had enough of "banking" for the time being, aaaarrrrgggghhhh.



SJP17
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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by SJP17 » January 12, 2019, 6:10 pm

Have you tried Transferwise.com ?

Where you can send money 8x cheaper than banks and also have the option to open a borderless account.

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747man
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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by 747man » January 12, 2019, 6:32 pm

I Just Wonder How EASILY I Opened my account in Bangkok Bank Nong Khai, ( And NO I Don't have BIG Bucks in it Only my U.K State Pension which believe me is PEANUTS !! But I am on a Non-Imm " O " Multi entry visa based on MARRIAGE....I Guess it's not Who you know,But What You know.....BTW, From what I recall took me ALL Of 30 Minutes to Open it..... :D :D
Last edited by 747man on January 12, 2019, 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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sgt
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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by sgt » January 12, 2019, 6:32 pm

The main reason I opened a Bangkok Bank account. I don't want to have to change my direct deposits from the State of New Mexico, State of Texas, the VA and SS. My credit union has been great helping through the bumps over the years of living here. My understanding is that as of now is that Bangkok Bank is the only one that TransferWise shows as a foreign transfer.

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sgt
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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by sgt » January 12, 2019, 6:35 pm

Differences in banks I guess. My extension of stay is Non-OA based on retirement. I'd never do marriage.

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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by SJP17 » January 12, 2019, 6:40 pm

sgt wrote:
January 12, 2019, 6:32 pm
The main reason I opened a Bangkok Bank account. I don't want to have to change my direct deposits from the State of New Mexico, State of Texas, the VA and SS. My credit union has been great helping through the bumps over the years of living here. My understanding is that as of now is that Bangkok Bank is the only one that TransferWise shows as a foreign transfer.
So its showing the foreign transfer for immigration purposes that you need ?

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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by sometimewoodworker » January 12, 2019, 6:51 pm

sgt wrote:
January 12, 2019, 6:32 pm
My understanding is that as of now is that Bangkok Bank is the only one that TransferWise shows as a foreign transfer.
It usually does according to reports.

However TransferWise state very clearly they transfer money domestically, so while you may get transfers showing as international at any time they may not.

Thus if you want an extension of stay based on transfers from overseas you will have to check each one and be ready to make a SWIFT payment any time you get an indication of a domestic rather than international monthly transfer.
Jerome and Nui's new househttp://bit.ly/NJnewHouse

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sgt
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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by sgt » January 12, 2019, 6:54 pm

That is my understanding. Many on ThaiVisa have said so, but I'm banned for life, too left wing and I wasn't not nice to the moderators in private, so I can't ask questions. I'm waiting to make sure the Bangkok Bank account is settled in and to get my debit card straightened out before I give it a try. That means next week sometime when my contact at my credit union comes back to work. There was an explanation in a recent ThaiVisa of what it shows on your bankbook. It does seem you will need to update your bankbook each month to show the transfer just to be sure.

Taking a break for a couple of days Mon. to go fishing with a friend up in Nong Khai that has just built a new fishing lake, I need the break...lol.

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sgt
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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by sgt » January 12, 2019, 6:56 pm

It would only take one and that would be the end of my use of TransferWise. Back to plan B then ASAP.

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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by LoneTraveler » January 13, 2019, 9:42 am

sgt wrote:
January 12, 2019, 6:35 pm
Differences in banks I guess. My extension of stay is Non-OA based on retirement. I'd never do marriage.
Why would you not do marriage? I am on a O-A retirement Visa and am considering marriage Visa because I am not comfortable keeping 800K in Thai Bank.

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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by LoneTraveler » January 13, 2019, 9:51 am

sgt

When you said you opened an account at the main branch of Bangkok Bank are you talking about the main branch in Udon. Yes, there is a lady who speaks English, last time I was there in Udon. I am planning to open a new account next month in Bangkok Bank in Udon. I have 2 Bangkok Bank accounts now but both are in Pattaya. I want to have a local account to avoid commission charges and it is close to the Immigration Office in case I need to correct verification letter or other such needs for Immigration. I hope I do not have to jump hoops like you did

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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by LoneTraveler » January 13, 2019, 9:56 am

sometimewoodworker wrote:
January 12, 2019, 6:51 pm
sgt wrote:
January 12, 2019, 6:32 pm
My understanding is that as of now is that Bangkok Bank is the only one that TransferWise shows as a foreign transfer.
It usually does according to reports.

However TransferWise state very clearly they transfer money domestically, so while you may get transfers showing as international at any time they may not.

Thus if you want an extension of stay based on transfers from overseas you will have to check each one and be ready to make a SWIFT payment any time you get an indication of a domestic rather than international monthly transfer.
Has anyone used the Remittance form of funds transfer used by Bangkok Bank NY.

Contact our New York Branch via email [email protected] that you would like to use our Remittance services to transfer funds with the “bill pay” from your bank and to request for Remittance application.
 
b)      Order “bill pay” from your bank payable to:
Bangkok Bank Public Co., Ltd.
29 Broadway, 19th Floor
New York, NY 10006
Attn: Remittance Unit

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sgt
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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by sgt » January 13, 2019, 11:23 am

1st why would I want to do marriage? I have work pensions and VA disability income well over the monthly amount required for OA based on retirement/extension of stay and OA based on marriage has many hoops to jump through. Plus marriage anywhere is never guaranteed to last. I would never put 400,000 baht in a Thai bank, much less 800,000 baht. Anything over 9,999 USD requires specfic IRS notification and all that can go with that. Aside from the first couple of times I did extension of stay my wife does not go with me to immigration. She has a business and better things to be doing.

Perhaps I just hit a bad day, it happens anywhere. But, if there was an English speaker there they made no attempt to help and I think it was rather obvious that help was needed. I try to remember how working with the public can be and believe me it can be a real pain in the ass. I know from experience as an local Asstant Fire Chief, US Forest Service wildland firefighter, professional hunting guide (oh boy did I get some real "winners"), and law enforcement officer. In other words I try to control my temper in cases of stupidity, unnecessary paperwork, differences in our customs and languages and just laziness. Doesn't always work.

I understand that Bangkok Bank is dropping that method of fund transfers in April. I've never used it as it was actually cheaper and much more convenient to just use debit card/ATM when money was needed. In the past I could go to the main branch of Kasikorn with both debit cards and draw the bank allowed 20,000 baht each when needed for no charge. Well, that is when somebody could figure out how to make the withdraw, or maybe could be bothered to. Now that did require bringing the wife along for translation services. If necessary as it was once, I could then go to an ATM and withdraw another 40,000 baht (USD was worth something then) as they are recorded differently. I can assure you that when I did that I notified my credit union ahead of time.

Always used Income Statement before so no need for having money deposited into a Thai bank monthly and believe me with 2 kids in school, one in university, other expenditures Thailand gets 90% of my income, more lately because of wife's medical problems.

My advice to any farang is that you are going to need a Thai to vouch for you if you aren't married and after this all happened I ran across an post on ThaiVisa stating the requirements for Bangkok Bank for farang to open an account. I had been unable to find that on the Bangkok Bank website. Oh and you do have to sign an IRS notification of some sort if you are American. Just a heads up, you aren't going to waltz in and simply show passport and open an account.

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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by 747man » January 13, 2019, 11:46 am

Just a heads up, you aren't going to waltz in and simply show passport and open an account.

As I Said before.................I DID !!

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sgt
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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by sgt » January 13, 2019, 11:51 am

You are lucky, I wasn't. Different bank locations, different days. As always here in Thailand "the word is subject to change".

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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by LoneTraveler » January 13, 2019, 1:39 pm

747man wrote:
January 13, 2019, 11:46 am
Just a heads up, you aren't going to waltz in and simply show passport and open an account.

As I Said before.................I DID !!
Me too.

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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by LoneTraveler » January 13, 2019, 2:06 pm

sgt wrote:
January 13, 2019, 11:51 am
You are lucky, I wasn't. Different bank locations, different days. As always here in Thailand "the word is subject to change".
My question was did you visit the main Bangkok Brach in Udon?

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sgt
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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by sgt » January 13, 2019, 3:03 pm

Yes, the one by immigration and main branch Kasikorn.

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joepai
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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by joepai » January 13, 2019, 3:37 pm

Very simple to open a bank account at any Bkk Bank branch, no idea why so many can fail in this simple task
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Bkk Bank.jpg
I was born with nothing and still have most of it left

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Re: Opening Bangkok Bank new account

Post by DuiDui49 » January 13, 2019, 3:49 pm

LoneTraveler wrote:
January 13, 2019, 1:39 pm
747man wrote:
January 13, 2019, 11:46 am
Just a heads up, you aren't going to waltz in and simply show passport and open an account.

As I Said before.................I DID !!
Me too.
And i just opened 3 Acc's..BKK,Goverment Bank Kasikorn 3 month ago,all in one day..no problem.I don't have any workpermit..i only showed them Yellow Book and PP..but it helped that i could speak some Thai.

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