gamb00ler

Perhaps a job for steganography.

Most AN posters view the assurance as merely a bribe to get the bank staff to open an account for them. It seems the bank staff are well aware and take advantage of the difficulties those on a tourist visa face when trying to get a bank account.

Update: On a recent call to the SSA hotline, the representative was trying to set up a phone appointment for me with the Manila FBU. We were disconnected before she finished scheduling it. Just now I received an SMS on my Google Voice number. SSA had posted a message to mySSA inbox with the details of the phone appointment with FBU Manila. April 3 @ 2:30.... they didn't say if it is Manila time or Thailand time.

@tamy I can understand you're upset with SSA, especially the FBU Manila. If you can, please write a timeline of your interactions with SSA Manila with just the facts. Please proof read it a couple of times before hitting the Submit button. It will be much easier to understand if you don't include all the anger.

The only thing I can think of that is more simple is the thought process behind your opinion. Unless of course if you can find scientific studies that promised either or both of the following: a) masks will prevent 100% of transmission b) vaccines for this virus will prevent 100% of infections Even if masks prevent a high percentage (maybe 50% or higher), the high transmissibility of the virus virtually guarantees that eventually everyone will get infected. You seem to ignore the fact that a delay in infection is also a major benefit of reduced transmission. Even if vaccines only prevent a low percentage of infections, that imparts significant benefits. Don't forget a low percentage of a REALLY REALLY big number (7B?) produces a big number.

I couldn't agree more. It's so bad that I've been trying to determine who in the State Dept. oversees the FBU's. I wish to write them a letter detailing my experiences dealing with Manila. One of the many SSA representatives on the national help line (800-772-1213) that I've asked for assistance tried to set up a phone appointment for Manila to call me. Unfortunately, we got disconnected before that was completed.

I tried signing up for Skype but the website keeps timing out. It looks like Skype to phone requires a subscription. Hopefully I won't need to call FBU Manila so frequently. I'll use Google Voice for now at 11 cents/minute. Same <deleted>, different day. FBU Manila, only has 6 hours/week that they will accept calls. But..... they didn't answer.

I need to call FBU Manila to see if I can actually get a timely answer. I've already sent them a message via their website. That website warns that it may take up to 15 business days to receive a response. My experience with Manila tells me that their first couple of answers will not be germane and accurate. A 3 week turnaround time seems excessive. What is the best long distance prefix to use to call Manila? Where are the rates for each prefix given?

Your horrible misunderstanding of mathematics is music to the ears of financial advisors, insurance salesmen, mortgage brokers everywhere.

The more posts about n=1, ad hoc and anecdotal studies about masks that I read, the dumber I get.

As you approach the limit of your free allotment they will warn you and prompt you to consider paying for more. You can get more free storage by just creating another free gmail account. It's up to you to manage your storage and keep track of what's stored where. There is also an application (for Windows, MacOS, IOS and probably Android) that will let you view and manage the contents of your Google drive. When using the MacOS application, the files that are stored in the cloud appear to be just regular files stored on a separate drive. You can still access and manipulate them just like regular files, albeit with a short delay.

If you have a gmail account, Google gives you 15GB of cloud storage for free. You can upload your video onto that Google drive using a browser. When upload is complete you can share the video by creating a link to it and then post the link in a AN message.

You have the relationship between Thai tax ID and tax filing wrong. Getting a Thai tax ID doesn't obligate you to file a Thai tax return. Not having a Thai tax ID will require you to file a Thai tax return if you want the tax withholding on bank interest returned to you. If you have a Thai tax ID you can ask the bank to forego withholding tax on the interest until it surpasses 20K ฿. If you are successful at getting the bank to stop withholding you won't need to file a return unless you have other income. Some staff at the banks/branches understand their bank's rules and procedures well enough to stop withholding and some don't. Good luck.

I agree that using rugs is a great option. However I have yet to find a decent vacuum cleaner in CM. The ones I found don't have an electric motor to drive the brush. Instead a weak air turbo driven by the suction of the vacuum is used. There is a Danish company that imports vacuum cleaners with a motor driven brush. But they're expensive and the reviews (from outside TH) are not that encouraging. @CLW you can find vinyl flooring "planks" made to look like wood. Boonthavorn has them (in the tile section) and probably others.

She brought an actual functioning brain to the table which is enthusiastically discouraged on one side of the aisle.

Did you conduct a randomized test by deliberately catching COVID multiple times and randomly choosing an identical looking placebo vs invermectin?

Close... CNN is the main source of the fake "fake news".

The Pro-Fit high interest savings account at LH is for Thai citizens only. They may not be farang friendly

The commodity and currency futures market provide an essential service to companies that need to buy or sell the underlying commodity in the future. The speculators help reduce the risk that those producers and consumers of commodities face in determining their future costs or profits. Those businesses can determine the price of a commodity at some point in the future and plan accordingly.

I hear from friends in the construction biz that demand is through the roof. Its likely demand exceeds production capacity in the near term.

Sort of.... I was a software engineer and had a lot of exposure to telecoms through that career.

The correct explanation is not exactly what the employee stated. The call history on your phone does NOT store the prefix that you wish to use to call the person back. The stored number will be only the country code (eg. +66 for Thailand) and all the digits that comprise the caller's phone number as assigned by his service provider. As you stated it is best to use the number you have stored in your contact list to call your out of country friends. Hopefully you will store the long distance prefix as part of your contacts phone number. It is not a dodgy strategy by your phone company to cheat you. Your phone does not receive the prefix codes that your friend entered when they called you. Those prefix codes are only used for billing purposes. They are stripped out of the phone number that is sent to the phone company connection hardware. Your call history will only contain the connection instructions (ie. phone number) that is used to complete the incoming call from your contacts.

I missed this question on first reading. I believe you must do all transactions with the BKK fixed account in person. If you have not yet closed your other accounts at BKK bank, just transfer the fixed account balance to one of those and then use mobile/online to transfer funds electronically to KBank

Since the income method is much simpler for the IO's to decipher the bank statements, I don't think it matters much when you switch accounts. To save yourself time, just get the required letter and bank book copies/statements for both accounts. There shouldn't be any need for overlapping of deposits.

I changed from a fixed deposit at BKK bank to SCB EZ Savings starting in Apr '22. My extension was due in Feb 10 '23. SCB does not supply a bank book for the EZ Savings account. I opened the SCB back in 2021 and brought its balance up to 400K+ by Apr. '22. I maintained the required 800K balance at BKK bank for 3 months past my Feb '22 extension. I almost emptied out the BKK fixed deposit account and moved 600K to SCB to bring it up to 1M (max that qualifies for 1.5% interest). For my Feb '23 extension I provided the bank letter and 12 month statement for both the BKK fixed and the SCB savings account. SCB hit me with 400฿ and BKK bank for 200฿ in fees for the documents. CM Imm. spent a long time going over the statements even though there were very few entries on both of them. If you're going to switch, do it during the time where your required balance is the lowest and make sure there is a clear overlap on the periods where the funds are sufficient.