SGD

I've had <deleted> from all the banks over the years about having to go back to the branch where I opened the account or perhaps going to Bangkok but I am fairly cxertain it is all nonsense and just another face saving lie.

I'm just relating the crap given by the SCB staff. Daughter is Thai citizen with blue Tabien Bahn and ID cad and Thai passport, i.e. a full house of documents.

Agreed, they were less than useless and the old "tell a lie to save face" nonsense came into effect.

I came up against this very problem myself years ago and I'm faced with it today in a sort of way because I am now semi retired and will be spending somewhere between 4 to 8 months a year in Thailand which could increase to near full time within a couple of years. I'm fully aware of all the illegal company shenanigans which might come crashing down in the future but I also have a Thai daughter who could own or inherit without issue. Nevertheless, whilst I might not want to spend £1m on a property, I might have considered somewhere between Bt10m to Bt20m so up to around £500k. But I won't, because I have no desire to simply throw that money down the drain which is what it could be even in an expat heavy area and which it would certainly be if I built a mansion in the jungle where it would have near zero value after I died. I guess if you had £100m then wasting £1m on a place you really wanted could be justified. I don't have that much so throwing up to £500k down the drain just to have a nice place to live in seems stupid to me. I'll rent in Bangkok and travel where I want, staying in 5* hotels, which is a compromise between buying and living permanently in a 5* hotel, which was a serious option and one which I have done around the world previously.

A SWIFT transfer can be for any amount, even billions of USD. It is what we used to settle bank to bank payments for billions daily and there is no €12k limit.

Decent thought, not sure why it would default to wifi calling rather than roaming calling unless you had no credit on the phone ?

I want to call the Thai bank from the UK, not the UK bank from Thailand. Sorry if that was not clear.

Yes, say when in the UK, so unable to use the Thai mobile as it would be roaming in the UK and stupidly expensive.

Which satellite app ?

I always understood, perhaps incorrectly, that a great many things that officialdom suggested could only be done in the province where you were registered on your Tabien Bahn, could also be done in Bangkok. However, today my 18 year old Thai daughter was refused to open a bank account at SCB in Bang Rak in Bangkok because her Tabien Bahn has her mother's house address on it which is in Buriram. The staff didn't speak much if any English and though my daughter is fairly fluent in Thai, communication was difficult. However, I felt they simply didn't know what to do and their constant referral to someone else on the phone didn't fill me with confidence. Excuses such as a telephone number not being registered (it is) and her ID having her passport details and not her phone number (idiotic) were given but I think the underlying issue was that they were confused and were looking to save face with any old excuse. So does anyone know whether you can open an account online these days and if so, where do you get your ATM card ? If you cannot do things online, can the head office in Bangkok process new accounts ? She never goes back to Buriram and likely never will so the argument of having to go there to open a bank account seems lunacy, even for Thailand.

I'd used Skype for decades but now it is gone, what do you use to call for instance your Thai bank who only has a landline and you cannot use WhatsApp or LINE ? Specifically from the UK.

Agreed. Carrefour moving out was a great loss.

Are you about 17 ? We're not talking about a group of wet behind the ears nerds going large on their first trip away to Magalluf but rather a 4/5* hotel with a pool bar for sensible adults. Though I admit many here and in Pattaya are effective retards.

VT2 and VT1 have a restaurant of sorts away from the pool but by the pool, if that makes sense, but definitely nothing of the swim up variety. Nova Platinum (ex bowling alley in South Pattaya) theoretically has one but it was never being used when I looked. I thought maybe the Dusit or Royal Cliff might ?

Any relation to Red Bull King here ?