Feeld

Three options:

Co-op bank in Jersey/Gurnsey, meets all the requirements:

Nationwide International in the IOM, unsure about credit cards etc:

HSBC Hong Kong or Singapore but both require tying up significicant capital in order to warrantee the credit card amount.

I have accounts with all three and the first two are undoubtedly the best and most cost efficient.

I think the old dude was probably right.

Look at the way the young guys and girls were behaving outside the go-go earlier.

Hookers are hookers mainly because they are too lazy to work in a respectable job.

Easy money without much effort is the name of the game.

As for the hooker and her story ...... tears on tap, playing for the camera.

The drunk in the video clip didn't get it and niether did you Tommo, perhaps comment again more sensibly when you've been here longer and seen the village communities (and all they entail) first hand and really understood the issues.

Eek, I agree, they have few choices I'm afraid, the only upside is that the situation has improved over the past fifteen years so at least things are getting better.

The prostate is an endocrin gland hence you need to see an endocrinologist, Dr Ampica at Sriphat Hospital (13th floor) is one of the very best in the country and a consultation with her should be no more than 300 baht plus the cost of tests.

The prostate is an exocrine gland hence you need to <deleted> and anyone with a prostate problem should see a urologist.

I stand corrected and apologise and you need to learn better manners!

Feeld , forgive me , but a bit of a smirky thought comes to me....... trust that you have had a rectal digital exam...... but the thought....... is it after this exam that you arrived at your screen name.??????

Funny but no, the screen name used was determined at birth.

The reasons for Thai based expats to maintain HSBC accounts are becomming fewer by the day, they've deserted Thailand so there's no local branch and their savings/fixed term interest rates are dreadful. I've also been with HSBC since the Midland days and they have served a purpose at various times, those days however appear to be numbered. Global View was a useful feature but with no local branch it's no longer of any value, Nationwide Int and Co-op offshore both seem like sensible alternatives.

The low crime rate, five star beaches, diversity of cultures, high quality of food, unparalleled public transport, friendly native culture, low cost and clean air, I think that's about it.

The low crime rate, five star beaches, diversity of cultures, high quality of food, unparalleled public transport, friendly native culture, low cost and clean air, I think that's about it.

Really? I thought Pattayaa had a higher crime rate than the rest of the country. What with all the criminals living there - the mafias from other countries mixing with the Thai mafia.

And you don't understand tongue in cheek either, does nobody do sarcasm any more!

As an HSBC account holder I am disgusted but not surprised by this.

After more than 5 years of making regular telephone banking transfers from my HSBC account to my account in Thailand I was prevented from making another.

HSBC informed me that I'd need to authorise 3rd party transfers. They claimed that previous transfers I'd made were simply subject to their discretion.

It took weeks for them to receive and authorise my 3rd party transfers nearly leaving me in a momentarily embarrassing financial tight spot.

I was furious, but soon found out other backs are equally as poor...

I'm still lookIng for the bank that serves instead of shafts me!

Look on the bright side, you don't have to worry about that any more since HSBC Thailand is no more.

You can hold an HSBC onshore account whilst living in Thailand, I have one and HSBC UK quite happily sends me statements, credit cards etc to my address here and has done so for the past ten years.

May I ask if you had the HSBC account before you started living in Thailand?

Yes indeed but that shouldn't be a factor, I also have HSBC accounts in Singapore and Hong Kong which may be another option for you. Yet another option might be the Co-op bank in the Channel Islands, I'm considering using this as a part of my overall banking revamp. Finally, Nationwide International in the IOM is extremely strong and very reliable, I've been using them also for ten years without a hitch - perhaps check out their respective web sites for further info.

You can hold an HSBC onshore account whilst living in Thailand, I have one and HSBC UK quite happily sends me statements, credit cards etc to my address here and has done so for the past ten years.

The low crime rate, five star beaches, diversity of cultures, high quality of food, unparalleled public transport, friendly native culture, low cost and clean air, I think that's about it.

5* Beaches ? Where ?

What, you don't understand toungue in cheek!

The bigger red and white towers tend to be predominently microwave relay masts, sometimes with mobile kit attached lower down, solely mobile masts are typically not very tall. So, the bigger question perhaps is whether microwave is a health threat.

The low crime rate, five star beaches, diversity of cultures, high quality of food, unparalleled public transport, friendly native culture, low cost and clean air, I think that's about it.

In the UK at least the issue of how quickly a bank makes a transfer has its roots in the days prior to electronic banking when a cheque took at least three and sometimes four days to clear, over time the banks got like that because it meant they could "play the float" (invest your money for their benefit). But the promised cost savings of electronic banking meant that the banks would have to spend less on cheque clearing facilities whilst continuing to keep the three/four day clearing times, eventually APACS said enough and now we see some concesionary transactions being made in real time, free of charge.

But it's clear that the banks want their cake and eat it too, they want to do away with paper based cheque processing because it costs them a lot of money but they want to retain their ability to "play the float", that's why real time transactions over £10k will still cost you money. Just to put this into perspective, it's been about thirty years since electronic banking was first put in place in the UK but only fairly recently that free instant transfers have been allowed across the board! Doubtless banks in many other western countries are similar.

The prostate is an endocrin gland hence you need to see an endocrinologist, Dr Ampica at Sriphat Hospital (13th floor) is one of the very best in the country and a consultation with her should be no more than 300 baht plus the cost of tests.

The prostate is an exocrine gland hence you need to <deleted> and anyone with a prostate problem should see a urologist.

I stand corrected and apologise and you need to learn better manners!

Dry, 25 degrees high cloud.

The prostate is an endocrin gland hence you need to see an endocrinologist, Dr Ampica at Sriphat Hospital (13th floor) is one of the very best in the country and a consultation with her should be no more than 300 baht plus the cost of tests.

Crumpets and muffins are very different, you wouldn't use a crumpet for eggs benedict nor for the infamous Eggs McMuffin since the latter would need to be rebadged as Eggs McCrumpet and wouldn't be that great.

Sorry - you are both wrong.

I suppose trying to describe a crumpet and its delight to a NA. is rather like trying to describe grits, cornbread and collard greens to a European. And I speak as a hybrid.

It is not a muffin or a pancake.

It is a....

https://www.google.c...iw=1360&bih=600

Something else.

When we were young we used to toast them in front of a coal fire on a three-prong toasting fork and then ate them smothered is butter. Sounds gross... but it was lovely.

We were poor but we were honest!

You're how old?

You need to have a will for both countries, a UK will does not cover assets in Thailand and visa versa. The is a simple way to make a Thai will using the Amphur, a handwritten document (not typed) that is signed and witnessed can be lodged at the Amphur for a small charge and apparently that is the simplest and most straight forward way to go.

If you'd ever been to Tehran you'd know that parts of it are quite beautiful ...

I have travelled extensively in many places in the middle East. Some of them are indeed beautiful and if it wasn't for the prevailing culture and the people they would indeed probably make very nice places to live. The same applies to most countries in the world, of course.

You say such places are "devoid of any merit" and that "if it wasn't for the prevailing culture and the people they would indeed probably make very nice places to live". So, nice place to park a camel and that's about it then!

If you've never been there and you don't know firsthand what it's like, why not say so.

The large discrepency comes from you not realising that the TMB is showing the 1 dollar rate and others the 100 dollar rate or the 20 or the 50 AND 100 ...... not because of the reasons you stated

As is Super Rich at 30.80 (vs TMB at 30.07) and most of the other banks also (30.41 to 30.55), look at the bottom quarter of the list!

Yup and that a far cry from 1.6 now isn't it ? Like I said it also has to do with the time of posting , if you notice the higher rates are from more recent updates. You were obviously wrong dude just realise it and move on.

The OP is a tourist who is still in his own country and seeks advice on exchange rates, exchange rates on USD/THB in Thailand involve denomination (bill size) as well as financial exchange locations. If you can't uinderstand that I'm sorry, but if you want to be right and everyone else wrong, I'm happy that it be that way, over and out.

That's not my experience, mine is that it's very difficult to open an account at TMB in the less travelled destinations, unless you are a Thai or have a work permit, it's easy in Pattaya and Bangkok but more remote locations are problematic.

The large discrepency comes from you not realising that the TMB is showing the 1 dollar rate and others the 100 dollar rate or the 20 or the 50 AND 100 ...... not because of the reasons you stated

As is Super Rich at 30.80 (vs TMB at 30.07) and most of the other banks also (30.41 to 30.55), look at the bottom quarter of the list!

Changing at the Airport is obviously not correct ...... You can exchange your money in the black market for a little more, I'm not sure why you got those quotes however they are not accurate in leading you to believe that smaller demonated bills exchange for more , in fact smaller bills trade for less because their are more to handle count ect. It may be a typo that flipped around the rates accedentally is my guess.

Just go to a Bank they are all close enough to the same rate. But 100's are definitly the way to go, an actual bank in the Airport would probabbly be the same, but just not the small exchange booths , while some people claim they are the same , they are not.

I mentioned the Black market thing just for your information not as a recomendation. The black market people are obviously laundering ill gotten gains from drugs for the most part.

That's not entirely true, if you look at the link I posted you'll see that the variance between the best and the worst rate is around THB1.60 per USD which on $6k will soon add up. Also, Super Rich is consistently better rate wise than any of the banks.

I see that on the site but I think it's more to do with the time of the reporting ..... I highly doubt that TBM bank is 1.6 less than another bank at the same time in Thailand as they all use the same international exchange rate program. It looks that way from the website but the reality of getting 1.6 bettter than TMB bank is not very likely.

If you think that then I suggest you check rates at different times on different days and you'll notice that a similar variance exists. There is not much commonality between Thai banks and each do thier own thing when it comes to FOREX and each sets its own spread based on the banks need to obtain currency or not. The calculation that is used to obtain a midpoint is probably common although the timming of the midpoint calculation almost certainly varies hence that combined with the banks need results in such large discrepancies between banks.

Changing at the Airport is obviously not correct ...... You can exchange your money in the black market for a little more, I'm not sure why you got those quotes however they are not accurate in leading you to believe that smaller demonated bills exchange for more , in fact smaller bills trade for less because their are more to handle count ect. It may be a typo that flipped around the rates accedentally is my guess.

Just go to a Bank they are all close enough to the same rate. But 100's are definitly the way to go, an actual bank in the Airport would probabbly be the same, but just not the small exchange booths , while some people claim they are the same , they are not.

I mentioned the Black market thing just for your information not as a recomendation. The black market people are obviously laundering ill gotten gains from drugs for the most part.

That's not entirely true, if you look at the link I posted you'll see that the variance between the best and the worst rate is around THB1.60 per USD which on $6k will soon add up. Also, Super Rich is consistently better rate wise than any of the banks.