fittobethaied

This is incorrect! You have been given erroneous information which it typical for bank employees. Yes, you can SWIFT transfer your EUR funds directly into your FCD EUR account without having to do the exchange. They will charge you a maximum fee of 500 Baht to deposit it for you, which will show as a EUR debit on your account. To avoid having to pay that deposit fee as well as perhaps a hefty SWIFT fee from your SIN bank, you can do a SWIFT transfer of your EUR on Wise.com and only pay them a small fee. Again, no deposit fee at Bangkok Bank when using Wise.com.

By suggesting that you convert your EUR to Thai Baht and then back to EUR, they are trying to hook you for a fee to repurchase your EUR. Read the terms of your FCD account and you will see the fee which is charged. I think it's .25 of 1%.

Bangkok Bank has so few FCD customers that the clerks are vastly undereducated on the workings of those types of accounts. Maybe you can talk to a manager, but there's a good chance they won't be up to speed either. Get their brochure on the FCD's, and the terms will all be spelled out for you there. 

I actually had a private hospital in Udon Thani quote me a price by way of email of 100K Baht for the Colonoscopy, and if for some reason I needed to stay extra nights if they ran into problems, the per night price would be 20K Baht. That was a red flag if I have ever seen or heard one! I guarantee you they will be ready to make an excuse to keep the patient for extra nights in a private room, and if they do find a polyp, they will remove it even if it is not necessary, then charge you for an extra surgery. All the while the patient is knocked out and will never know if he has been scammed or not. This kind of diagnostic procedure is a slippery slope at best, and I would avoid it at all costs unless there is some other indication that there is a problem "down there". 

After I turned 50 back in the USA in 1998, my company healthcare program offered a free annual maintenance Colonoscopy. Nobody bothered to tell me that I would have to pay if they found something that had to be snipped. After the test I was told that they found one polyp and removed it, and the insurance company billed me $750 for the surgery. There are many doctors that have made this a racket and are scamming patients right and left. It's a big money maker for them. 

From a Biblical perspective, I submit the following for your consideration:

1 Corinthians 11:3...But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

God has designed a chain of authority within the family, and the man is called to be the spiritual head of his household. That doesn't mean that he lords his authority over his wife, but that all decisions should be a joint effort, but when there is an impasse, the man makes the final call. If the wife is more competent at certain tasks, like bookkeeping for example, then the man can delegate that authority to her, but he should be the overseer of that task.

Just remember that it was Eve who was approached by the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, and he convinced her to disobey God, and she in turn convinced Adam to disobey Him as well. The devil will most always attack the weaker vessel when he comes after your family, so do you really want to give all control to your wife?

I personally take my cue from King Solomon in the Old Testament. He was the richest and wisest man who ever lived, and he made the statement that he had met very few wise men in his life, but he had never met a wise woman. Therefore, when a man gives up his authority, he risks it all. What else would explain why so many farangs lose their fortunes when they turn things over to their Thai wives. So, get a backbone men, and start living your calling in life.   

From my observation, most restaurants in Thailand generally use stock photos that they get off the internet instead of taking photos of actual items which they serve. There seems to be no "truth in advertising" here like in the US. What else would we expect in a country where it is totally acceptable to tell lies. In your case I would have refused to accept that dish unless they threw in the third rib. I recently ordered tacos off a picture menu showing 3, but I was only served 2. When I confronted the owner, his answer was "oh, we just made a change in the menu and haven't had a chance to update our photo". If he was honest, he would have made a note on the menu and alerted me before I ordered. I gave him a tongue lashing and never came back. He never offered to serve me the third taco. Obviously, his conscience wasn't working properly. 

My tinnitus worsens with the continuous use of Ibuprofen after only a few days. When I cease using it, the tinnitus disappears for the most part.

Just 3 days ago I went through this process and had no problems paying for my US Passport renewal using a credit card. However, after I signed up for the Thai Post Office Mart to pay the 100Baht for the return envelope, there was a glitch in the website. After putting in all my credit card details, I pressed the link to order and I got a small window saying there was an error, so I reentered my data and clicked the order link again and got the same message. I went to my email inbox and TWO receipts for payment had bypassed my inbox and showed up in my junk file. It had actually processed my order twice after showing that both orders had failed, and there was no way to cancel one of the orders. Now, I can only imagine the confusion when two return envelopes show up at the US Embassy. On a separate piece of paper, I attempted to write an explanation to the embassy staff, but God only knows if it will be understood by the worker at the embassy. It seems that every time I try to do business on a Thai website, there is always a problem with the site not working properly.

Typical conversation between the worker and his supervisor......"go install the sign, do as you're told, don't ask any questions, and above all, DO NOT THINK FOR YOURSELF!!!!!!

It's time to walk away from a few people, and if you have to, take your wife and move away from them! It's just not worth all the grief and stress.

I recently discovered that I could use Wise.com to transfer USD's to my Foreign Currency Deposit Savings account at Bangkok Bank. Just choose "same currency" USD's to USD's and choose the SWIFT option for the transfer. I sent a low 5 figure transfer for only a $52 fee, and my credit union in the US would have charged me $80 for the same transfer. Had it done within 5 minutes with no hassle at all. 

It's easy to change religions if all if have is "religion" and not a personal relationship with the Creator of the universe, the one and only true God. When one accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and experiences a spiritual rebirth from above, that person is "sealed" by the Holy Spirit and guaranteed eternal life in Heaven with The Father, Son, Holy Spirit and all those who are part of the family of God. Once one receives the Holy Spirit, you don't just "change your mind" and become the whore chasing other religions. It is impossible for anything to take you from the Hand of God once you belong to HIm, and you will never have a desire to seek another path. It was said of Abraham..... Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised. The true follower of Christ will have the same faith as Abraham, if not greater. Jesus said "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man comes to the Father except by ME! That alone should be enough reason to never seek another God!

On 11/12/2023 at 12:14 PM, sirineou said:

Well they would have to. otherwise how would they know if you are talking to them. 

But the google thing is disturbing. 

I'm not convinced that Alexa is always listening. Until one uses the word "Alexa" its microphone is not activated. 

The government will never get a handle on domestic abuse until they begin to censor the practice of it on television. Turn on any Thai soap opera and you will see the hisos slapping around their hired help and men slapping around their wives and girlfriends. I once heard a Thai soap producer say that they're only portraying what they see in the culture, and that's a big fat lie. What they are actually doing is shaping culture! When mostly uneducated people see things on TV and in the movies, that becomes their standard of behavior because they actually believe it is acceptable since they saw it on the big screen. The same goes for violence in general on the screen. It turns otherwise semi-normal people into violent humans. However, the government loves it because it gives the military and the police a reason to exist in such huge numbers. It's job security for them if the public can stay scared to death of every imagined boogeyman waiting around the corner to rob them, murder them, rape them or just beat them within an inch of their lives. 

I have a deviated septum which was discovered with a Naso endoscopy procedure. I don't notice much blockage on the one side most of the time, but just the slightest allergy or laying down at nights will totally block that one side. I use one spray of Oxymetazoline HCL .05% solution in each nostril before bed, and it will keep my passages open for a full 12 hours. The best and least expensive spray I have found at nearly all pharmacies is Phindroz. I pay 70 Baht for a 10ml spray bottle. Good stuff!

My Thai wife and I have lived in the same village for 13 years. We have always tried to help people and have tried to be good neighbors. We maintain our home and keep a nice yard. We have the tidiest home on our soi, and I am always very friendly to our neighbors; however, most of them will not even make eye contact with me. I walk around the lake in our village on most evenings, and the homeowners around the lake treat me as if I am invisible. They will never even acknowledge me unless I say hello to them first. Others walking around the lake will totally ignore me when we pass each other. Other farangs tell me it's because they are intimidated to try to speak English, but I think that is a poor excuse. I mean, how much trouble is it to just smile and nod their heads? It makes no sense to me. I have traveled all over the world doing business, and I have lived in 4 SE Asian countries for extended periods of time. I have never experienced this kind of phenomenon before. It is not only frustrating and depressing, but it actually irritates the heck out of me. 

7 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

Perhaps a better option is to open the account in both names but instead of being X and Y, make it X or Y and keep the book hidden. That way, when you pass on, she can operate the account without needing it to go through probate or be subject to a will. My wife and I operate several of our accounts this way, fixed deposits and savings interest accounts. When I die, my wife can use the accounts as is without any changes of approvals. The only thing she can't do is close the account, without my permission which if I'm dead, is a moot point. 

Mike Lister, you may want to confirm with a lawyer or the bank's manager that you have Joint Accounts with Right of Survivorship (like we have in the West), which I don't think you have here in Thailand. I have been advised by a high ranking official at Bangkok Bank in the Bangkok corporate office, to have my wife immediately clean the joint account out after I pass on and not to tell the bank that I am deceased; otherwise, the bank will freeze the account and my Will will have to be probated in order for my wife to access the funds in the once Joint Account. Without a probated Will or a court appointed Executor, the money will be divided by Thailand's complicated line of inheritance protocols. Also, if all you have is a Power of Attorney on the account with your spouse as your legal representative, a POA ceases to be valid upon your death. Let us know what you find out!

The only way to stay on top of a budget is to micromanage it by the week and pay only with cash. I take cash from my bank account at the beginning of each month and put my fixed expenses like utilities in marked envelopes. Then, I have 4 or 5 envelopes for weekly expenditures depending on the length of the month. At the beginning of each week, I transfer that money from an envelope into my wallet for groceries, meals out, GRAB or other incidental expenses. I usually have a few thousand left over each week which goes back in the big pot, but if I ever get close to spending all that is in my wallet, then I just stop spending until the next week. It's a method that I came up with back in my high school days, and it has served me well ever since. My house, car, furniture and clothes are all paid for in full, and I have no debt at all. My wife cooks breakfast about three days a week, and most all other breakfast and lunch meals are ordered through GRAB or PANDA. We eat lunch out about 5 days a week and enjoy buffets in some of the better hotels in town. We live a very comfortable life and want for nothing, and I only spend about 20,000 Baht per month. We never feel like we are missing out on anything. I don't drink or smoke or go anywhere alone, and my wife is with me 24/7. It works well for us, and we are both very content with the arrangements. There is a huge difference between being frugal and being a cheap Charlie. The key is "discipline" and having the will power to say no to things you "want" but don't really "need". My wife gets a salary each month to spend as she wishes, but I control the money and set and maintain the budget.  

1 minute ago, JeffersLos said:

My sons are Thai born with a Thai mother.

 

They should be covered by the UHC system. Universal healthcare, also known as the 30 baht scheme. 

 

Is it still in existence or has it been changed?

 

They don't work yet.

 

If they work in Thailand and are in the UHC system, I as a non-Thai father living here can also be covered by the UHC 30 baht scheme through them?

It would seem that you would be entitled to be sponsored by your sons, but I have no facts to back that up. What we Westerners consider to be logical and reasonable aren't necessarily interpreted the same here in Thailand. Might be a good idea to begin investigating your options.