mfd101

(1) My b/f & I took out accident insurance with BKK Bank here in Prasat a year ago. Because of my age - now 69 - my cover is less than his, and costs less. Given the way he drives, his is in any case the greater need.

(2) I opened a new account at Prasat BKK Bank a couple of weeks ago, dealing with the manager (as opposed to the argie-bargie which went on when dealing with junior staff behind the counter). No sweat, all done in about 20 minutes. He mentioned that he's under pressure to open x new accounts every month ...

Would be more useful to catch & fry the morons who released it there.

As people dream up more and more exotic ways of moving funds around or of pretending to move funds around, they need to remember the poor IO stuck at his/her desk with a queue of 30 impatient falangs glaring at him ... He wants super-simple, super-clear, and the same ways (x2 or 3) EVERY time. He/she isn't going to spend 30 minutes arguing with someone who's dreamed up the perfect solution just for him.

Just like government policies in countries with MILLIONS - even HUNDREDS of MILLIONS - of citizens.  Many people seem to think there should be a policy just for them.

40 minutes ago, Spock said:

The OZ dollar will only get worse not better, particularly if the government cuts interest rates to save the property market and/or the USA raises interest rates again. Brace yourself for more bad news.

As in every 'Western' country, "the government" in Australia does not raise or lower interest rates. That is the job of the RBA which, this morning (first Tuesday of every month), left interest rates untouched at their record low level, as a result of which the Oz dollar rose slightly.

Check monito.com. Excellent for comparisons.

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

That's the same as using an ATM, expected to not be accepted by the IO, but no one has discussed with Immigration

 

Of course you can keep doing both of those things - bring in cash & use atms. And I will keep doing both for amounts over the 65K monthly - it's easy & VERY cheap. But whether you can use them for TI purposes is a different matter. I would be surprised if cash will wash with TI! And the atm manifestly doesn't count because no money passes between the claws of a Thai bank (even if it's a Thai bank atm you're using), so the Thai bank won't give you the statement you need every 12 months.

1 hour ago, offset said:

That is ok if you spend 65k a month but is you spend less that that the money will accumulate until you have 800k in your account

Which means that, over time, you can kill 2 birds with one stone ...

9 minutes ago, AjarnMartin said:

Hi mfd101,

I too use TW but my SCB account shows it as a ‘domestic’ transfer. Does BKK Bank record it differently to the satisfaction of Thai Immigration requirements? Of course it’s only for my next Retirement Extension as local office have told me I need to deposit 800K for 2020 Extension. ???? Thanks.

(1) Yes, currently - will it last? - TW transfer into BKK Bank shows as TFF and, I'm told, will show up in your bank declaration of monthly monies as 'International transfer'. So, as far as anyone can tell, if you're going to do the TW path, then you need a BKK Bank account.

(2) If your local TI folks have said you HAVE to do 800K in the bank next time round, then they are - I think - wrong. Either they are mistaken/confused/ill-advised, or they're trying to push you to the 800K method and use of an agent (which means backhanders for them).

2 hours ago, HLover said:

No, but unfortunately it will keep me from taking pointless online surveys.

In the last 2 hours, as the number of replies has increased from 102 to 249, the distribution between the 3 possible replies in the survey has barely moved. Which suggests, to my surprise, that the survey results may well be quite representative of (at least) the ThaiVisa expat population.

People should also check monito.com. It rates different bank & non-bank sites for international transfers - ease of signing on, time for transaction, TOTAL COST of transaction (ie ALL fees + xrate).

3 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

 

I do not buy his act for a nanosecond. How many have been arrested and sentenced? The proof is in the pudding. There ain't no pudding folks. It is one big show.

Perhaps you're right. We'll see.

1 hour ago, tingtong said:

 

not.

he happily let slip his mentor friend the watchman slip away from justice in exchange for yet another promotion.

 

He's in charge of Immigration not general police & crime work!

1 hour ago, Just1Voice said:

Big Joke ain't no joke.  Could be the most honest cop in Thailand. 

Yes, remains to be seen for the long term but credit where it's due. He can't do everything at once but.

1 hour ago, gamini said:

But posters don't seem to realise that the Thai economy is still doing much better than most others, in spite of what they think.

Yes, the Pattaya & Phuket crew look out the window and see not too many 'quality' tourists so they assume the Thai economy is doing badly. They need to get out & travel around this diverse country.

They would see boom and near-boom conditions in all sorts of unexpected places (even in the much-despised Isaan). You just need to see the traffic on rural arterial routes and compare it with 4 or 5 years ago to see that major economic change is happening. And what used to be rural roads are now outer suburban roads stretching ever onwards with strip development [cf The West 1950s-1970s].

2 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Whilst there are military camps all over Thailand and Thailand has "enjoyed" military administrations for the majority of its post-WWII history, Surin is not very far from the site of a recent deadly military battle with Cambodian forces. Last time I visited, this area at Phra Wiharn was still controlled by the military.

Yes, when you visit some of the disputed border temples here, relations between the Thai & Cambodian troops are relaxed and friendly - people wander back & forth over the (invisible) red line, no sweat. But in others, they are anything but relaxed, troops are quite separate and they follow you around as you do your tourist bit ... and as you step over the invisible, one lot of troops vanish & a new lot in different uniforms appear.

All of this only a couple of kilometers as the crow flies from my family farm. Which was regularly bombarded by Khmer Rouge mortars only 2 or 3 decades ago. The family regularly fled the village as the explosions started. They would return a week later to find all the buffalos gone ...

The obvious question is: Why is it so hard? It's as though they think you're going to want to borrow money from them, when actually they'll be getting to use our money more or less for free ... No rime or reason in it , as far as I can see.

Perhaps fear of the unknown is a factor (as in the 'No have' syndrome in shops.) So the basic technique is to go to branches close to where there are plenty of falangs LIVING (ie not tourists). And, as I am in the process of discovering here in Prasat Surin, easier said than done when you're out in the boondocks or woop woop or wop wops or the back of beyond or back of the black stump.

19 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

The world is watching... and will vote with it's feet to trade/invest or look elsewhere for a more stable choice. 

Fat chance. If that were the case, it would already have happened.  And the much-wished-for crash of the baht would have happened. But they haven't.

2 comments:

(1) The West - Europe, Usofa, Oz etc - is currently too preoccupied with the results of their own incompetence to worry about Thailand. Who, outside of here, cares? Of course the Europeans may still go through the motions ...

(2) That anyone could suggest that elections cannot be held till there is 'peace in society' shows how little they understand about democracy & its workings. On that basis of course we'll all be dead'nburied before anything happens.