speedbird111

On 9/8/2020 at 8:49 AM, sometimewoodworker said:

All my accounts have been opened without a work permit, 4 of them SCB in 2 different branches & have/had accounts in 6 banks over the years. Your taking either your spouse or a Thai friend with an account in that branch makes life easier.

 

You give no location information so there is no point in giving any to you.

On 9/8/2020 at 8:49 AM, sometimewoodworker said:

All my accounts have been opened without a work permit, 4 of them SCB in 2 different branches & have/had accounts in 6 banks over the years. Your taking either your spouse or a Thai friend with an account in that branch makes life easier.

 

You give no location information so there is no point in giving any to you.

Latest update 21st October 2020.

I have held a very active Kassikorn Bank account since 2013 with their Jomtien Branch (Close to Immigration). As my pension has just kicked in (October 2020), I wanted to open a second bank account with Kassikorn for my monthly pension payments to ensure that these were seperate from my daily living costs account. I didn't only go to Kassikorn, I also tried SCB ... Here are the actual results. No fabrication and No Joke, this is the actual truth .. hot off the press so to speak.

1. Kassikorn bank (Jomtien Branch) told me that I am only allowed one savings account with them and therefore refused a second account request. They told me that I could open a DEPOSIT account whereby I would have to deposit a minimum of THB 200K. This money could not be touched for a minimum period of 6 months with an interest rate of 0.54%. Of course I declined.

2. SCB

Siam Commercial Bank (Bid C Extra, Pattaya Klang). Tried to open a new account with the SCB. They were not interested, contrary to previous posts. The very first question on enquiring if I could open a new account with them was .. "Do you have a work Permit" to which I responded that Farangs with retirement visas are not allowed to work so no, no work permit. This fell upon deaf ears and then she asked me if I owned property. I answered No, I rent property as I have done for the past 5 years, She then asked me if I was married. Again my answer was No. End of conversation. Sorry mister, you cannot open a bank account with SCB.

Enough said.... Not a single retiree has a work permit. We are RETIRED (Comprende). There are tens of thousands living and spending in Thailand daily, legally, with all documentation readily available from immigration. Many of us don't own our own homes and too many are not married. I also questioned this with the branch manager who told me that he would allow it if he could but this is the new law. Strange that other banks no nothing about this new law.

Eventually I went to Krungsri in Soi Khao Noi. Where I had almost accepted bureaucratic defeat, it transpires that it is actually possible to open a new bank account with the minimum of fuss. Opened a new account, received a debit card, Mobile app installation by the helpfull lady and all this with an interest rate of 1.10% per month on your actual balance, calculated on a monthly basis. Dedbit card charge is THB 498.00 for 3 years and useable with all ATM's.

After my hallowing experiences of the past few days, I cannot recommend Krungsri Bank highly enough who are accommodating and flexible. All that was needed was a residence letter from Immigration.

Moral of the story is ... The big banks seem to making the rules up as they go. One says this, another says that. The law of the land should be made clear and adopted by all. Sadly this does not appear to be the case.

I have been visting Thailand since 2007 and living here since 2015. This is my very first post on the Thai Visa Forum because I feel the need to inform of updates on the forever changing environmement in which we choose to live.

Any contrary experiences would be appreciated.