Lorry

It seems we didn't meet the same people. I met the same people as @Cameroni

In theory, I agree with OP. In practice: Thai bank branches are plentiful - and quite useless. In my home country, my trust in the few remaining branches was a bit diminished when I had to teach the housewife sitting in front of a screen, masquerading as a banker, how to do her job. That was 10 years ago, things have gotten much worse since then. The last time I had a question, my branch called me. 20 years ago, it would have been the branch manager. 10 years ago, regular staff, but he knew more about banking than I. 5 years ago, a housewife. Last month, a very sweet young female voice that made me feel like a pederast. But maybe she was 15 already, certainly didn't sound older than that.

Maybe sometimes you should read some posts here. Many posters have written how economically important the retirees are for Thailand (sorry, they are not important at all). And as for speaking English, for the vast majority of posters it is an important point if Thais - staff, girls, bureaucrats, whoever - can (or cannot) speak English. Just because they are monolingual (or less than that)

Kbank: if you use their web banking (on a PC) (they call it K Biz) they will send you an OTP for every single transaction. Bangkok Bank doesn't do that, but they will send you an OTP in a variety of situations (eg if you want to add a new payee to the payees' list)

Not only tourists... Many posters have posted things in the line of "my money builds your country". And most posters here seem to think that a person who doesn't speak English is something subhuman

People who complain double pricing in Thailand should go to Vietnam. No double pricing there. 5-times pricing

Kbank told me it wouldn't help if I wouldn't do mobile banking: They still need a phone number to send me OTP whenever necessary - and this phone number has to have the same registration as my bank account.

1. You are a little baby who can't even speak. They try to be nice and help you. 2. Here, language is not just a means to convey the absolute minimum of definitely necessary information. All this talking in circles serves to establish a common base on which to communicate. It may not always work. Example: after years in Thailand, I once asked a nurse in a hospital in my country for the way to a ward. "Over there, turn left" she said and continued walking on her way. I was flabbergasted. Of course, there wasn't anything more to be said - but Thais would have talked several minutes. Hint: next time, go alone. Especially for important things.

There was a very informative podcast in the Economist recently, "Scam Inc.", about the scam factories. One of the most important lessons: anybody can fall for it, a CEO, an IT specialist, a banker... A famous case (reported all over the media) was an experienced American banker who got scammed out of 40 million USD. Industrial scam is like a weapon. And like you have no chance of defense against a gun, you are defenseless against professional scammers. Don't think you are too smart. I know it's hard to acknowledge, but you are not.

I would think the hammer is good to destroy the data. And that's the way my last laptop ended. Hammer and sickle, then the bin. Now, gf started talking about electronic waste. It makes me feel bad if I, from a rich country, am less environmentally conscious than she. But, of course, she has no idea what to do...

You are right that double-pricing in Thailand is not nationality- based. It's race-based, as the example of the Filipino in Wat Phra Kaeo beautifully shows. Been there, done that. And many Filipinos, Laotians, Southern Chinese etc know this. BTW it cuts 2 ways. A farang of caucasian race has many advantages here, whereas a Swede, born to Thai parents, has a hard time convincing anybody that he is a farang. This has been discussed on TV roughly twice per year, for the last 20 years.

Are Australian banks working on a royal holiday? (It's still a kingdom, or did I miss something? )

It's the TRD who says that. Yes, they are conttravening the law. Good luck fighting the TRD. Anybody who has followed the multiple tax threads knows your views and your style of discussion, and I would not normally answer to your post. In this case, though, your viewpoint "I don't care what the TRD writes and says" is quite dangerous. 'nuff said

(I found a thread from 2018.) Where do I dispose of old mobile phones? They do have all the apps loaded, including banking apps. They cannot be started anymore (they are bricked), so it is not possible to delete any data.

Right now, as the Chinese don't come as much as they used to and the Indians are a bit frugal, the Thai government wants more Europeans again, as they spend more (and there are no zero-dollar tours from Germany, neither Danish tour guides).

Yes and yes

This is wrong. The guy who explained it many times was @ukrules, I think. Others explained it too, including the TRD (in their Q&A, and in talks with the Big4 reported here). It really should be common knowledge by now

Chinese like CM a lot, and they do come at Chinese New Year (January/February). Never heard them complain about the air. (Maybe when breathing they feel right at home.)

Rumour has it that the US-Thai trade negotiations have been postponed indefinitely because Thailand doesn't do much in order not to be a front for Chinese exports. (BP today, opinion section)

I know this is the theory. In practice, I don't know anybody (myself included) who felt any effect from 3mg. But I know some people who sleep with 10mg. ???

If visual inspection by a dermatologist shows it's a seborrheic keratosis aka old-age warts (doesn't look like it to me, but they are extremely common and it's impossible to tell from a picture) therapy of choice is curettage, followed by hisopathological examination if deemed necessary. BTW they usually come back.

Almost correct, but it's 179 days in the year you made this money, not the year you transfer it. It won't hurt if you are here less than 180 days in the year you transfer the money, but the important one is the year you got the money. Anyway, inheritance is tax free (up to 100MB iirc, better check this amount).

40000 B iis expensive in Thailand, esp. In CM, but not unheard of. @impulseis about right about his price at Bumrungrad, and that's probably the most expensive you can get here. Those 7k of @CharlieH - are those baht or dollars? 7000 B is hard to believe. I have never known a place cheap like that, and I do know some fairly cheap places.

Prisons are full of them

My bank told me that my bank account information and the information for my SIM were not identical. Less than 20 hours after updating my profile with AIS i called the bank and was told that everything is ok. That looks like an automated exchange of information between banks and phone companies. It certainly doesn't look like the government is sending around some lists. BTW the bank told me casually on the phone that my information didn't match when I called them regarding another matter. They never sent me any notification through their app or whatever.