ArranP

i understand their concerns, but there shouldn't really be any problems as long as you're willing to place a deposit account in the amount of the credit limit or even higher. i used to have a mastercard in the US for nearly two years while living there and for a non-US citizen its extremely difficult to get unless you have a SIN and all that. but they issued it to me after making a security deposit at their bank for $20,000 ...which was $5,000 higher than the limit the card had ...$15,000.

i don't mind making a deposit of 50,000 baht in thailand to get a credit card in the limit of 20,000 ...you can't over-draw credit cards by more than a few dollars anyways these days so i dont see their logic of it being a risk.

How many credit card companies in the Uk would bother with getting you to make security deposit if, in other respects, you didn't meet their credit requirements? very few I suspect. It's all too much hassle if you don't fit their criteria - time is money - if they lose a few credit worthy customers, better than gaining a few bad eggs.

It's the same here - its just not worth the hassle. Why should they put themselves out for a few transient farangs?

Ok, the whole fabric of the USA is driven by credit and plastic, but we are light years away from that in Thailand. Apart from a relatively small group of middle/upper class elite in Bangkok, nobody uses credit cards. This is still a cash based economy, (even cheques are rarely used outside of the business world), - and if you don't fit the banks' standard criteria, why bother with you?

None of my business, but I don't really understand why you are so bothered about having a credit card? If you carry 20,000 baht in your wallet ,(300 quid), it will surely take care of most bills? ATM's are always on hand, and if you are prepared to put up a 50,000 Baht security deposit, surely far better that you use it to pay your bills? Or is it a status thing? or a face thing?

Just wondering.

I agree. I think a credit card is good for using abroad, and for buying high ticket items if you are from the UK, then you have the protection against not getting the goods, the company that should be delivering your sofa going into liquidation etc etc...Why not apply for the Nationwide credit card(if you are from the UK), and set it up for the payment in full every month. There are no charges with this card. Then for paying non-cash in Tesco, Big C etc etc why not use your bank debit card?

Nationwide has since started to charge, however the UK Post Office Credit Card so long as your in credit still does not charge.

But the main subject of current conversation is ATM charges levied by the Thai ATM operators/banks. Anyone know of any ATM operators not charging in Phuket ?

....

Your wife would not be automatically excluded in the event of your divorce or seperation. You have a child together, also, she has a right of appeal, she could also be exempt from some of the process regarding ILR.

Have a look at the Border Agency UK website.

I do know, if the mother were eligible and did remain the in U.K. then she would be awarded custody of the infant, however if she were not or decided to return to Thailand, in this specific case, it is likely the custody of the infant would be awarded to the father.

I had contacted the Border Agency, they require to be informed of the seperation and state an application should be submitted for a new visa as the cirumstances which the existing FLR visa was based have changed. They would not comment as to the likleyhood of a new visa being granted.....

Hello,

In the event marriage is not working and both parties decide to divorce, the wife who is Thai currently is residing in the UK on a two-year FLR visa, has to notify the British VISA section of the seperation and then re-apply for a different visa so that she may continue to reside in the UK.

What is the likelyhood that she would be awarded this visa to continue her residency in the UK once the divorce is complete? does anyone have any experience of such a situation ?

There is a young infant involved, biological daughter of both parties, born in the UK during the marriage.

Regards

Arran.

GBP/USD: The Pound will reach 1.6500 in the Q3, says BNP Paribas

Mon, Apr 6 2009, 09:36 GMT

http://www.fxstreet.com

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) – Pound’s recovery from 1.3655 Mar 11 low seems to be a long lasting one, according to the quarterly currency outlook by BNP Paribas, which forecasts the Sterling to climb towards maximum levels around 1.65 during the current year.

The Pound would continue appreciating against the Dollar, reaching levels around 1.58 at the end of the second quarter to continue climbing reaching 1.65 to close the third quarter. BNP Paribas forecasts some easing on the fourth quarter, in which the Pound will set back to 1.61.

Is Military Service compulsory in Thailand and therefore its citizens must attend ?

Hello Paul (maybe ReefRammer ??)

I found it interesting to read about your adventure, an experience to be had and some.... :-)

Regards

Arran

RYA Day Skipper 2006!

I am fed up with this guy Blanchflower. He has lived in the USA for many years and should be removed from the MPC, but I think he has resigned anyway, so thank god for that.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economi...anchflower.html

Professor Blanchflower also questioned whether the benchmark CPI index was the right tool for the MPC to measure inflation, because it does not take house prices into account.

It is blatantly obvious that when the Labour party changed from using the RPI to the CPI it was a big mistake. And not for the dam_n reason that this <deleted> Blanchflower suggests

He suggested that including house prices could have helped the MPC to justify rate cuts sooner, amid growing evidence that the economy is facing the worst downturn for many decades.

The reason would have been that the MPC would have to have RAISED the rates to PREVENT the bubble in the first place.

But who was the Chancellor who took out the house prices from the equation? Yes, it was that monosighted git from Scotland, Gordon <deleted> Brown, who has now sent us all down the pan.

I am now seriously considering abandoning all prudence and thinking that I should simply take all my money far out of the reach of these bastards and bring it to Thailand, where, in the last decade, I have met so many people who are happy to have me here without trying to destroy what I have, and squander it all in booze and women until there is fukc all left. Then I will head back to the UK and claim all my benefits and support and fukc the next generation in the same way that Brown and his lot are doing.

Is there anything wrong with this plan?

I would probably wait a while, as the £ is likely to strengthen against the baht. Best of luck with the rest of it.

I think that Land & house in Chalong is one of the best places to stay in Phuket. The area is secured and the surroundings are nice and clean.

I know someone who lives on the estate and they have told me that he knows of at least four burglaries this year.

I agree, it is a nice estate, but, don't fool yourself into thinking that it is secure.

Glad to see someone else saying this. We call that "looks like security". It is the security that exists in 99% of all residential developments and high rise buildings in Thailand. Security is by untrained, unmotivated staff that have no idea how to assess a threat or react to a problem. A facade of security arrangements but nothing that would deter even the most amateur criminals. But it allows the developer/management to put "24 Hour Security" in their advertising. Everywhere we've been, they would more accurately be described as "24 Hour Parking Attendants".

That being said, no one in today's world should depend on anyone but themselves for their home security. Yes, the developers have the obligation to make the grounds within the perimeter safe. But the individual homeowner needs to take control of their property and home, inside and out, to ensure that they and their family are safe.

I am considering, not in the near term but rather the medium term, a house purchase in Phuket, probably Chalong, Rawai. I have an infant and Thai wife and am concerned about our safety/security at home and whilst out and about.

I would like to what measures are available to enforce our saftey, and how effective they are.

As I say, I am not looking at purchasing anything today, but am interest to know whats available for later.

After reading the articles in the Phuket Gazette recently, and being mugged myself just out-side patong... The more paranoid side of me can picture myself laying awake at night monitoring the CCTV, with a fully automatic slung over my shoulder, and the remote control in my hand to the remotely operated centuries placed at each corner of the garden... The more intelectual side knows I've watched too many movies, but then again this is Thailand....

Why not go for a Nissan NV small pickup

Yes there good but very small inside

For around the same price you can get a VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT or Audi 80, these cost over double/treble the NV price when new, there are loads For Sale between 85 - 150k fully loaded.

I looked at the Audi 80, they have electric windows x4, electric mirrors, Airbags, seat belt x5. CD player, The NV of this price has NON of these... The NV has airbag and Cd from 2001 @ 200k or more, even a 2007 NV still has NO electric windows, mirrors or rear seat belts and cost over 300k

Same question here...

I don't know myself, thats why I'm asking. Are you not worried / is it not more difficult and expense when it comes to breakdown / servicing and maintenance with European as opposed to Japanese cars in Thailand .

Looking at old and cheap cars for sale is a wearying job ... Full of disapointment and misinformation. Particularly when on a tight budget.

Most of the dealers were more honest in their appraisal of there vehicles than i remember in the UK and were also helpful. Test drives were not a problem. Private sellers were more optimistic about values and perhaps a little forgetful about specification and mileage.

But now its all over..................... now more mags to buy, no internet to trawl for adds for sale. Its bought.

1996 VOLVO 460 AUTO, 1 FAMILY OWNED, 125,000 KM, NOT TOO BATTERED ABOUT BY THE LADY OF THE HOUSE.

ALL FOR 110,000BAHTS

I could not bring myself to buy a Daewoo or Hyundai or late 80's Toyota.

So thanks to everyone for submitting responses to my various posts for information

I don't know myself, thats why I'm asking. Are you not worried / is it not more difficult and expense when it comes to breakdown / servicing and maintenance with European as opposed to Japanese cars in Thailand ?

Does anybody know of any more websites for second had cars ? I currently looking through the following websites ...

www.one2car.com

www.unseencar.com

www.expatmotors.co.th

classifieds.thaivisa.com

www.phuketgazette.net/classifieds/selectad.asp

Arran.

Hello,

Are there any real drawbacks to owning a European Car (Audi Volvo Opel Peuguot etc.) in Thailand (outside Bangkok).

My initial concerns are maintenance and servicing would be difficult and expensive and therefore it maybe more prudent to stay with the Japanese Brands.

Arran.

Scarey, life is cheap in Thailand.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...-champagne.html

A City banker ran up a £43,000 bill on champagne at a London nightclub, including a £5,000 tip for the waitress

That's twice the average UK salary all pi55ed up against the wall in one evening.

How much of that was OUR money?

How much longer will the Brothers stand for this decadence?

another question to ask ourselves 12,is do we in reality have any money in our accounts.sure reading our statements says all is ok,but is it.a lot of people will be thinking of an escape(taking money out)and if that happens on a big scale the banks will shut there doors and slam down the atms.time to hoard a bit of cash at home incase me thinks.

This is known as "A Run on the Bank", which happened to Northen Rock. At that time, the government stepped in and nationalised the bank, for a nationalised bank to fail there would need to be a "A Run on the UK".

I believe the last time there was a run on the country was Zimbabwe ? or another one was Argentina.

Well, I survived and back with more GREAT news from the UK

Britain could be stripped of its prized AAA credit rating as a result of the Government's latest bank bail-out, potentially jeopardising any economic recovery, according to rating agency Standard & Poor's.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbys...arns-SandP.html

Bye bye GBP. won't be easy to borrow from external sources now, will it Brown? OMG does this mean you have to defile even more pristine paper with your WORTHLESS pounds?

And, although not directly related

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...allowances.html

How on earth did this utterly unimpressive woman achieve the position of home secretary? Maybe to make Brown seem more imposing??? :D

Listen to her " I sought advice..". Come on, if she had to seek advice, then she KNEW that her case was BORDERLINE. But <deleted> it's only 110,000 Quid. A mere drop in the vast ocean of billions that Brown is costing the country.

Bring on the Thatchers, Merckles and my AK47.

I am thinking of changing my moniker to 12Kill

Who is Philip Aldrick ?

If you don't mind me asking, are you seeing banks lending again, or is it that they are lending already but they are asking for higher deposits ?

Arran, the banks have always been lending but their stringent criteria has sent thesignal that they are not interested in lending. This has been evident in some take it or leave it rates and fees and also in the loan to value (LTV )criteria. In short, the lenders had virtually cut out 25% of the market for first time buyers and Buy to Let customers - if you haven't got a 20% deposit, don't bother. Decent (relative) rates were only available on LTV's of 60% and under.

12/18 months ago our search systems would have brought pages upon pages of mortgage products at 90% and 95%. Now there are NO 95% products and 90% have been extremely rare.

We are just starting to see a VERY gradual softening - a couple more 90% products have appeared.

We can debate the rights and wrongs of 95% mortgages and obviously everyone can sleep more easily (borrower and lender) if LTV's are restricted top 80%. It doesn't get the market moving though, and the UK needs that stimulus because it fliters down to agents, brokers, DIY stores, carpet retilers, white goods etc, etc, etc.

Lenders will start to poke their heads out from under their shells but it will take time. People with cash will fare well - buyers now appear to be creeping back as THEY consider that buying now represents good value.

I'm a buy-to-let investor with a portfolio of properties, all are on base-rate trackers +0.49%, which as you can imagine are doing very well.

I was figuring property prices will bottom out when they hit 3.5 times earning as they once were, before banks offered 5 times earnings to compete for the business.

Do you have an opinion on where the BOE base rate will rise to once inflation returns ?

The indications of increased activity are borne out by reports from local agents who say that they are now seeing a few first time buyers and buy to let investors returning to the market. My mortgage broking business had been lucky to get a couple of enquiries a week over the last 3 months. We have seen 6 customers in last 3 days. I am not getting excited - relieved, certainly because we can now trade above break-even.

If you don't mind me asking, are you seeing banks lending again, or is it that they are lending already but they are asking for higher deposits ?

The higher the deposit, the lower the interest rate and the faster the banks move - there's no problem with banks mortgage lending money, none whatsoever, but the days of lending 105% of a sinking value are thankfully long gone. Put down a 40% deposit and the banks will fight a path to your door.

Its just the people (like first time buyers ) with 5% or 10% deposits that currently have a problem getting mortgage?

Has anyone experience of hiring a car from Thai Rent A Car

I just got back from Thailand where I had two trips to BKK and one to Phuket, on all 3 occasions nobody was at the airport to meet me, only when I called the number and waited 10 to 15 minutes did someone come.

The Returning of the cars, in phuket it was ok because the you return the car to just across the road from the Airport and the office is always maned, but the BKK returns, the first return I was waiting 15 minutes for someone to come and the second return I waited 45 minutes, bearing in mind I had a flight to catch....

Any longer and my only option would have been to leave the keys in the car and go.

The indications of increased activity are borne out by reports from local agents who say that they are now seeing a few first time buyers and buy to let investors returning to the market. My mortgage broking business had been lucky to get a couple of enquiries a week over the last 3 months. We have seen 6 customers in last 3 days. I am not getting excited - relieved, certainly because we can now trade above break-even.

If you don't mind me asking, are you seeing banks lending again, or is it that they are lending already but they are asking for higher deposits ?

All the business news from Japan today is as gloomy as the west. Do you think Japan is about to crash and will Thailand follow

another new thread which is as superfluous as the tits of a nun

maybe a chocolate radiator ?

Already crashed. Will it crash more? Why wouldn't it?

But something, somehow, keeps the Yen strong. Why is that?

The yen is strong because of the carry trade, but yes Japan is in a serious Crisis. Falling population and no natural rsources other then fish and brain power.

The YEN current strength is due to the reversal of the carry trade.

Up until recently most central banks interest rates were above 5% with only the BOJ interest by far the lowest at .5%, speculators and institutions took advantage of this by borrowing in JPY and buying commodities, ie selling the JPY and buying Oil, Gold etc or just another currency, ie the carry trade. This caused mass SELLING of the JPY, this weakened the YEN.

Now, these same speculators and instituations have sold their positions in Oil, Gold and other currencies and returned the money the JPY, ie BUYING of the JPY, which has caused the YEN to strengthen. Just by how much it has strengthened goes to show the amount of JPY that was loaned out.

Therefore the current YEN strength is to do with mass in-flows of money to the YEN.

Its the same reason the USD is so strong also, but there banks have been recalling the loans from hedge-funds and investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Meryl Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns who have either gone bust or changed their status to Normal Banks, which has basically meant they can no longer leverage their positions by 30 times but only 12 times, which in-turn meant caused mass selling of positions in equities and commodities and in-flows of money from these sales returning to the USD, ie USD BUYING.

You are so naive it's got to be a troll post. You must have fund managers salivating throughout the world. The 'experts' know what they are doing. You read an article. You sit back and leave it to them. In one short post you explain and encapsulate the whole financial crisis in a nutshell. What's the crisis been for if you have learnt nothing?

Apologies, I got the dates wrong, I meant to write....

Bonzor, I came across the fund May 2007, invested in it August/September 08, the article was printed just 4 weeks ago. It was just nice to see a bit a afirmation on the decision. But your right in the sense that nothing is guaranteed and all these gains could dissappear. But they do seem to be doing well :-)

- how would you feel after working for 35 years, saving as much as you can and never in debt, and then hoping to retire "a bit early", only to find in the space of 18 months your wealth has been reduced by 30% and your income from that by another 60%? With no end in sight to the losses and risks of banks and countries going insolvent and defaulting? Cannot happen to you? Hey! That's what I thought.

I'm not sure how long it will take before interest rates go back up, I understand corporate bonds are quite cheap at the moment and yields quite high.

People have not wanted to take the risk but maybe these are a bit too oversold.... if you believe this then, a well diversified corporate bond ETF may prove a good option at the moment to substitute what was the 5% or 6% return on cash?

At least this is what Jim ONiel of Goldman Sachs recomended about 6 weeks ago.

...and if you try to download an informative pdf-file you get the error message "file damaged, cannot be opened".

I have noticed this once before, it was later corrected. I can see it has happened again, a few days ago when I tried it and it was ok, I am sure it will be corrected within the next days.

Also, you could seach google for "Managed Futures", there are a couple of articles which explain them. Tulip is not the only fund in this sector there are others performing well too.

You are so naive it's got to be a troll post. You must have fund managers salivating throughout the world. The 'experts' know what they are doing. You read an article. You sit back and leave it to them. In one short post you explain and encapsulate the whole financial crisis in a nutshell. What's the crisis been for if you have learnt nothing?

Bonzor, I came across the fund May 2008, invested in it August/September 09, the article was printed just 4 weeks ago. It was just nice to see a bit a afirmation on the decision. But your right in the sense that nothing is guaranteed and all these gains could dissappear. But they do seem to be doing well :-)

I came to the conclusion that they know more than I do and are able to transact far quicker than I can. I did a little bit of research on "managed futures" and they do seem to do well in down-turns. Managed futures is a market where a business an airline for exmaple can buy a commodity for example oil at todays price for delivery say next june. By doing this they can eliminate risk and determine a price for their tickets they sell in june. The business buy their oil from speculators, ie these are the same people as the fund that I am invested in, these speculators make or loose their money from these trades, ie they trade risk.

The financial crises has been a "a flow of money" out of equity and commodities back to banks mostly returning to the USD and JPY, and government bonds.

At the moment, we seem to be in a period of deflation as asset prices reduce, and money is being printed, during this time money can remain in low-return risk-free government bonds. However, at some point, due to cheap money, inflation is expected to return, at which point, it will no longer be financially viable to remain in low-return as the inflation will erode the value of money. Therefore at this time, I think we should see some risk taking. Perhaps money, coming out of government bonds going back into corporate bonds.

At some point, money-flow will return to equities and commodities, at which time we should see a reversal in the USD and JPY strength as indices and commodities start to rise, the fx strength of USD and JPY will weaken.

The tranditional recession example explains, the people who keep their jobs, public sector and essentials like tesco, unilever, kraft etc... it is these people we must wait for to consume the excess in inventories which is currently preventing further manufacturing from taking place and therefore delaying further purchasing commodities. As these inventories dissappear, companies will need to re-start manufacturing and will need to re-employ people to do so, at which time, these people with their new jobs will buy those deferred purchases, thus the positive spiral begins...