Pib

Ask for a Credit Advice (a.k.a., Advice of Credit) document.

That's good to hear.....I expect your application will now be expedited....wouldn't be surprised if good news arrives within days. But one thing is still unclear to me from your initial detailed 7 Jan post and that is why "29 Jan" is such a key date....why did BOI recommend you last day of work be before "29 Jan?" Why not 15 Dec, 10 Jan, 20 Jan, 10 Mar, etc. Just trying to figure out why 29 Jan seems to be a key date....maybe a date that is key to BOI and for whatever reason they (or another govt agency) is waiting until at least 29 Jan before giving the final stamp of approval. As FYI, back in late 2022 when I got my LTR Pensioner visa it took almost 60 days "calendar" days from submission to endorsement/approval (on a Friday)....and then it was actually stamped into my passport the following Monday as I didn't waste no time in making an appt on that Friday for a Monday morning appt. Fortunately I live in Bangkok and the BOI is only a 45 minute Bangkok traffic jam away. During the first approx 30 days or so all I could hear was crickets.....practically no movement thru the process--or at least it appeared that way from monitoring my online LTR acct. I did start making calls around the 30 day point...made calls around twice a week trying to find out what might be delaying things since BOI's goal to fully process a LTR application is 20 "business" days which is about 28-30 calendar days. BOI did ask for additional docs one time regarding the medical coverage which I provided/uploaded within hours same day...this was around the 35-45 day point if memory serves me right. Once again, crickets for about a week....then the damn broke one day period where they asked via email for the latest copy of my passport...I provided such via email....then a few hours later I then got the endorsement/approval notification...I could now make an online appt....immediately made an appoint on that Friday afternoon for the following Monday when I got the visa stamped into my passport....a nice Christmas gift. Since the LTR program first started accepting applications on 1 Sep 2022 mine was processed during the early months when the program was still going thru growing pains...BOI/govt agencies getting MANY applications and also adding and/or taking away some flexibility like exactly what they would accept to prove medical coverage, etc...this surely slowed things down somewhat as "actual applications with all kinds of docs generated in different countries" surely caused BOI to do some adjustments in what was acceptable prove and what was not. When a person's application seems to just be Lost in Space, not moving, etc., it's quite understandable that it creates worry and frustration when critical dates are approaching like maybe a person's current visa expiring, etc. Good luck...hope the coming few days results in LTR approval. And if deciding to go to BOI as you exit the elevator on the building's16th floor turn left to the BOI office...if turning right out of the elevator you go to the BOI/Chamchuri Sq Immigration Office. BOI and their immigration office are side by side...only a few steps apart on the 16th floor.

They will show as Bahtnet (BTN) since the last leg of the international transfer was a Bahtnet domestic leg vs an Intetnational (FTT) transaction the whole way. Now it will be up to your servicing immigration office if they accept the BTN coding or other docs like your SSA benefit/payment letter as proof of the payment coming from the US. If not, you will need to get a Credit Advice from the bank that initiated the last leg of the IDD transfer which would be Citibank (the US Treasury contractor for Thailand IDD payments) "if your receiving bank can not provide the Credit Advice or similar transaction report." A Credit Advice will show the entire trek of the transfer to include its starting point as proof it originated outside of Thailand. Generally, Thai banks don't charge a fee for a Credit Advice if requesting within 3 months of the transaction.

I don't think of you in that way at all. 😉

I assume the 30K privilege is already showing in your ReverSharger app which means you would have provided the necessary info already to include the VIN number of the BYD vehicle you own. If the privilege is showing then it should just be a matter of charging that vehicle (vs another vehicle) to get the free charging (i.e., a credit deduction from the 30K)....and of course picking that specific privilege as the payment option.

The ReverSharger app did "not" accept my Bangkok Bank Mastercard debit card although the card is accepted in 5 other charging apps I use. The ReverSharger app did accept both US credit cards I frequently use...and ReverSharger now has a Wallet where you can add funds via PromptPay which eliminates the need for any card unless you want to pay for charging via card vs via Wallet. I expect you couldn't use BYD 30K credit because it's my understanding that credit is "linked to a specific VIN of a BYD vehicle you own;" can't just charge any EV like someone else's non-BYD vehicle "or" probably even another BYD vehicle. https://www.reverautomotive.com/en/news/friend-gets-friend-campaign

Yes, it does....but it's invalid for BYD vehicles. See below earlier post.

Tony and Patrick....an interesting company which apparently specializes in selling/setting up/maintaining laundrymat and EV charging locations for anybody (you, me, anybody) that wants to open a small laundry mat or EV charging location. At their website they say they have opened over 20 charging locations in Thailand (one of them the Chiang Mai location in Andrew's above post). More and more companies are offering this type of service where they sell/install/service a charging station that you might want to open at your main business, your house, an apartment building, out in the sticks, etc. https://www.tony-patrick.com/ https://www.tony-patrick.com/ev-charger

Yea...when using some website/app like Plug & Share or Charge Loma you can find MANY chargers listed that are small AC chargers (e.g., 7KW chargers) at small resorts/hotels, maybe a person's driveway, etc.,....just another way to hopefully make a few baht and provide a service to a customer. But even those sites/apps don't list on the AC/DC chargers Like shown at the bottom some small resort north of Chiang Rai which has some wall chargers. I expect no app is used....you just pay the charger owner directly, just added to your hotel bill, etc. Places like this are fine like if staying at the resort, you plug-in over night, the 7KW wall charger will add about 10% SoC per hour, and come next morning as you check-out & continue your trip you have a full charge. But for a "quick" charge as you drive along to your next destination, well, unless you want to set at a 7KW charger for hours & hours to top-up at around a 10% SoC per hour it would sure add a LOT hours to finally reach your destination. But if the EV battery is almost empty (and the driver can usually only blame himself for letting it get that low....and I not implying anything) then a 7KW wall charger slowly pumping out electrons is surely a big relief.....surely feels better than standing next to a dead EV along while calling for Roadside Assistance....while mentally cussing yourself out for letting the battery get too low. Best to find a DC charger of at least 50KW capability (preferably at least 100/120KW) so a person can top-up a lot faster....maybe even go from close to 0% to 100% SoC within an hour or so depending on your EV's charging curve capability...preaching to the choir I know. Signing up with say at least three different major charging networks/apps like say PTT, PEA, EA Anywhere, EleXa, Altervim, ReverSharger, etc., is the way to go as their apps will provide the latest info/location of their AC and DC chargers.....Tony and Patrick's chargers will not be listed. 😀 In my opinion if a person only signed up with "one" of the major charging networks/apps for long trips that one app should probably be PTT EV Station Pluz as PTT stations are pretty much everywhere. Many of them have EV chargers (whether their main road sign show an EV Charging mini sign or not..be sure to use their app to find their chargers---don't just relay on EV Charger signs). PTT is still adding more and more chargers at many of its stations and usually PTT stations are one of the best places to stop to take a bathroom break, get some food, maybe even a little shopping, etc....a lot of PTT are almost like small strip malls. But the PTT app don't have a Wallet/QR payment options....must pay with a debit/credit card...but they do accept Thai and foreign cards...and remember a charging app can't control the possibility of your "card-issuing bank" from declining a payment transaction even though you initially got the card successfully added as a payment option in the app. But using a card issued by a Thai bank should be accepted 100% of the time assuming you initially get it loaded in the app as an approved payment option. Once again...preaching to the choir I know....this is really meant as cross-feed for others who are considering buying an EV and concerned about being able easily charge on long trips....what charging networks/apps are "customer-friendly, easy to use, etc."

I like PEA chargers a lot also. They use to Autocharge (i.e., start charging automatically without needing to scan a QR code) just fine with my Atto but the last two tries of the last few months the Autocharge would not work....and I had Autocharged activated in the PEA app. Had to use the QR start method. I've only used Altervim once back in Jan 2024 for a few KWHs at my nearby Lotus...only wanted to confirm my Altervim app setup actually worked in a real world test....and that test did work. I used my Bangkok Bank Mastercard debit card for payment....and used my Pink Thai ID card 13 digit number for tax ID. Never tried seeing if it would also accept one of my U.S, credit cards for payment....but even if I had tried to load one of my foreign cards and it was accepted by the app that does not necessarily mean the US card will "approve" an actual payment because it might think this foreign online transaction could be fraudulent as that happens a lot. I had that problem with the new PTT app just a few weeks ago when the US bank issuing the credit card would "decline" the attempted payment although it had been accepted in the PTT app. But the "decline" did not lock my card....I called the bank later that night to discuss the issue and they said the attempted payment was declined because of the billing company in the app was a brand new company (not PTT but the billing company they were using), it was an international transaction, and it was for a small amount since I was just doing a quick test....those multiple things triggered a decline flag. The coded my account that this particular billing company is to be accepted for future payments....but I have not done another test to confirm. I don't particularly like those charging apps that only offer payment via card and don't offer the wallet option also....now, I still use them but I just wish they also offered the Wallet payment option. Now if you have "Thai" card loaded as a payment option in any Thai charging app and done at least one successful payment then a person is good-to-go for future payments based on my experience with a half dozen different Thai charging apps. BUT using an app that also offers payment via Wallet that you top-up via PromptPay is definitely best to ensure payment will be successful since the charging app already has your money in the charger's wallet and just deduct payment that way. No need to worry about a payment being declined. But hey, even in the ReverSharger app when they added the Wallet capability recently apparently payment via Wallet at "Susco stations" was not working back in late December....don't know if they got the resolved or not....OR, it was just Susco deciding they didn't want to be paid via Wallet...only wanted payment via debit/credit card. I don't know why some charging apps don't offer a Wallet capability also. Instead, they just offer payment via card. In the "previous/old" PTT EV Station Pluz app in the Payment Options area they showed "Payment via QR Code Coming Soon" which probably meant a Wallet capability topped up via PromptPay QR code capability" just like the PEA, ReverSharger, and EA Anywhere apps have. But when the "new" PTT app came out in December the app's payment option area no longer showed Payment via QR Code Coming Soon"....I guess they decided against doing what they said they were going to do. The coming soon never came. Oh well, It is what it is.

Below is what my ReverSharger app showed for Red Pin with Golden Rings in the Chiang Mai area "before I cleared the app's cache" this afternoon. Notice there are no Red Pin "with golden rings" as compared to the snapshot in Andrew Dwyer's post a few posts up where his snapshot shows 2 locations with golden rings at Bangchak stations. Strange my app simply was not showing the Bangchak "with golden rings" until I forced it to by clearing the app's cache. I expect Red Pin with golden ring locations actually started showing in the app since around 25 Dec and/or 1 Jan when the ReverSharger new promotion kicked off. However, the locations were only showing when a person's app on "their phone" was working properly. I expect there is a bug in the app causing this problem on some phone models.

Yeap....you be right....it's in the promotion "fine" print....see promotion partial snapshot at bottom Now, here's a long-winded story for you. This morning when I first (and quickly) read your post and glanced at your image on my phone when I was at the mother-in-law's house I didn't notice some of the red pins "had gold edges" in your above image. And me not noticing (i.e., tuning out) the red pins "with golden edges" was probably due to my brain telling me there are no red pins with golden edges showing in the ReverSharger app "yet" for some unknown reason(s). OR, let me rephrase that in saying there were no red pins "with golden edges" showing in "my" phone ReverSharger app except the Susco station chargers and they are not red, but they do have golden edges. I opened my ReverSharger app....looked for red pins with golden edges and only Susco station pins which are "not" red had golden edges....no Red Pins with golden edges "anywhere in Thailand".....once again this is when looking at the ReverSharger app on my phone. I open and close the app multiple times....closely look multiple time.....there are no Red Pins "with golden edges." I check Google Play to ensure I have the latest version of the ReverSharger app and I do. I close and reopen the app multiple times...I even reboot the phone....no Red Pins with Golden Edges. OK, I postpone at response to you until I get home this afternoon and can google some info using my computer. But before I got home I decided to go ahead and test out my ReverSharger "wallet"....I wanted to confirm I could add credits to it via PromptPay. I successfully added Bt100. On the way home I decided to do a quick test to ensure I can indeed pay for a charging session from the wallet. I stopped at the ReverSharger dealership close to home (a Red Pin location I have used many times during the free electrons promotion), plugged in, autocharge started, I then stopped the charging after about 5 kilowatts, I paid from my wallet, but I did not get any discount such as only being charged Bt5.8 vs Bt8.0 per KWH since I'm at Platinum level. Once again I look at the app for any Red Pins with golden edges and there an zero all over Thailand except the Susco pins with golden edges (not many of those charging stations around Thailand). I now continue on home. I'm get home and start googling info on my computer and take a partial snapshot from the ReverSharger Facebook page where it states in the fine print "Red Pins with Golden Edges at Bangchak Stations" is where you get the discount. And then I look at your post again and this time my brain notices some of the Red Pins in your image have golden edges. I open my ReverSharger app again---once again, no Red Pins with golden edges anywhere...even the ones around Chiang Mai shown in your image. Once again, my brain is trying to figure out why your app is showing Red Pins with golden edges but mine is not. I thought maybe you might be using a Apple phone and the app for Apple phones has been updated but not yet for Android phones which I was I use. THEN, I hit pay dirt. I clear the "cache" for the app, reopen the app, and low and behold there are now Red Pins with Golden Edges showing. Probably if I had logged out of and back into the app that would have worked also....but just merely closing and reopening app OR even rebooting the phome didn't help....but clearing the cache fixed my issue. I then noticed there was a Bangchak station Red Pin with Golden Edges only about 5 minutes away. I go to it....charge for about 5 kilowatts and I "do", repeat, do get the discount this time. In the invoice they first charge Bt8/KWH, then apply a discount, then you end up with a Bt5.8/KWH when the invoice dust settles. So, if any of you out there are not seeing any Red Pins "with golden edges" (except the Succo locations) in your ReverSharger app then clear its cache...that what fixed my issue of the missing Red Pin with Golden Edges. Logging out of the app and logging back in might fix it also...but clearing cache fixed it for me on my Samsung S24+ phone. pp

Chonburi is not a Bangkok bordering province so your bank "might" apply an additional Bahtnet fee....you would need to contact your bank to fine out. Just for example below is a snapshot from Krungsri showing their Bahtnet fees. Some banks refer to this fee as a "upcountry" Bahtnet fee which does not mean any bank north of Bangkok but just any bank outside of Bangkok and bordering provinces be it north, south, east or west.

And at 5pm 4 Jan/Saturday only 3 of 18 DC connectors are in use. Yeap...having to pay for the electrons sure cut down on the DC charger use. Just charge at home.

Keep in mind that Bt100 fee is the "basic" Bahtnet fee. If your receiving bank is not in the Bangkok or bordering provinces then your receiving bank "might" addon an "upcountry Bahtnet receiving fee" of X-amount per 10K. This would be hidden fee like the basic fee and also would not appear on your bank statement/passbook/online acct. You can ask your bank for a transaction report on that received payment and it would show all fee(s) the receiving bank applied. Maybe do that one time to confirm the total amount of receiving fees for future use in calculating the IDD exchange rate.

Just took look at 1:17pm 4 Jan at those same 18 DC charging connectors I talked about this morning and only 4 of 18 are now in use. And I wouldn't be surprised if some folks don't know the free charging promotion is over....and then the surprise comes when they get charged for their charging session and wonder why.

Yea....that BBK rate looks good "until" a person includes the Bangkok Bank NY branch $5 to $10 pass-thru fee ($10 for amounts over $2K transfers) and then the in-Thailand bank receiving fee of 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) which lowers the effective rate. More pensioners are shifting to IDD payment since the payment can go to "any" Thai bank with no restrictions on the account and it cuts out doing manual transfers via middle men like Wise.

Not sure what your reference (i.e, source) is for above exchange rate, but it's very close to the Wise exchange rate 3 Jan at 8am of 34.35(see snapshot below) which was the their last exchange rate just before the wife's IDD payment posted to her Thai bank acct a little before 10am 3 Jan. But that Wise exchange rate is before Wise's fees are added in which effectively reduces the rate....fees that amount to about 0.8 to 1%. And even through we are talking exchange rates referenced to a morning of 3 Jan posting to a Thai bank acct we have to keep in mind the IDD exchange rate is based on the US Treasury/its IDD contractor bank actually doing the exchange several business days before the actual payment in order to have THB to make the THB payment. That earlier IDD exchange rate could have been higher or lower than the current day. So we are still talking a little bit of apples and oranges since the exchange rates are actually several business days apart and we do not know exactly how many business days before and what time on on a business day the US Treasure/its contractor make the IDD exchange to top-up their IDD THB money bucket used to make THB SSA IDD payments a few days later. An IDD payment will almost always result in just a "little, repeat, little" less posting to your Thai bank acct in comparison to using the ACH payment method via Bangkok Bank NY brank or using some money transfer service like Wise when exchange rate and fees are fully considered. However, IDD does away with the middleman (like use of Wise) and you can have your SSA payment go to "any" Thai bank without any restrictions like the restrictions placed on a Bangkok Bank account used to received US govt reoccurring payments...and Bangkok Bank is the only bank that can receive ACH payments from the U.S.

Not sure why you are mentioning 33.7165....maybe that what's your "math" shows for "your" monthly payment? Anyway, I just looked at the wife's 3 Jan IDD payment in baht....added in Bt100 to adjust for the BAHTNET fee...then divided by her SSA "Net" Pay for 3 Jan (which she reconfirmed via checking her SSA online acct this morning) and the IDD True Exchange Rate (fee(s) adjusted) worked out to 33.75. Just out of curiosity I took a look at what the wife would have got if you had her SSA Pension first sent to her Wise acct and then she transferred from Wise to her Thai bank acct. I used the Wise exchange rate that was in effect on 3 Jan just before her IDD payment posted to her Thai bank acct. If she had used Wise she would have received approx Bt380 more (this takes in acct Wise fees) than the payment via IDD....a small amount....not worth bothering in using Wise as a middleman.

As of 4 Jan/Saturday morning at 9:50am I just used the ReverSharger app to look at 10 of the dozen of so Red Pin chargers I used during the 5 month BYD free/reduced rate charging promotion. Those 10 chargers had 18 total DC chargers connectors....the great majority had 2 DC connections per charger but a couple only had 1 DC CCS2 connector....that's how I came to 18 DC charging connectors. As of 9:50am only 1 of those 18 DC charging connectors was in use. Normally at least 75%....or around 14 connectors of the DC connectors would have been in use pump-out free electrons to BYD vehicles. Yeap, now there should be no problem finding ReverSharger chargers with available connectors....no queuing....pull right in and plug in----and then pay for those electrons. Well, I'll take that back...according to one of Murphy's Laws all chargers would be in use or broke if you were fast approaching a zero percent SoC. 😁 Appears "Free" does make a difference in charger usage.😜

And this fine morning of 4 Jan my ReverSharger app no longer shows the free charging privilege as active....in fact the privilege is gone...no longer shown. So, the free charging promotion has ended.

Ditto for a coffee/tea/fruit drink shop next to a Bangchak charger here in western Bangkok....a charger I probably did two-thirds of my 80 total free charging sessions at. While charging at this place I saw MANY people (mostly females) who were charging next to me go into the shop to get a sweet, sugar-to-the-max drink drink (paving the way to future diabetes) while their EV was charging Drinks that are way too sweet to my liking...but it seems most females just lover very sweet drinks. Gosh, I hope some anti-EV Youtuber don't make a video blaming the high amount of diabetes in Thailand on EVs. 😜

BYD has apparently did a very recent one day extension/clarification as their previous notice and even their current promotion on the Rever website says it ends at 23:59 hrs on 2 Jan 2023...see below snapshot...as in once the first second of 3 Jan arrives the promotion is over. They probably did this update as there may have been confusion as to whether the promotion ran "thru" or "until" 3 Jan. "Thru" implies all day 3 Jan while "until" implies once the first second of 3 Jan arrives the promotion is over. Anyway, "thru all the seconds of 3 Jan is good." I was at a BYD dealership about an hour ago/early morning 3 Jan and people were still using the chargers like it was free and in the ReverSharger app it still shows the privilege/promotion as "Active." So, a few more hours to get more free electrons. https://www.reverautomotive.com/en/news/sharger-existing-customers-privilege-campaign

Oh yea, for those folks who rely on DC chargers for all/majority of their EV charging and preferred ReverSharger Red Pin chargers due to whatever reason(s) but found those Red Pin chargers usually occupied, well, come tomorrow/3 Jan when those Red Pin chargers are no longer free for the many BYD vehicle owners who were hogging those particular chargers to get free/reduced cost electrons I expect those Red Pin chargers will be easily available....pull right in...no or little queuing.

Well, unless BYD announces an extension of above free/reduced rate charging promotion over the coming hours the promotion ends 2 Jan 2025 at 11:59pm....just a few hours from now. Yeap, when the clock strikes 3 January the promotion is dead. A 5 month and 2 day promotion (it started 1 Aug 2024) that a government spokesperson announced in late July would be a "12" month program, but I guess BYD had a different idea like BYD maybe told the govt they would "think" about doing 12 months and the govt took that as a "for sure" 12 month promotion. Anyway, I topped-up with some more free electron this evening/2 Jan....get my last taste of the free electrons. This was my 80th free charging sessions as I've had very good access to ReverSharger Red Pin chargers in the greater Bangkok area that I typically drive around. I stopped at the Red Pin chargers frequently in my normal, day-to-day travels to the grocery stores, mails, mother-in-law visits, etc.,...and rarely did I have to queue more than a few minutes. In fact, I would say around 95% of the time I did not queue at all because I pretty much would only stop to charge if a charger was available or the charging app showed a charger would be available within a few minutes of me arriving at the charger. About the longest I ever queued (the few times I did) it was only for around 10 minutes. On the "average" I would top-up when having around 70% SoC..but quite a few times I could be starting from over 90%...and one time I started from a SoC of only 8%. I basically would top-up if driving by a Red Pen charger that was open and it was part of my normal, daily driving routine; I "did not" make any special trips just to charge. On 1 Jan when the wife and I went on a 416Km round-trip road trip I added 15% (about a 10 minute charge) of free electrons during the trip to ensure I had SoC-to-spare to get back to Bangkok. And then once getting back home to Bangkok I refilled the electric tank the next morning with free electrons from around 25% % SoC....this promotion paid our fuel bills for our New Years Day drivefest. At Bt8 per KWH, which ReverSharger charged during each session, I got a little over Bt12.3K in free electrons during the promotion. For my BYD EV with a 60.5KWH traction battery (my electric tank size) that amounts to over 1,538 KWH which equates to over 25 tankfuls of free electrons. Starting tomorrow/3 Jan I'll dust off my wall charger and return to charging at home at a total cost of approx Bt5.2 per KWH.