TallGuyJohninBKK

And a lower per withdrawal limit from the AEON ATMs compared with the max 30K baht per withdrawal available from Krungsri and a few other Thai banking company ATMs.

Whether it be Schwab or Fidelity, if someone was using their account / debit card in a way that was ringing up many reimburseable foreign ATM fee transactions every month, especially from the same recurring country, I strongly suspect either of those U.S. brokerage entities would at some point begin asking the customer if they were really living in the U.S., as expected from both accounts.

Anytime the Thai ATM screen is showing you your withdrawal amount in your home country's currency denomination OR the credit/debit receipt that's been rung up for your purchase is showing you the billed amount in your home country currency, that means you're getting DCC'd. Just say NO!

Schwab's U.S.-based account is flat out no foreign transaction fees / domestic and intl ATM fees reimbursed. Service Federal Credit Union is a bit more nuanced, as they require certain kinds of account activity -- such as a monthly direct deposit -- to qualify for their fee reimbursements. And, unlike Schwab, to open a SFCU account, the applicant or someone in their family needs to have some U.S. military service background, OR have joined one of several private associations (which in reality is pretty easy to do). Also unlike Schwab, their ATM and ISA fee reimbursements are not unlimited, but are capped at varying amounts per month. From SFCU: Who Qualifies for Membership? There are many ways to become a member of Service Credit Union! Membership is open to anyone in the below qualifying groups: Active duty military, veterans, and their families Anyone who currently works (or worked) for the Department of Defense, as well as their families Members of one of our Select Employer Groups Members of the American Consumer Council (ACC). Not a member? Visit the ACC online, click “join now” and use promo code “Service” to join free of charge. Members of the Financial Fitness Association (FFA). Not a Member? Learn more about the FFA by clicking here. Ready to join? We’ll help you get signed up! Once you join the FFA, a confirmation email will come directly to you with all of your login credentials. https://servicecu.org/about-us/become-a-member/

I've seen a lot of U.S. issued credit cards up their "cash advance fee" up to 5% lately, from the 3% that was common/typical in the past. That's definitely one you want to avoid for that reason alone, if one's credit card has that kind of fee.

Schwab US has no routine account charges associated with their checking account and VISA debit card. Their main requirement is that you open a free brokerage account with them, but you don't have to actually fund or use it.

In Schwab's case, no, they don't.

And, most certainly, you pay some variety of fees as part of doing the international funds transfer, usually, both from the middleman entity doing the transfer and always also a receiving fee on the part of the receiving Thai bank.

Gotta agree on that one... Not to mention, the likely absence of any air con, and perhaps also the absence of anything resembling a traditional mattress/bed.

I think you could pretty well re-write your list above as follows: ******* ********** = give money. The ***** symbols above reflecting wildcard characters for everything and anything.... ????

See my comment post one above here... on that point.

I've always thought a very important thing a farang finds (or doesn't find) from those kinds of encounters is whether his GF/potential wife is willing to stand up to the various family members and assorted hangers on.... or she just surrenders to whatever anyone wants because you're a farang. In my book, any sensible farang absolutely doesn't want a GF / wife in the latter category.

Yes, the Thai custom with other Thais would generally be to not have a sin sod payment for second marriages. However, I have heard of sin sod requests being put to prospective farang spouses by the Thai side of the family, perhaps assuming that they didn't know any better.

1. For Isan folks, yes, bringing the farang BF home to meet Mom and Dad at their Isan home generally is an indication the young woman is looking for, and the family is expecting, some kind of personal and financial commitment. 2. On the money issue, absolutely nothing wrong with the OP making it clear to the GF and her parents just how far / how much he's willing to do in that regard. And if she / they aren't satisfied with what he's willing to offer, they're free to look elsewhere. However, that said, a relationship with a single mother with two kids who's already (presumably) been asking for financial support from a farang BF she barely knows thus far probably isn't a very good sign of where the relationship is going to be headed for the future.

One trend I'm noticing a lot lately is in what amounts to a studio condo, to call it a one-bedroom unit because they've installed a sliding glass door to partition off the front living area from the rear bedroom area.

By virtue of their recent decision to shut down/cease their online (web) banking presence, I think we'd have to assume the answer to your question above is NO! (at least in terms of regular farang retail banking customers).

Or be enjoying your favorite beer when the police sweep in and require everyone to pee into cups for drug testing.... That definitely would have been the highlight of my vacation! --------------------- A long long time ago, I was at a mostly Thai night club in Hua Hin when the local police arrived to do one of those raids. Of course, all the announcements were in Thai, so I didn't at first understand what was going on..... At time passed, I came to understand what what occurring. I don't and didn't do drugs, so I didn't have anything to worry about. But I also didn't fancy pissing in a cup for Thai police... So, at one point, as the Thais were lining up for their cups, I just walked out the front door and no one stopped me, so I went on my way.... And we sometimes wonder how all too often, the suspects in this or that case manage to evade the surrounding Thai police.

I was looking at a Thai Youtube video of one of those places the other day on a channel catering to prospective farang renters/buyers... Just watching the video made me feel claustrophobic. It looked like if I laid down on the living floor, I could touch one wall with my fingers and the opposite wall with my toes.

For Thai women at least, I don't think lounging in the sun poolside is a big attraction. Need to maintain that white as possible skin tone, as brownish tanned tones are deemed bad here. Maybe at sundown / sunset...

How much video can you shoot/show of the interior of a shoe box?

And in his spare time, the engineer involved does escalator system inspections at Don Mueang... ????

The consistency of their inconsistency is incontrovertibly Thai.... ????

A bit strange how SCB seems be saying they CAN'T do the facial recognition registration for foreigners, but other Thai banking companies seem perfectly capable to do so... Kinda makes one wonder what's going on with that. from @aublumberg 's post above, the different Thai banking companies seem to be all over the map on this one.

Very interesting to read the SCB waiver request language in the attached document, wherein the farang is basically accepting responsibility for anything fraudulent that may occur with the banking app in the future. Not sure agreeing to not hold the bank responsible for anything that might go wrong is such a great thing to do.

I don't really care whether they do or don't allow the rangefinders, speaking as a non-golfer. But it would seem to be a bit of common sense that the rule on such things would best be consistent among the various women's pro tournaments.