TallGuyJohninBKK

My last two online 90-day reports to BKK CW have both resulted in me getting the next reporting date form exactly 3 business days after my online submissions.

I was going to be back and edit to do just that...but then I saw you beat me to it! ????

Answering Sponge's question... Thanks for posting the links!

Both VISA and MC have corporate websites where you can calculate their foreign currency exchange rates for any given day, and they also include a feature that allows you to build in a bank foreign currency fee (x%) if the card you're using happens to have one.

Some still do, and others don't... And it isn't even down to one bank company vs another... It gets down to the branch level, where one branch will and another branch of the same banking company won't. Typical Thai banking shenanigans.... In my experience, it simply means having to shop around from branch to branch until you find one that will do what you wish.

The network rate is the rate used by VISA or MC on that day...which is the rate that such a counter withdrawal transaction should go at... The only reason there would be any variation between Cap 1 and Schwab is Visa vs MC... The Schwab debit card is a VISA card. I thought the Cap 1 debit card might be a MC, but I haven't had one for some time, so not sure anymore... The only other reason there would be a difference would be if the bank was taking some cut via a fee... which I know for certain Schwab does not.... I can't speak as authoratatively re Cap One, because they have many different products and versions of things within their operation.

From what I've encountered, a common scenario seems to be that U.S. DMVs will allow the first renewal to be done remotely, but then the 2nd renewal often needs to be done in person. Common DL durations seem to often be 5 or 6 years... So you would only face having to show up in person every decade or so.... if you're lucky!

I think every US bank or CU that I've ever opened a new account with in the past decade has wanted my DL or state ID details as part of the application process.... I remember one time, I tried using my US passport # in lieu of my DL number, which that bank's system supposedly allowed. And in the end, that bank ended up contacting me once I had submitted the application and demanded that I provide the DL info, even though they already had my passport info. The DL has address info on it. The passport does not.

On my most recent cycle, I had one bank call me up and ask if my DL info had changed. Haven't had any contact or issues on the subject of the DL from any of the others. But it certainly would arise...if you were needing to open a NEW account in the future.

I was able to get my state DMV to extend my existing license's expiration date by one year... on the basis of being abroad and not willing to travel at the time due to COVID. You might call them up on the phone and see if they'd be willing to grant you an extra year because you're working / traveling, etc abroad.

I think the difference you're addressing is mostly that between prepaid phone plans and postpaid phone plans... I've run into the same block, sometimes, with my free Google Voice number and even my prepaid TM $3 a month number.... Which is why I also keep a postpaid Ting (TM MVNO) number for those relatively rare instances where the others aren't accepted. A postpaid account is usually tied to a particular residential address, whereas the prepaid numbers aren't necessarily so.

--You need to use a debit card that has no foreign currency conversion fee. --You need to find a Thai bank branch that actually will handle the counter withdrawal instead of refusing and pointing you to their ATMs. --I'm not sure that there's a single, one-size-fits-all limit on the amount of counter withdrawals that Thai banks will handle... The actual maximum may vary from company to company. --the exchange rate used should be whatever the VISA or MC network rate is for that day... although you might want to avoid SCB for that purpose, as they used to use their own lower rate instead. Also, make sure to bring your passport, because it will be required as part of the transaction.

With Schwab, the daily ATM limit typically is around $1000 US. If doing a counter withdrawal/electronic debit, the daily limit could be much larger, assuming you have the funds available in the checking account and subject to whatever limits the Thai bank may impose.

I'm always amazed (no, not really!) at how often criminal suspects somehow manage to escape from Thai police raids, especially drug raids, even when seemingly surrounded.... There must be some magic involved!

There are a few, with Schwab and Cap 1 being the most prominent, I'd say. I think Fidelity's cash management card may also have the same benefits, but you have to have a brokerage account with them to get it, AFAIK. And then there are indeed a handful of smaller localized banks and credit unions that offer the same.

Using a Schwab bank debit card in Thailand, either for an ATM withdrawal or a counter withdrawal, incurs NO fees from Schwab whatsoever -- no cash advance fees when using their debit card, no foreign currency fees and Thai bank ATM fees reimbursed in total. That's why it's one of the best bank cards available for foreign travelers, either short-term or long-term... ????

Credit cards generally charge cash advance fees... Debit cards generally don't, although there might be some rare exceptions for debit cards.

Withdrawing funds from your checking account with a foreign VISA or MC debit card via a Thai bank counter withdrawal generally incurs no cash advance fee... Because, it's your own already deposited funds that you're withdrawing -- not like a credit card where the bank is extending you what is effectively a temporary loan of their funds until you repay the balance.

Funny you mention that... With Kennedy's wacky and falsity laden anti-vax creds, he just might draw some votes AWAY from Trump, who in the end, did get the vax himself! ????

I was there at BKK CW a week ago, and made the mistake of taking the blue express bus from the government complex that travels along CW Road out toward the expressway and then back toward Victory Monument. Took a good 20 minutes of crawling bumper to bumper traffic at about 3 pm in the afternoon to get from CW Road at Soi 7 onward to the expressway entrance. Not doing that again!!!

He's a walking misinformation fruitcake.... An embarrassment and shame to his family's name and heritage.

Dilemma for Judge in Trump Case: Whether to Muzzle the Former President ... "When the prosecutors raised some of the former president’s recent social media posts, including one warning that “death and destruction” could follow if he were charged, Merchan asked that Trump refrain from making comments that were “likely to incite violence or civil unrest.” But after the hearing, Trump returned to Florida and to his old habits, calling the district attorney, Alvin Bragg, a “criminal,” and Merchan “a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family.” ... When prosecutors raised the subject of the social media posts from Trump, Merchan’s response — asking Trump’s legal team to warn the former president against making such comments — seemed to reflect the judge’s intention to exercise his authority in stages. “This is a request I’m making,” he said. “I’m not making it an order.” https://news.yahoo.com/dilemma-judge-trump-case-whether-115552996.html One might hope, under the circumstances, that Trump will keep his gaping trap shut regarding comments on the judge and the court during the pendency of his criminal case.... But, I'd think it unlikely that will end up being what is to come.

That's a Good Friday celebration I can entirely do without... 100% nutters!

One of the other media reports I read on this incident seemed to be saying that all the age 18+ women bar workers that the police rounded up in this raid were being taken to the police station to be interviewed for information regarding the criminal case against the two primary suspects -- not because the young women themselves were underage.

And further from AFP (Agence France-Presse): Published on Friday 27 January 2023 mRNA vaccine cannot transfer through meat consumption "Articles and social media posts claim people can inadvertently receive messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines by eating meat from inoculated farm animals. This is false; experts say that is not how mRNA vaccines work, and there are no such shots approved for livestock in the US." ... "There is no scientific basis for the claim that if someone was to consume meat or other tissues from an animal that had been vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine, it would enter their body," Timothy Mahony, a professorial research fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation's Centre for Animal Science in Australia, told AFP on January 25." ... "The mRNA in mRNA Covid-19 vaccines is broken down by the body within a few hours of vaccination," the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told AFP in a January 23 statement. "If mRNA Covid-19 vaccines are given to livestock animals, they would not be present in animal products at the time of consumption." https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.337U7PW