TallGuyJohninBKK

1 minute ago, Pib said:

I've never had a frozen account due to different IPs being detected, but they may throw up a log-on security challenge in the form of a Security Question & Answer you have set up...you know, like what was your grandfather's first name, etc.  Or they will send a security code to your U.S mobile number or your email address....pretty similar to how Google will challenge some logons sometimes.    Heck, a person can get such security challenges when using a different browser...like switching between Chrome and Edge.....or just your browser doing a major upgrade.

No, not like that. And it was Schwab that did it, not the account itself frozen, but access to online banking.  And to restore it, it was the more complicated digging into questions from 10-20 years back in one's credit history file, including asking the date of birth for a former GF 10+ years prior.

And all of that because their system had detected a change in my log-in location. But once I got the digital security token from Schwab, I've never had that happen again for many years. And of course, I try to consistently log-in from the same IP address range whenever possible.

Just now, Pib said:

I rarely use VPN for access any of my U.S. financial accounts such as Schwab.   The only time I use a VPN for banking is when opening a new account to to avoid those banks which may blog-down/slow-down your application due to detecting a non-U.S. IP address and want to ask extra questions.   I also use VPN whenever I want to throw in some extra encryption on top of the HTTPS encryption.

The problem with that is the potential, and this has happened to me, that banks' computer systems tend to track the location of your log-ins, and if they note that suddenly you've logged in from the U.S. vs Thailand or other major changes, they have the nasty habit of freezing your online banking and forcing you to go thru a whole security questions verification process.

Doesn't always happen. But certainly has happened many times to multiple folks here. And best to be avoided.

6 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

State Farm will do unlimited ATM reimbursements if one sets up a direct deposit to that account.

 

Which would make for a very good alternative for the OP and his Social Security direct deposit, if he decided not to go with Schwab for some reason.

3 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

State Farm will do unlimited ATM reimbursements if one sets up a direct deposit to that account.

Otherwise it's $10 max per statement cycle.

 

To access my  Schwab account in the US, I have to turn off my VPN in order to be able to log in using my computer.

I was thinking I'd be using State Farm only while in Thailand due to this, but it's clear that some of you are accessing your Schwab accounts from Thailand and I assume using VPN's.

Perhaps you are using their phone app?

Nope... regular Schwab website. Same for many years now.

What may help with that is either to change VPNs or, even better, to get Schwab to issue you one of their free digital password extension tokens. That gives you a random 6 digit code to add onto the end of your regular password every time you log in.

Once you're using their digital token, their system is much more forgiving about changes and variations in the IP location it detects you to be logging in from.

If you go to Schwab and tell them you're living or plan to live full time in Thailand, you're not going to get helpful answers.

But, if you just mind your own business, think of yourself and act as if you're living in Texas, they'll be more than happy to help you.

Remember the advice I gave you earlier here -- if you want to avoid banking hassles, NEVER tell a U.S. banking entity you've living full-time abroad, and always use a U.S. residence address as the address of record on all your financial business. Yes, sometimes you or some people will get away with using a Thai address. But if you want to AVOID potential hassles, make it easy and go U.S. all the way.

Also, BTW, there's a pretty good business based in Houston TX that does letter mail forwarding from the U.S. to Thailand called USA2Me. Even if you didn't have your sister, or you didn't want to burden her with sending things onward to you in Thailand, USA2Me will give you your own Houston address, and an internet account whereby you can manage/delete/send all your incoming mail.  They have various plans and fees, but on average, you might figure it would run $35-$40 per month for their service and a monthly mail forwarding envelope from home.

BTW, AFAIK, Schwab also offers online bill payment thru their High Yield Checking account, so you could pay your U.S. credit card bills from there. And, if need be, they also have among the best/lowest fees for sending international wire xfers, should you need that at some point.

PS - Sorry, I also should have added this earlier. For doing any kind of U.S.banking business such as opening new accounts, it's going to be VERY helpful if you have a US DL with an address that matches that you're using for your banking. Since when opening new accounts these days, the U.S. banks almost always want to see a copy of a U.S. DL.

2 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

When an officer with Charles Schwabb tells me that I can't have all my money deposited into a Schwabb account and forego those onerous fees, exactly WHAT should be my response????

I'd say, you're a very trusting and believing soul who probably ought to take a bit more initiative to investigate and verify things for yourself vs. believing what anyone tells you. In this regard, the Internet is your friend. Schwab U.S. has a very good and informative website. And if you follow the banking threads here on TVF as well, you'll find a lot of U.S. specific info.

BTW, if you don't like Schwab for some reason (though they probably are the best for what you need), there are other similar options out there like State Farm Bank, though their ATM fee refunds are more limited, whereas Schwab's ATM refunds are technically unlimited.

Fred, I and others here have Schwab U.S. accounts and have had them for years. You don't need to talk to any officer.

If you have a U.S. mailing address, you go to the Schwab U.S. website using a U.S. IP address (like thru a VPN) and can open the Schwab high yield checking account online, which comes with a brokerage account you don't actually need to use.

The U.S. Schwab accounts come with a VISA debit card that has a $1000 ATM withdrawal limit, no foreign currency fee, and reimburses foreign ATM fees. No monthly fees. No minimum deposit amounts. And you most certainly could have your SS or other regular retirement money direct deposited into the Schwab checking account once open.

But, you DO need to use a U.S. residence/mailing address, and you probably DO need to use a VPN or similar when applying online to ensure their system sees you as coming from the U.S.

52 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I think the main point to take from Pib's point above is, especially for a retiree, there is no good way in the Thai banking system to send funds OUT of Thailand and back to the U.S., especially on a recurring and economical basis.

 

Thus, another thing any U.S. retiree to Thailand probably ought to do -- assuming you still have some kind of U.S. residence address you can use -- is to open an account at one of the U.S. banks or brokerage firms that 1] don't charge any foreign currency fee when their debit card is used outside the U.S., and 2] reimburse foreign ATM withdrawal fees such as the current 220b charged by most Thai ATMs.

 

Entities like that are Charles Schwab, State Farm Bank, Fidelity and a few others, depending on your personal circumstances and location.  In that way, you pretty much have unlimited access to your U.S. funds just by withdrawing them in baht from any Thai ATM, usually at 20,000 to 30,000 baht per withdrawal. One or two withdrawals per month ought to be enough to cover most people's cash needs here.

 

And if your personal needs go beyond that for some reason, as some threads here lately have noted, the private service Transferwise can be pretty economical for sending money from most U.S. bank or CU accounts to any bank in Thailand, especially for smaller amounts.

 

 

Advice #2

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

OP, this shouldn't be so complicated.

 

It sounds like you have some expenses owed/paid in the U.S., and then others owed/paid in Thailand. And two or more different sources of U.S. income -- Social Security, state retirement and annuity...

 

So if it were me, I'd arrange to have enough of my income sources direct deposited into my U.S. accounts to cover my U.S. expenses and pay my U.S. bills out of that account. And then I'd arrange for my Social Security or whatever to be direct deposited into Bangkok Bank, and use that to pay my Thai expenses. Or whatever combination of income sources and deposit locations is appropriate for your needs.

 

The notion of trying to have everything sent to Thailand and then turn around and try to pay U.S. bills out of a Thai bank account is probably a non-starter in practical, economical terms.

 

This whole subject also has been complicated a bit lately by BKK pulling some funny business with their longstanding New York branch ACH transfer system that MAY have that system not working currently for US bank ACH transfers to BKKB accounts in Thailand.

 

Advice No. 1

12 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

Wrong. I have set up two accounts with Charles Schwab both before I left and after I came here. A phone call to the office made it clear that they are a service for investors and traveler, NOT for people residing permanently in another country. He told me emphatically that the Schwabb account was not suited to what I needed.

Fred, sorry to say, you have A LOT to learn about the subtleties of relocating from the U.S. to Thailand.

And one of those things is, when it comes to U.S. banking business, you NEVER have moved to Thailand, and you ALWAYS remain living in the U.S.  You can visit as often as you want, but when it comes to U.S. banking, you've never moved here -- unless you want a lot of hassles and trouble.

Do you understand what I'm saying? It's not that you can't relocate to live in Thailand. You can. But, you should never tell or admit that to any U.S. banking entity, and instead, keep all your U.S. banking business tied to some kind of U.S. address for you.

BTW, Schwab has an entire division devoted to international/non-U.S. investors, but those accounts are not quite as advantageous as the U.S. Schwab accounts. You're a U.S. citizen with a U.S. passport. You're entitled to open a Schwab account and you can do it yourself entirely online, as long as you can present some kind of U.S. mailing address.

7 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

I realize that now, but when I first came . here I got two different answers from two different Immigration officials, one of which agreed with the "internet guru". It's clear why the process is so confusing. Even paid government administrators cannot be relied upon to give accurate information.  Thanks for your comments.

One of the problems with Thailand is there often can be variations from one branch or office of the same bank or government department, including Immigration.

There are SOME Immigration Offices outside BKK that members here report at times asking for proof of SOME funds regularly coming into Thailand. The BKK Immigration Office doesn't do that. But there may be a few others that do.

That said, that doesn't mean, if you happened to be staying in one of those oddball areas, that they'd be demanding that you direct deposit your entire SS check to Thailand. Just that you have some documented proof of income coming here... presumably, to help convince them you're not a criminal.

But in answer to your comment, one of the things anyone moving to Thailand from the U.S. should learn very quickly is -- all kinds of people here from shop owners to business reps to government officials CANNOT  be relied upon to provide accurate info.  That's the unfortunate reality, because either they don't know or aren't willing to admit they don't know or they know wrong.

47 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

OK, when I came here, I was led to believe that I HAD to have my Social Security deposited into Bangkok Bank in order to get a "retirement visa". Apparently that is NOT necessary unless I were using the bank deposit method, which I am not. I just get my income verified by the Embassy and get my extension every year.

To qualify for the Income method at the U.S. Consulate for a Thai retirement extension, the funds don't have to come to Thailand. They can be earned in and stay in the U.S. no problem.

To quality for the bank deposits method for a Thai retirement extension, the required 800,000 baht has to be on deposit in a THAI bank account. But that has nothing to do with where you deposit your SS to. As long as you have 800K in a Thai bank account, you can handle your SS however/wherever you like.

I think the main point to take from Pib's point above is, especially for a retiree, there is no good way in the Thai banking system to send funds OUT of Thailand and back to the U.S., especially on a recurring and economical basis.

Thus, another thing any U.S. retiree to Thailand probably ought to do -- assuming you still have some kind of U.S. residence address you can use -- is to open an account at one of the U.S. banks or brokerage firms that 1] don't charge any foreign currency fee when their debit card is used outside the U.S., and 2] reimburse foreign ATM withdrawal fees such as the current 220b charged by most Thai ATMs.

Entities like that are Charles Schwab, State Farm Bank, Fidelity and a few others, depending on your personal circumstances and location.  In that way, you pretty much have unlimited access to your U.S. funds just by withdrawing them in baht from any Thai ATM, usually at 20,000 to 30,000 baht per withdrawal. One or two withdrawals per month ought to be enough to cover most people's cash needs here.

And if your personal needs go beyond that for some reason, as some threads here lately have noted, the private service Transferwise can be pretty economical for sending money from most U.S. bank or CU accounts to any bank in Thailand, especially for smaller amounts.

55 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

Apparently, I did not make it clear that I am making credit card payments from my credit union account. I have not been able to determine if I can set up the same arrangement with Bangkok Bank. Even when I took .a translator, they were babbling about "work permits" when I told them I was RETIRED. Communicating with Thais has been a very difficult thing for me, even with a paid translator. They seemed not to understand that I wanted to have my state retirement and annuity deposited there just like my Social Security. Then the issue of making payments came up. I simply could not determine if I could have all my money in Bangkok Bank and still transact business. I take debts seriously.

OP, this shouldn't be so complicated.

It sounds like you have some expenses owed/paid in the U.S., and then others owed/paid in Thailand. And two or more different sources of U.S. income -- Social Security, state retirement and annuity...

So if it were me, I'd arrange to have enough of my income sources direct deposited into my U.S. accounts to cover my U.S. expenses and pay my U.S. bills out of that account. And then I'd arrange for my Social Security or whatever to be direct deposited into Bangkok Bank, and use that to pay my Thai expenses. Or whatever combination of income sources and deposit locations is appropriate for your needs.

The notion of trying to have everything sent to Thailand and then turn around and try to pay U.S. bills out of a Thai bank account is probably a non-starter in practical, economical terms.

This whole subject also has been complicated a bit lately by BKK pulling some funny business with their longstanding New York branch ACH transfer system that MAY have that system not working currently for US bank ACH transfers to BKKB accounts in Thailand.

7 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

I can't believe 12 boys between 11 & 16 yrs old, need to be taught how to swim !! That's pretty shocking IMO..

Add to that teaching them how to use dive gear, swim through tight squeezes and not panic !!!

This ain't over by a long shot..

Lets just hope no more rain comes their way too soon, need to get them all out and safe..

 

 Most Thais I've met and known in my many years here have absolutely been non-swimmers.

Yes, they can walk in the shallow end of the pool or out into the shallow water areas of the beach.

But when it came to actually swimming where they couldn't touch their feet to the bottom, it's usually been a no-go.

Ok, who's the guilty party in Bangkok who was using their cell phone on Wednesday morning on the 2.4 GHz wifi band? 

Come on, fess up!!!  You realize, don't you, that you're sabotaging the BTS train system... 

Meanwhile, are any of the Thai "journalists" out there asking about the original wisdom of the BTS in planning a radio control system for their train network that operates on the same massively used 2.4 GHz bandwidth as wifi transmitters, phones, microwaves, etc etc....???

11 hours ago, OliverKlozerof said:

Has anyone ever seen this? Since the online system has been so flaky, the last several times I've gone back to mailing in the 90-day report forms. This has always worked fine. But, on the last "notification" I received, they stamped, "Next time, please send 15 days before the due date" on the form. I swear I had sent in the forms with plenty of time to arrive more than 15 days before the deadline. I'm wondering if I sent it in TOO early?

I had prepared everything in advance at home in BKK, and mailed the envelope from south of Hua Hin when I thought the time was right. I assumed it would only take a few days to reach Immigration...it doesn't seem like mailing it from outside BKK would take much longer than posting it from in town, but I wonder if that was the problem?

Did you send it via a method that allows the envelope to be tracked online and thus tell you exactly if and when it was delivered, such as EMS?

That's always a good plan when it comes to sending time sensitive things to Immigration.

Villa Online in BKK today has all half dozen or so varieties of Mainland cheese they stock listed at 219b per.

2 hours ago, CLW said:

That caroline dairy products are becoming a good alternative here to imported items / brands.
I can remember a few years ago there were no local cheese or dairy products available at all.
Started with Yolida yogurt, then they had sour cream, cream and butter.
Now cheddar, cream cheese and mozzarella from Caroline.
They also make 3 kinds of delicious yogurt in 500g cup. Altough it is not available at Big C yet where I do my regular shopping.
Some Tops branches have them.

Foodland and Villa in BKK, and sometimes Tops/Central, are carrying Caroline's brand of yogurt these days, including what strikes me as a very good fat free plain Greek Yogurt in the large size tubs.

7 hours ago, mstevens said:

 The Vintage variety has been out of stock in New Zealand since late last year so any stock available in Thailand has probably been on the shelves or in a warehouse / in storage for rather a long time.

Why would NZ be out of stock of its own brand of cheese?  Did the cows go on strike???

7 hours ago, webfact said:

U.S. intelligence agencies believe North Korea has increased production of fuel for nuclear weapons at multiple secret sites in recent months and may try to hide these while seeking concessions in nuclear talks with the United States, NBC News quoted U.S. officials as saying on Friday.

 

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that North Korea does not intend to fully give up its nuclear arsenal and is considering ways to hide the number of weapons it has. It also reported Pyongyang has secret production facilities, according to the latest evidence they have. 

Are these the signs of a NK regime that really intends to honor its supposed commitment to denuclearize its nation?  Or at least, the commitment that man child Trump "thinks" he got from NK....  I would say the answer to that is likely unequivocally NO!

It's another telling sign that Trump basically got suckered, which is no surprise.  To be fair, nothing wrong with TRYING to get an agreement for NK to denuclearize. But going in basically cold and seemingly with little understanding or appreciation for the long, tortured political/diplomatic history that preceded the recent summit was a recipe for U.S. failure.

Yet I don't think that bothers Trump much. All he wanted was the transitory publicity and the appearance of a win, at a time when pretty much everything in his administration is going to hell in a handbasket. Well, he got the appearance of a win, and some temporary fuel for the numbskulls advocating him for a Nobel peace price.  But I think it's pretty clear Kim and NK have other plans.

On 6/28/2018 at 7:59 PM, CLW said:

Today I used one of the old red MRTA busses line 29. The card reader seems to be running and ready. Fingers crossed the system is working soon.
What about the private concession busses such as #29, 44 and 8.
Will there be also card readers installed?
BTW, I never understood the reason or purpose for outsourcing some bus lines.
Anyone has some background information on this?

I was in the MRT Sukhumvit station over the weekend, and corralled one of the MRT ticket agents there. Her English wasn't great, but was enough to tell me that NO, I couldn't buy/get a Mangmoom card from them, and that if I wanted one, I'd have to go to the Purple line.

At least, she didn't answer that, "No, you are farang. Can't have one." But that omission may or may not have been a telling one in her case.