What is the best American bank for someone living in Thailand?

[4evermaat]

 
........
 
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.
 

So how about people who were ALREADY signed up for ACH transfers to BKB New York branch?

Are all those people out of luck?

Or is it just for new ACH deposit applications?



Sent from my ASUS_X00ID using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just now, 4evermaat said:

So how about people who were ALREADY signed up for ACH transfers to BKB New York branch?

Are all those people out of luck?

Or is it just for new ACH deposit applications?
 

 

 

That's a good question that I don't think either I nor Pib know the answer to right now, I mean, regarding folks with pre-existing transfer links already established. There's been some considerable discussion on that very point in a different thread here.

 

I happened to do a BKK Bank NY xfer a couple weeks ago with a pre-existing link, and it went thru fine. But that was about the time we first noticed the changed wording on the BKK Bank website re NY xfers.

 

I don't recall seeing any post here from anyone more recently reporting success or failure with a NY xfer. Nor do I recall anyone posting here about having contacted BKKB HQ directly, getting someone more knowledgeable than a routine CSR, and trying to get a straight answer as to what's going on.

 

It's on my bucket list... Just haven't gotten there yet.

 

Edited July 5, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[lopburi3]

5 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

That's a good question that I don't think either I nor Pib know the answer to right now, I mean, regarding folks with pre-existing transfer links already established. There's been some considerable discussion on that very point in a different thread here.

 

I happened to do a BKK Bank NY xfer a couple weeks ago with a pre-existing link, and it went thru fine. But that was about the time we first noticed the changed wording on the BKK Bank website re NY xfers.

 

I don't recall seeing any post here from anyone more recently reporting success or failure with a NY xfer. Nor do I recall anyone posting here about having contacted BKKB HQ directly, getting someone more knowledgeable than a routine CSR, and trying to get a straight answer as to what's going on.

 

It's on my bucket list... Just haven't gotten there yet.

 

I did a USAA transfer from long established account on Sunday and it arrived at noon Tuesday so worked normal.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just now, lopburi3 said:

I did a USAA transfer from long established account on Sunday and it arrived at noon Tuesday so worked normal.

 

Thanks Lopburi.... That's very good news to hear.

 

Still, it would be good/helpful at some point, particularly looking toward the future, for someone to find out directly from BKKB what they mean by the changed language they're now using on their website re NY branch transfers.

[Pib]

Regarding the ACH transfer issue to Bangkok Bank and possible changes, I think the two below recent threads give good insight on that.    I shouldn't say "possible" changes because I'm fairly sure it has indeed changed for folks trying to setup new ibanking transfer links when using the trial deposit method.   And the Bangkok Bank website no longer gives details instructions on how to set-up such transfers...instead they now have below statement.

 

 

 

But for setup of new transfer links using the non-trial deposit method,  transfers from "established" ibanking links, and direct deposit such as govt benefit payments/pensions there does not seem to be any change (yet).

 

Below are the two mentioned ThaiVisa threads

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

As you correctly pointed out, there are at least 3 different but related issues going on with the BKKB transfers issue.

 

1. is the ongoing BKKB route for transferring Social Security or other government retirement funds as direct deposits to Thailand

 

2. is the ability for folks to set up NEW bank account links via the BKK Bank NY Branch  for ACH transfers to Thailand.

 

and 3. is the ability of folks with EXISTING account links via the BKK Bank New York branch to do transfers to Thailand.

 

Re #1, I doubt BKK Bank is going to void that current service, and would expect it's going to continue, even if some changes end up being required on the sending entity's parts.

 

Re #2, I'm not sure what to say about that at present, given the absence of guidance from BKK Bank.

 

Re #3, as Lopburi and my own recent experiences show, people with pre-existing BKK Bank NY are still able to do those BKKB NY transfers NOW... But the language on the BKK Bank website seems to raise some questions about that moving forward.

 

[chingching]

If you plan to be an expat and are still living in the USA, open as many bank accounts as you can.  I left the u.s.a. 20 years ago, and had a great bank, but it went belly up.  It now seems only some credit unions for ex-military personel will let you open an account online.  For all other banks like Bank of America etc etc, you need to show up in person.

I had one other bank account that was o.k. for a while, but then my usa address went away, and also my debit card expired.  Now you need a debit card to make a new electronic bank transfer.  

What's been a saviour for me, is Coinbase. They will let you open an account online, register your U.S.A. bank, and withdraw from that.  With the money in the coinbase account you can buy btc or eth and send that anywhere u need funds.

 

[bubba45]

Don't feel bad, my Thai wife has trouble communicating with Bangkok Bank.  These banks are great, until you have to go speak to someone.  They're archaic.

[suzannegoh]

12 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

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.

 

I think that your approach of always using a VPN is prudent.  It might not always be necessary but you never know what information financial institutions are harvesting when you log on and there’s always a chance that at some point in the future they will get more serious about figuring out which of their customers live outside of the US.  I might be being paranoid, but Fidelity does restrict accounts of people who are no longer resident in the US and I’d rather not have them ask me “why do you log in only from Thailand if you live in Florida”.  And while they might noticed that I’m using a VPN, a certain number of people living in the US use VPN’s too so I don’t think that would raise suspicion in itself.  So I always use a VPN when connecting to US financial instutions, make sure that I don’t have DNS leaks, make sure that the timezone of my PC’s clock matches my US “residential address”, etc.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

29 minutes ago, suzannegoh said:

make sure that the timezone of my PC’s clock matches my US “residential address”, etc.

 

I'm aware of this particular practice, but I've never really done it, except in a few rare instances.

 

Do you leave it like that all the time, or just change it when you're doing online banking?

[jcates29]

The OP's first post indicated his Social Security (I assume from the US) check is direct deposited into his Bangkok Bank account.  Later in the post he explained he is trying to move his funds from Bangkok Bank to a US Credit Union account from which he pays his credit card.

 

It is well known that moving money from Thailand to the US is problematic.  The obvious solution seems to be to change the SS direct deposit from Bangkok Bank to the Credit Union, where it will be available to pay his bills.  Then he can move his funds to Bangkok Bank as needed using a domestic transfer.  My own US Credit Union charges nothing for the transfer to Bangkok Bank and I set it up as a recurring transfer.  

Edited July 6, 2018 by jcates29

[IAMHERE]

18 hours ago, KhunFred said:

My state retirement payment and my annuity payment remain with the credit union and can be accessed with a debit card.

How about changing which 'retirement' money goes to which account? Send the social security to your credit union, send the annuity payment to Bangkok Bank New York.

[lopburi3]

8 minutes ago, jcates29 said:

Then he can move his funds to Bangkok Bank as needed using a domestic transfer.

But he also said this was an issue and that he has been unable to set up such transfers in OP.  As said he should probably focus on changing this SS payment to his current US account with will then take care of any emergency credit card payment requirements.  He can then either set up transfers via ACH or use current bank cards to withdraw funds here for living expense.  It may take several months for SS to make change (do not receive myself so have no knowledge).

[suzannegoh]

30 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I'm aware of this particular practice, but I've never really done it, except in a few rare instances.

 

Do you leave it like that all the time, or just change it when you're doing online banking?

I intend to switch it back to the Thai timezone when done with my banking but I often forget to do so.  The easy way to do it in Win10 is to create batch files or just type from the command line:

To change to US East Coast timezone:
tzutil /s "Eastern Standard Time"
 

To change to Thailand’s timezone:
tzutil /s "SE Asia Standard Time"
 

To see what timezone your system is currently set to:
tzutil /g
 

To get a list of all valid timezones:
tzutil /l

Edited July 6, 2018 by suzannegoh

[chingching]

1 hour ago, suzannegoh said:

I think that your approach of always using a VPN is prudent.  It might not always be necessary but you never know what information financial institutions are harvesting when you log on and there’s always a chance .

Would you seriously think, if they cared about your ip address, that they do not also cross-reference ip addresses of VPN's.  There really aren't that many of them.  They already have a list of every 'mailbox etc',  private mailing address, and can immediately tell you if the address you are giving them is not a real residence. 

[IAMHERE]

13 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

But he also said this was an issue and that he has been unable to set up such transfers in OP.  As said he should probably focus on changing this SS payment to his current US account with will then take care of any emergency credit card payment requirements.  He can then either set up transfers via ACH or use current bank cards to withdraw funds here for living expense.  It may take several months for SS to make change (do not receive myself so have no knowledge).

Depends on which day of month you do the request, I've always found SS pretty much does their thing quickly. However SS is not really friendly use to those outside the USA internet wise. I've found using a VPN to access the ss site works. 

Again, depends on which VPN you use.

[carken]

Been in Thailand 12 years ... I set up USAA Bank account on line (no need to go to brick/mortar building in person) I've been using USAA bank for 6 years ... In my 80 years of life I find USAA Bank easiest bank ever to do business with .... they even give U back ATM fees that Thai bank/ATM chrges U (up to $15) . I cannot now or ever find anything negative or bad about USAA Bank.

 

Use your USAA Bank ATM card here in Thailand to immediately withdraw any/all your funds in your account ... or withdraw some and ACH transfer balance of funds into secondary US/Thai bank .... U are limited to 20,000 Baht on any or all ATM withdrawals, but you can do 1, 2, 3 or more withdrawals every day if U need 2. Depending on the daily withdrawal amount limit/ceiling  that U and USAA Bank decide on

 

USAA Bank also allows U to use your address here in Thailand as a home address on your account ... that way when ATM card expires your new ATM card will arrive at your Thai home B4 current ATM card expires

U should have ALL your monthly funds sent to your new USAA Bank account and go from there for easy distribution to where ever you want/desire by using debit card or credit card or ACH

 

USAA Membership: USAA Now Open To Non-Military Folk!

http://www.budgetsaresexy.com/usaa-now-open-to-non-military-folk/

USAA is now open to the general public.

 

Once U R a member USAA Bank even has a special page that you can find information on any of the services they offer ... not sure but U may be able to access this page B4 becoming a member
    Payments
    Pay Bills
    Get an Official Check
    Reorder Checks
    View Payment Activity

    Insurance
    Get Proof of Insurance
    Visit Claims Center

    Real Estate & Vehicles
    Home Value Monitoring
    Property Risk Assessment
    My Vehicles

    Deposits
    Make a Deposit
    Deposit at ATM
    Reorder Deposit Envelopes & Slips

    Investments
    Get a Stock Quote
    Market News & Research
    Transfer a Non-USAA Investment
    Withdraw from Your IRA
    Retirement Calculator

    Transfers
    Transfer between Accounts
    View Automatic Transfers
    View Transfer Activity
    Add an Account
    Manage Accounts
    Wire Transfer
    View Wire Transfer Activity

    Documents & Forms
    View My Documents
    Get USAA Forms
    Send Documents to USAA

    Budgeting & Goals
    Paycheck Planner
    Track Money
    Budget
    Goals
    Savings Booster
    Financial Readiness Score

    Credit Cards
    Credit Card Cash Advance
    Credit Card Balance Transfers

    Security & Priv

[lopburi3]

7 minutes ago, carken said:

USAA Membership: USAA Now Open To Non-Military Folk!

http://www.budgetsaresexy.com/usaa-now-open-to-non-military-folk/

 

USAA is now open to the general public.

Did you read that link?  They closed it to general public 5 years ago.

Quote

*UPDATE: As of August, 2013, USAA’s banking no longer open to non-military ? It’s unfortunate that USAA membership is restricted. See comment #19 by USAA Rep John Hancock down below (yes, real name! :))

 

[Khun Falang]

The simple answer previously mentioned, to use Charles Schwab is a good one. Schwab can transfer money for you from your account by using a "standing order" for wire transfers. You have to call them each time. At least I do. But I believe that it is possible to have regularly scheduled transfers. If your account at Schwab is a small one, there may be a charge of $25.00 per wire transfer. Schwab has both, Brokerage accounts, and at Schwab Bank, bank accounts. Check those out.

 

For a simplistic system may I suggest the following:

1). Your Social Security check will be deposited into your Bangkok Bank here in Thailand.

2). All other deposits in the US will go into, lets say, Wells Fargo checking account. They have a very user friendly on line Bill Pay. Use that to make all credit card payments. Simple and easy.

3). If you do not have a permanent mailing address in the US, sign up for on-line statements. You will never need to worry about statements lost in the mail. Although, in order to open the account there, you will definitely need a US address. But once setup, you are Scott free. 

 

When I am in BKK I use my BKK Bank account with my ATM card for withdrawals. I use my US Chase credit cards for credit card charges. Many of Chase cards are now "no foreign transaction fees" cards. To pay my credit cards, whether in BKK or in the US, I log into my Wells Fargo account and make payments to my credit cards via the Bill Pay. Keeps things simple.

Edited July 6, 2018 by Khun Falang

[Media1]

18 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

I had a similar problem several years ago when I set up my account.

Call Bangkok Bank and get a good English speaker on the phone and ask them the exchange/amount that was transferred.

Go from there.

BKK bank are in the US I think 

[lopburi3]

7 minutes ago, Media1 said:

BKK bank are in the US I think 

No the exchange is done in Thailand so contact with the Thai Bangkok Bank is the way to obtain the required information.  Call hqs rather than a branch.

[kolohe]

With regards to transferring money to Thailand, I would recommend using Transferwise. They are an online money transfer service (also have an app for your phone). They are way cheaper than WU, MoneyGram, or SWIFT transfers through from a bank. They ACH from your bank, they have really good exchange rates. They do charge a service fee but their exchange rates are so much better than the others that you come out ahead even if WU/MG has a cheaper fee. When you start setting up the transfer they give you a rate quote that is guaranteed for 24 hours. As of this writing, I can transfer USD to THB for 11.90 in fees and I would have a guaranteed rate of 33.21000. Here is a referral link that gives you a free transfer: https://transferwise.com/u/seang141

 

As other's have suggested, I would recommend Charles Schwab. I saw you were having trouble creating an account. You should be able to do it online, just make sure you're signing up for the "checking account" and not the brokerage account (you probably already know this but mentioning just in case). $0 to open, no min balance and unlimited refunded ATM fees. I signed up for mine online as well. 

 

Using Transferwise you can just have all your money sent to any US bank you want, transfer what you need every month to Thailand with the Transferwise app and be done with it.

 

 

[suzannegoh]

Would you seriously think, if they cared about your ip address, that they do not also cross-reference ip addresses of VPN's.  There really aren't that many of them.  They already have a list of every 'mailbox etc',  private mailing address, and can immediately tell you if the address you are giving them is not a real residence. 

They can tell that you are using a VPN but they cannot tell where you are when you are using a VPN. But go naked if you're that sure of yourself.

[Sheryl]

Personally I do not bother with Bkk Bangkok and ACH transfers, far more trouble than it is worth in my case.

 

Although I could qualify for the monthly income criteria for retirement extension I don't use it, I use the 800k method instead. I don't live in Bkk and this saves me having to go in to get Embassy letter each year; I can get everything I need for the extension locally.

 

I have a Thai bank account (Kasikorn) and pay all Thai bills out of it.

 

I have a US acct in a US bank and pay my credit card bills (US cards) and other US bills out of it. AnNuity, pension, and soon SS all direct deposit into US acct.

 

Once a year, at least 3 months before my extension of stay expires, I transfer money from my US bank acct to my Thai bank acct in amount sufficient to ensure total balance will be above 800K come extension time. (Swift code transfer). I pay a regular transfer fee for this but it's just once a year and comes to less than the trip to Bkk to use the income method would cost me taking travel and hotel into account.

 

Note that one does not need to transfer in 800k a year, just replenish to 800k. The most difficult part is forecasting the needed amount for 3 months ahead.

 

My US and Thai accounts are not linked except for that once a year transfer.

 

Works fine. the only potential disadvantage I can see for anyone is you do need to be able to afford fronting the initial 800k and then replenishing to that amount annually. So not possible if really living hand to mouth with no financial buffer.

 

Sent from my SM-J701F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

 

[Sheryl]

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. The ATM charges are outrageous unless you are withdrawing the entire amount at one time. Throughly confused now after thinking that I had it figured out. That's what I get for relying on a YouTube "guru" for information. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I still don't know if I can accomplish what I need to do by having all my money here. The officials at the branch that I went to seemed to be telling me that I could not have my other retirement payments transferred here,(which is hard to believe). On the USA side, my annuity said it was just a matter of providing them with information. Same story with my state retirement. The problem seems to be very bad information on the Thai end from bank officials who are used to dealing with working expats. 

You do NOT have to have your SS deposited into Bangkok Bank to use the bank deposit method; you do not even have to be getting SS. You just need to transfer 800k from abroad initially into a Thai Bank account. How you do that is up to you as is the source of the funds.

The reason many people use Bkk Bank is to avoid usual bank transfer fees which will indeed add up if doing monthly transfers. However if doing just one transfer a year this cost is not so much. See my post above.

Sent from my SM-J701F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[lopburi3]

6 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

You just need to transfer 800k from abroad initially into a Thai Bank account. How you do that is up to you as is the source of the funds.

I would caution not to use a Thai domestic transfer for this purpose (Transferwise) as that could be questioned as local income without a work permit as there would be no proof of foreign origin on the deposit.  Not sure anyone has ever had a problem but believe caution is best path.  

[kolohe]

9 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

I would caution not to use a Thai domestic transfer for this purpose (Transferwise) as that could be questioned as local income without a work permit as there would be no proof of foreign origin on the deposit.  Not sure anyone has ever had a problem but believe caution is best path.  

Never had a problem using Transferwise. They also have full, detailed records and receipts available that prove where the money came from. 

[suzannegoh]

Would you seriously think, if they cared about your ip address, that they do not also cross-reference ip addresses of VPN's.  There really aren't that many of them.  They already have a list of every 'mailbox etc',  private mailing address, and can immediately tell you if the address you are giving them is not a real residence. 

About using a remailing service as your "residential" address, I agree that that's a vulnerability. A few years ago TD Ameritrade sent letters to customers using such addresses asking them for a real physical address. And sometimes when applying for new accounts remailing addresses will raise a flag and they will ask you for a real address. Thus far, Fidelity and Chase seem to not be bothered by pseudo-residential addresses but that could change.

[ThaiWai]

Do the direct deposit to the credit union not BKK. Only send to BKK when you need to. 

[lopburi3]

13 minutes ago, kolohe said:

Never had a problem using Transferwise. They also have full, detailed records and receipts available that prove where the money came from. 

There is nothing on the Thai bank account indicating foreign transaction and indeed it is not a foreign transaction - they are bypassing normal banking international transfer systems - and for normal expense money it works fine.  I would urge caution for money used for extensions - just as you would not want to use such a service for money to buy property here.