Large amounts - Safe places/accounts to use?

[mja1906]

I'll be receiving a large sum of money transferred from abroad (4mil THB) to my Siam Commercial Bank account. I will probably use this in the future to buy property here. But until I do, are there any secure bank accounts or high interest accounts I could move the money into? As I've heard stories of people not trusting Thai banks with large sums of money here. Thanks

[Langsuan Man]

If you think that there is any chance that you will use the money for the purchase of a condo in the future then you had better worry more about obtaining a Foreign Currency Conversion or Foreign Exchange Transfer form than what bank to use

 

Without said form, later on if you want to purchase a condo in the foreign quota you will have to send the money back out of Thanland and then back in to obtain the form, easier to get the form and not use it, than to never obtain the form in the first place

 

You just tell the sending bank to state that the funds are for the purchase of a condo in Thailand  

[scorecard]

Like in any country spread your money across several banks, funds etc.

[mja1906]

23 minutes ago, Langsuan Man said:

If you think that there is any chance that you will use the money for the purchase of a condo in the future then you had better worry more about obtaining a Foreign Currency Conversion or Foreign Exchange Transfer form than what bank to use

 

Without said form, later on if you want to purchase a condo in the foreign quota you will have to send the money back out of Thanland and then back in to obtain the form, easier to get the form and not use it, than to never obtain the form in the first place

 

You just tell the sending bank to state that the funds are for the purchase of a condo in Thailand  

Thank you. Yes, I"m aware of the FET form. They might not buy a condo though, they might purchase a house but put it in my Thai relatives name, and the Thai relative will lease it to them. So in this case, I'm not sure if an FET still applies? Is an FET only used for these purposes? 

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, mja1906 said:

Thank you. Yes, I"m aware of the FET form. They might not buy a condo though, they might purchase a house but put it in my Thai relatives name, and the Thai relative will lease it to them. So in this case, I'm not sure if an FET still applies? Is an FET only used for these purposes? 

It doesnt matter what you may or may not do.

 

Get the FET form and keep it safe. If you need it you will be glad to have it, and if you never need it you have lost nothing.

 

As for bank deposits, they are covered by deposit protection insurance:

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/Accounts/Pages/InfoDepositProtection.aspx

 

Common sense rules about eggs and baskets apply, obviously.

Edited August 5, 2018 by KittenKong

[janclaes47]

2 hours ago, mja1906 said:

Is an FET only used for these purposes? 

I think a FET is also very handy in case you want to take the money out of the country in the future.

[dotpoom]

10 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

If you think that there is any chance that you will use the money for the purchase of a condo in the future then you had better worry more about obtaining a Foreign Currency Conversion or Foreign Exchange Transfer form than what bank to use

 

Without said form, later on if you want to purchase a condo in the foreign quota you will have to send the money back out of Thanland and then back in to obtain the form, easier to get the form and not use it, than to never obtain the form in the first place

 

You just tell the sending bank to state that the funds are for the purchase of a condo in Thailand  

Very useful information...thank you. I never knew you could get an FET and "keep it on hold".

   PS. To the OP. I sold my house, put a chunk of the money in a TMB...savings a/c (can still get it out anytime without much difficulty). I kept it to around 1 MB....because of something I read on here a few years back about what happens if a bank goes bust. The general opinion was that you probably would be guaranteed up to the sum of 1 MB.

Edited August 6, 2018 by dotpoom

[Suradit69]

10 hours ago, mja1906 said:

As I've heard stories of people not trusting Thai banks with large sums of money here.

I'd be more worried about the many western banks that have collapsed or have had to be propped up or bailed out by governments. 

 

"Stories of people not trusting Thai banks" are mostly works of fiction concocted by people who have never seen "large sums of money" and think that Thai bashing makes them sound worldly wise.

 

 

 

 

[KittenKong]

13 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

I'd be more worried about the many western banks that have collapsed or have had to be propped up or bailed out by governments. 

Some Thai banks are sitting on huge piles of totally worthless debt. They keep it on their books because without it their solvency would not be clear.

 

At least the western banks are writing the bad debt off.

[Seeall]

12 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

If you think that there is any chance that you will use the money for the purchase of a condo in the future then you had better worry more about obtaining a Foreign Currency Conversion or Foreign Exchange Transfer form than what bank to use

 

Without said form, later on if you want to purchase a condo in the foreign quota you will have to send the money back out of Thanland and then back in to obtain the form, easier to get the form and not use it, than to never obtain the form in the first place

 

You just tell the sending bank to state that the funds are for the purchase of a condo in Thailand  

Last few years the land office funny about exact wording, like realestate, leasehold, freehold...  a pain to get it changed.. of course..

[Seeall]

1 hour ago, dotpoom said:

Very useful information...thank you. I never knew you could get an FET and "keep it on hold".

   PS. To the OP. I sold my house, put a chunk of the money in a TMB...savings a/c (can still get it out anytime without much difficulty). I kept it to around 1 MB....because of something I read on here a few years back about what happens if a bank goes bust. The general opinion was that you probably would be guaranteed up to the sum of 1 MB.

Thais tell me SCB less chance of cash go walkabout... 

[Grumpy Old Man]

Mrs GOM has worked for the SCB for over twenty five years and holds a very good position within the SCB; we both have accounts with the SCB including my "Foreign Currency Accounts" she would never risk our financial portfolio where she didn't trust the banking system.

 

In my opinion the SCB as a banking institution is a good as it comes.

[KKr]

put it in a Bank that is a member of the Government Deposit Insurance system.

[Lacessit]

The Thai government guarantees up to 1 million baht in deposits from any one depositor. The OP needs to spread his risk over 4 banks.

[macahoom]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

The Thai government guarantees up to 1 million baht in deposits from any one depositor. The OP needs to spread his risk over 4 banks.

 

Sorry, but this is incorrect.

 

The current guarantee is 15 million Baht and will remain in force until 11 August 2020 when it will be lowered to 1 million Baht.

 

Whether or not the government would pay out if called upon to do so is another matter, of course.

[macahoom]

11 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

Sorry, but this is incorrect.

 

The current guarantee is 15 million Baht and will remain in force until 11 August 2020 when it will be lowered to 1 million Baht.

 

Whether or not the government would pay out if called upon to do so is another matter, of course.

 

I need to correct my post above:

 

It looks like they’ve moved the goalposts again:

It’s 15 million baht until August 10 2018.

Then, until Aug 10 2019, it’s 10 million.

Then, until August 10 2020, it’s 5 million.

After that: one million. 

 

 

[khunPer]

16 hours ago, mja1906 said:

...(4mil THB) to my Siam Commercial Bank account. I will probably use this in the future to buy property here. But until I do, are there any secure bank accounts or high interest accounts I could move the money into?

I had about same amount transferred some years ago, to be kept a while for building a house here.

 

The bank deposits are guaranteed for several million baht at the moment – it's slowly lowering and will reach 1 million baht in a few years – I'm not up-to-date with the present amount.

 

A high interest 12-month fixed deposit in major banks is at the moment 1.4% to 1.5% p.a. from which 15% tax will be withheld, .e. net interest about 1.2%. You can claim the interest tax back, if your Thai income is under taxation level.

 

You can place your money in two or more banks, to make sure you're under the guarantee limit.

 

Using a 12-month fixed deposit has that disadvantage, that you shall plan when you need your money, as if you withdraw before the end of a 12-month term, you loose your interest for that term.

 

Another possibility, which I was advised to use by my banks, is to deposit the money in a mutal fund, a so-called Fund Book, which most banks offers. You can find a "safe" fund combined in bonds and cash, that will give you an accumulated annual interest in level of around 1.5% (plus/minus). When withdrawing you sell your funds at daily rate, and there is no taxation, nor deduction of interest. I used that method, and had a nice little extra top-up.

 

I have links for three bank's Mutual Fund web-pages (in English), but I believe most, if not all, Thai bank has a similar product. For your information, here are SCB (Siam Commercial Bank), and Bangkok Bank, and K-Bank (Kasikorn Bank).

?

[janclaes47]

51 minutes ago, macahoom said:

It’s 15 million baht until August 10 2018.

Then, until Aug 10 2019, it’s 10 million.

Then, until August 10 2020, it’s 5 million.

After that: one million. 

I wonder what's the logic/reason for lowering the bank guarantees, where in other countries I believe they rather increase them.

 

Are we missing something and is the storm already approaching at the horizon?

[khunPer]

9 minutes ago, janclaes47 said:

I wonder what's the logic/reason for lowering the bank guarantees, where in other countries I believe they rather increase them.

 

Are we missing something and is the storm already approaching at the horizon?

No, the very high guaranty originated from shortly some banks collapse during the 1997 financial crisis, where it was important to keep trust in the banking system and the remaining healthy banks.

[janclaes47]

Just now, khunPer said:

No, the very high guaranty originated from shortly some banks collapse during the 1997 financial crisis, where it was important to keep trust in the banking system and the remaining healthy banks.

Then why lower the guarantees if those banks are so trustworthy ?

 

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, macahoom said:

 

Sorry, but this is incorrect.

 

The current guarantee is 15 million Baht and will remain in force until 11 August 2020 when it will be lowered to 1 million Baht.

 

Whether or not the government would pay out if called upon to do so is another matter, of course.

You are correct. However, I wouldn't wait around until August 2020. What happens if the government accelerates the guarantee reduction process?

[Just Weird]

17 hours ago, mja1906 said:

I'll be receiving a large sum of money transferred from abroad (4mil THB) to my Siam Commercial Bank account. I will probably use this in the future to buy property here. But until I do, are there any secure bank accounts or high interest accounts I could move the money into? As I've heard stories of people not trusting Thai banks with large sums of money here. Thanks

You've "heard stories" about the regulated Thai banks being untrustworthy with large sums of money (you think B4m is a lot to a Thai bank?) yet you're prepared to take advice about where to securely invest your "large amount" form Thaivisa posters?  Geez..

[khunPer]

2 minutes ago, janclaes47 said:

Then why lower the guarantees if those banks are so trustworthy ?

That I cannot answer.

 

Probably it's just returning to "normal level". If you compare to Europe, the gurantee level is 100,000 €, which relative would be around 1 million baht, or little less. You cannot compare by exchange rate only, you need to include salaries and living standard, and also numerous other figurs, so in general it should be around 1/5th of the Europen level.

[Just Weird]

6 hours ago, Suradit69 said:

I'd be more worried about the many western banks that have collapsed or have had to be propped up or bailed out by governments. 

 

"Stories of people not trusting Thai banks" are mostly works of fiction concocted by people who have never seen "large sums of money" and think that Thai bashing makes them sound worldly wise.

Lovely!

[Just Weird]

3 hours ago, Grumpy Old Man said:

Mrs GOM has worked for the SCB for over twenty five years and holds a very good position within the SCB; we both have accounts with the SCB including my "Foreign Currency Accounts" she would never risk our financial portfolio where she didn't trust the banking system.

 

In my opinion the SCB as a banking institution is a good as it comes.

...i.e. just as good as the rest of them.

 

As bank employees are usually not permitted to hold accounts at other financial institutions for prevention of fraud concerns, of course, she would say all that, wouldn't she?

Edited August 6, 2018 by Just Weird

[jimn]

I will send you my bank details via PM. I can take care of it for you until I need it.

[KittenKong]

8 hours ago, janclaes47 said:

Then why lower the guarantees if those banks are so trustworthy ?

People with large deposits are considered to be fair game for a haircut in case of bank failure.

[bumpkin]

why transfer the sum into Thailand until you need it ?  Most Western countries have easy-access accounts offering better rates than many Thai banks.

[user343434]

17 minutes ago, bumpkin said:

why transfer the sum into Thailand until you need it ?  Most Western countries have easy-access accounts offering better rates than many Thai banks.

in Germany you get about 0.2 to nothing for your deposit on your saving account and the banks just thinking to take fees for having an account at their banks.

 

Looks like we have mixed up the trustworthiness a bit.

Since almost now 15 years I am here and the Thai baht was always strong compared to the wobbly EUR..

 

I have done most of my pension cash in Gold, goes up goes down but cannot get bankrupt especially since the Bar Ladies want every 4 month a new mobile phone and notebook.. 

That's where the Gold goes in. Gold is not the necklace anymore its an industrial product.. 

[NCC1701A]

On 8/5/2018 at 10:06 PM, mja1906 said:

Thank you. Yes, I"m aware of the FET form. They might not buy a condo though, they might purchase a house but put it in my Thai relatives name, and the Thai relative will lease it to them. So in this case, I'm not sure if an FET still applies? Is an FET only used for these purposes? 

so who's idea was it to bring the money into the country?