Changing Banks in Thailand

[johnmell]

How easy is it to change banks here? I am on yearly marriage extensions and if the Bangkok bank wont issue new visa debit cards, will go to one who does.

[TonyClifton]

Why are they saying they won't issue debit cards?  To whom specifically will they not issue cards?

[Swiss1960]

Easy to do... Open a new account with another bank (might take some leg work) and then transfer the money to the new bank and let the old account "die"...

Only thing to be careful about is that you do the change well before the 3 month seasoning requirement for the 400K starts

Sent from my CPH1821 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[allane]

It depends more on the particular branch than on the bank.  Giving your location might elicit replies from those with local knowledge. If Bangkok, give the name of your District, or a main intersection. It is a big city.

[canopus1969]

7 hours ago, TonyClifton said:

Why are they saying they won't issue debit cards?  To whom specifically will they not issue cards?

Everyone, because they will not issue new visa debit cards period  

 

[scorecard]

8 hours ago, Swiss1960 said:

Easy to do... Open a new account with another bank (might take some leg work) and then transfer the money to the new bank and let the old account "die"...

Only thing to be careful about is that you do the change well before the 3 month seasoning requirement for the 400K starts

Sent from my CPH1821 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Transfer the money...

- By normal intra-bank transfers can be quite expensive, but instantaneous..

- You could withdraw it in cash and carry the cash to the new bank. Giant amounts perhaps not safe.

- Transfer by BankNet, an electronic process which banks don't advertise, safe but takes a couple of hours, much reduced fees. 

 

 

 

[Peter Aherne]

Just did this. Opened new account with SCB, transferred everything across online - Charges were only 20/25 baht per transfer. Later went back to BKK Bank and just closed the account, no hassles. 

[Thailand J]

12 minutes ago, Peter Aherne said:

Opened new account with SCB,

My shinny new SCB Mastercard ATM card works for cash withdrawals and is activated for online use, but it does not work at Big C cashiers. SCB told me Big C needs to upgrade their machines...may be one or two months.

[johnmell]

Thanks for all the advice.Sad that Bangkok bank is taking this stance on visa debit cards as in all other respects can't fault them.

[digger70]

14 hours ago, TonyClifton said:

Why are they saying they won't issue debit cards?  To whom specifically will they not issue cards?

Not VISA cards only UNION.

[habanero]

I don't know of a bank in Thailand that I don't have an account with.

[TonyClifton]

Kasikorn and Thanachart.  Both very cooperative.  I wanted to open an account with Bangkok Bank and had one 10 years ago but they won't open one for me.  I asked them as they were handing me 150,000 baht cash.  The cash came off a cash advance of my debit card from USA.  I wanted to open an account to put the cash into, instead of taking a taxi to the mall to put the money in Kasikorn.

 

Mai Dai!

 

Die Die Die I tell them.  Why Mai Dai?  Need your passport authenticated by your embassy.

 

She's telling me this as she hands me 150,000b based upon using said unauthenticated passport to take money off my USA debit card.

 

Stupid.

[cnx355]

3 hours ago, Peter Aherne said:

Just did this. Opened new account with SCB, transferred everything across online - Charges were only 20/25 baht per transfer. Later went back to BKK Bank and just closed the account, no hassles. 

Or he can open a new account in another bank and keep the Bangkok Bank as a secondary account. Sometime you can pay some bills online and the list of payee is different from bank to bank.. It is also a backup  if you loose your main ATM card.

[Jaggg88]

Apparently, Bangkok Bank has bought a 50% stake in Union Pay from its Chinese owners so will no longer be promoting Visa. As your card expires you will be issued with a Union Pay debit card. The only place I've seen accepting Union Pay is HomePro. I will be changing banks. ?

[Langsuan Man]

Between this insistence on issuing the Union Pay card and the new rules for using the New York branch come next April, there are fewer and fewer reasons to continue with Bangkok Bank

[Jaggg88]

5 minutes ago, Langsuan Man said:

Between this insistence on issuing the Union Pay card and the new rules for using the New York branch come next April, there are fewer and fewer reasons to continue with Bangkok Bank

There has been a bank war in the UK and international transfer fees have come down from £30 per transaction to zero    ( my friends UK bank now charge him £9). I can now transfer money from my First Direct account (HSBC) to my Thai bank account with zero fees and I send it in sterling so get the Bangkok TT rate. Then my atm fees are also zero in my area and 20 baht outside my area. Previously I was transferring to a currency debit card and getting a better rate than the BKK TT but incurring a 150 baht atm fee every 10,000 bht withdrawal. BKK Bank in London still charges £25 per transaction.

[Postmaster]

Peter Ahearne.  Could I ask your particular reason for leaving Bangkok Bank ?  I have had an account with them for 10 years and had no problem including on-line banking.Thanks

[Cheops]

7 hours ago, scorecard said:

By normal intra-bank transfers can be quite expensive, but instantaneous..

Why would this be expensive? I use 2 accounts, 1 from BKK bank and 1 from Kasikorn.

Transfers between them are free (no transfer fees since a couple of months) and instanteneous.

Also transfer to most other banks are without costs now.

[Thailand J]

Why close your existing BBL account? It's not like you are allowed to have only one bank account here.

[allane]

Agreed. You can come on here any day and read posts from guys who can't find a bank that will open an account for them. A foreigner should not close a bank account in Thailand unless he is absolutely certain he will never need it again. Even if you are never going to return to that province, having an account with one branch helps to convince another branch of the same bank to open an account for you.

[pmarlin]

villa, Big C and TESCO take UNION cards. All Bangkok Bank customers will have to get new  UNION card by 1 Jan 19 according to their website. I use Bangkok Bank and another bank. I will keep Bangkok Bank for ACH transfers from my US Bank. I then transfer funds from Bangkok Bank to my other Thai bank which has a visa debit card. My wife uses her UNION card every where with no problems but I don't. It has been in my safe since I got it.

[Pib]

12 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

Between this insistence on issuing the Union Pay card and the new rules for using the New York branch come next April, there are fewer and fewer reasons to continue with Bangkok Bank

 

Yeap.  Preaching to the choir I know that at least for U.S. folks possibly the biggest draw Bangkok Bank had was the bank was the only Thai bank to have ACH receiving capability which permitted U.S. bank-to-Bangkok Bank easy and low costs via the ACH transfer system which is the primary funds transfer system used in the U.S. 

 

But like you said that capability is going away 1 Apr 19 for ACH transfers from a person's bank unless a person's U.S. bank can do an International ACH Transaction which U.S. banks do not do for retail bank accounts....they can only do Domestic ACH Transactions.  But fortunately the Bangkok Bank capability for Direct Deposit of U.S. govt payments like social security, military retirement, etc., is not affected....but who knows it might also be affected sometime in the future.

 

Another thing that drew me to Bangkok Bank over a decade ago was the info on their website (in English and Thai) was by far the most informative of all Thai banks...and it's still probably is, but the gap between being the most informative has lessened greatly as other Thai bank websites have improved.    And Bangkok Bank use to put  English "and" Thai fee schedules on their website but they stop that a few years ago....now, most of their fee schedules are in Thai only...but many of the Thai banks do the same thing...but some still provide fee schedule in English also.  When a bank provides their fee schedules in English also it gives me the impression they care about their farang customers.

 

Additionally Bangkok Bank ibanking website hasn't been updated for around a decade, but it still handles a person's basic ibanking needs.  The wife and I have a couple of accounts with two other Thai banks and their ibanking websites are better than Bangkok Bank's.  

 

The UnionPay/TPN debit card fiasco doesn't help either, but the UnionPay debit card can be used in all Thai ATMs and many overseas ATMs; it's just it's not widely accepted yet by merchants in Thailand....but that is slowly improving.  The UnionPay debit card fiasco will just be a bad memory to its customers in another few years.

 

Bangkok Bank is basically still as good as any other Thai bank....it's just I don't thing they are a step or two above like they "use to be."    

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Peter Aherne]

16 hours ago, Postmaster said:

Peter Ahearne.  Could I ask your particular reason for leaving Bangkok Bank ?  I have had an account with them for 10 years and had no problem including on-line banking.Thanks

Simply the fact that they only issue union pay which is pretty useless to me.

For those asking why not keep the BBK account, also simple, I no longer needed it. Maybe I'll regret it in the future if I need another account for some reason but I found it unlikely enough not to bother keeping...