Bangkok Bank Foreign Currency Account number

[Pib]

16 minutes ago, thedemon said:

 

I recall (admittedly from quite a long time ago) that if foreign currency accounts are used for that purpose, immigration apply a rather unfavourable exchange rate when calculating the minimum amount that needs to be seasoned. So a decent buffer is needed.

The lowest Thai bank exchange rate is the Notes (Cash) Buying Rate....to play it safe, that's the one people should use when determining how much foreign currency that need to maintain the Bt800K/400K requirement.

 

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by Pib

[JaiLai]

On 1/24/2019 at 1:57 PM, Isan Farang said:

Can any account holders who have a FCD with BB confirm they can view and perform transactions online ?

Confirmed.

 

Not available on phone app though.

[Isan Farang]

On ‎1‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 8:02 AM, longball53098 said:

My BBL USD FCD account is a standard account not fixed.  I do have a SCB fixed baht account and this one cannot be seen on my SCB ibanking. I have asked several times and they say no reason to show it as it is "fixed" and cannot make any transactions so why make available on the internet.

Just returned from BB today and now have the info I required.

 

1. On my AUD/FCD account I signed a form to allow me to have this account added to my I banking

2. On my AUD Fixed Deposit account this does not function on I banking, all related matters must be performed at the bank

[Agusts]

7 minutes ago, Isan Farang said:

Just returned from BB today and now have the info I required.

 

1. On my AUD/FCD account I signed a form to allow me to have this account added to my I banking

2. On my AUD Fixed Deposit account this does not function on I banking, all related matters must be performed at the bank

I assume the reason for fixed deposit is better interest rate,  how much is the difference,  do you know approximately ....? 

I have no idea what GBP account I have in BBL, so far they just confirmed they received my first deposit via transfer,  but nothing else,  no bank book or any other formal document,  they said it takes a while to open it properly  ! 

[Isan Farang]

11 minutes ago, Agusts said:

I assume the reason for fixed deposit is better interest rate,  how much is the difference,  do you know approximately ....? 

I have no idea what GBP account I have in BBL, so far they just confirmed they received my first deposit via transfer,  but nothing else,  no bank book or any other formal document,  they said it takes a while to open it properly  ! 

I have no idea what interest they pay for my FCD/AUD Account

 

For my AUD Fixed Deposit account I receive 2.20% for 6m and 2.50% for 12m. This AUD will eventually be changed to Baht.

 

They informed you correctly I had to wait for my book to arrive and then I opened the AUD Fixed Deposit account.

 

The interest rates vary for foreign currency and you can check on the BB website.

[thedemon]

On 1/26/2019 at 6:50 PM, Pib said:

The lowest Thai bank exchange rate is the Notes (Cash) Buying Rate....to play it safe, that's the one people should use when determining how much foreign currency that need to maintain the Bt800K/400K requirement.

 

 

 

Is that the exchange rate that Immigration use now? Some years ago the rate they used was 3-4 points lower than the actual rate not only e.g. the difference between cash and T/T.

[wgdanson]

On 1/24/2019 at 7:24 PM, Agusts said:

Does the Bangkok Bank FCD appears on their iBanking and can you transfer out to your baht account online - that would be useful...!? (all I probably every do with that account...)

 

It's correct, for transfer out it is 0.5% for GBP account (I was wrong in my previous post above), with no maximum.

 

The whole reason for using FCD is the terrible state that GBP<->Baht exchange rate is now and the Brexit causing it, and I need 800k in the bank in Thailand for the next 3 months (worst uncertain times in UK history !), even USD to Baht is not that good recently, so just hoping GBP might pick up in later years and/or generally Baht may weaken, of course the opposite could happen too...!

Yes, you can do it all online.

And A FCA is accepted as part of your 800k or income, as long as it says International Transfer, which it will be if it is coming in in GBP or USD.

[wgdanson]

On 1/24/2019 at 8:57 PM, Isan Farang said:

Can any account holders who have a FCD with BB confirm they can view and perform transactions online ?

Yes you can. I do it all the time, watch the GBP exchange rate and it is done immediately. Problem is Bkk Bank doesn't update it's rates so quickly or often.

[wgdanson]

On 1/26/2019 at 6:33 PM, thedemon said:

 

I recall (admittedly from quite a long time ago) that if foreign currency accounts are used for that purpose, immigration apply a rather unfavourable exchange rate when calculating the minimum amount that needs to be seasoned. So a decent buffer is needed.

They use whatever the TT rate is on the day you do your extension, same as they used to do in the good old days of Embassy letters.

[Pib]

2 hours ago, thedemon said:

 

Is that the exchange rate that Immigration use now? Some years ago the rate they used was 3-4 points lower than the actual rate not only e.g. the difference between cash and T/T.

Don't know about whatever rate you are referring to from some years ago.  In all the posts I've read over the years the immigration office uses either the Thai bank TT Buying Rate which applies to incoming international transfer or the Notes Rate which applies to exchanging notes in-hand at the bank counter.   But sometimes you wonder if some of the posters were "really sure" what rate the I/O used.  

 

But I do know if you transfer funds out of your FCD to your Thai baht account the TT Buying Rate is used by the bank.   I think the only time a person would be concerned about the exchange rate used if using a FCD account instead of a Thai baht account to the I/O needs to do a calculation to determine what the FCD amount equals in Thai baht....does it meet the Bt800K/400K requirement.  Personally, I would think I/O would use the TT Buying Rate.  Now which bank would they use....I don't know....seems most lean towards the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate, but I would think the Thai bank giving you the bank letter would use their own TT Buying Rate "if they include a conversion calculation in the bank letter they give."  Rates among Thai banks are very, very similar.

 

But since rates are always changing from day to day, throughout the year,  a person needs to build in a X-percentage safety factor.   Wouldn't be a pretty picture if the amount you deposited in a FCD to meet the minimum income requirement was based on a higher rate early in the year, but come time for your extension application the rate has dropped like how most western currencies have dropped against the baht recently.

 

Edited January 28, 2019 by Pib

[JaiLai]

6 hours ago, Agusts said:

I assume the reason for fixed deposit is better interest rate,  how much is the difference,  do you know approximately ....? 

I have no idea what GBP account I have in BBL, so far they just confirmed they received my first deposit via transfer,  but nothing else,  no bank book or any other formal document,  they said it takes a while to open it properly  ! 

I got an orange bank book with me GBP FCD account.

 

It took me about 20 minutes to open the account in the branch.

[Agusts]

22 minutes ago, JaiLai said:

I got an orange bank book with me GBP FCD account.

 

It took me about 20 minutes to open the account in the branch.

It took me 15min to fill up the paperwork and leave, and so called open the account,  but two weeks later and still no bank book yet...!  You walked out after 20 min with a FCA bank book...!? Must have been the head office branch...!   

[JaiLai]

1 hour ago, Agusts said:

It took me 15min to fill up the paperwork and leave, and so called open the account,  but two weeks later and still no bank book yet...!  You walked out after 20 min with a FCA bank book...!? Must have been the head office branch...!   

Yes, about 20 minutes, this is my home branch, the one where the account was open.

 

I've been using this bank branch for 15 years or so, nothing is a problem in there, the girls are great.

[Agusts]

1 hour ago, JaiLai said:

Yes, about 20 minutes, this is my home branch, the one where the account was open.

 

I've been using this bank branch for 15 years or so, nothing is a problem in there, the girls are great.

I don't know,  have you had FCA of some type there before...?  They told me,  and confirmed by some on this forum,  you need to make a first deposit of the minimum amount for them to open an account,  I had to wait for head office to first receive my application,  then send the account number to the branch,  then I make the transfer to it using that number,  and then they officially open the account and then send the bank book....!  You seem to have skipped all this,  sure it was BBL... 

[JaiLai]

I don't know,  have you had FCA of some type there before...?  They told me,  and confirmed by some on this forum,  you need to make a first deposit of the minimum amount for them to open an account,  I had to wait for head office to first receive my application,  then send the account number to the branch,  then I make the transfer to it using that number,  and then they officially open the account and then send the bank book....!  You seem to have skipped all this,  sure it was BBL... 

I did not skip any of it.

Opened FCD, transferred £1000 to it from my current account, got book.

I’m sure it’s bkk bank, been using them for 15 years +.

I’ve already explained what I did twice now.

If you doubt it, up to you...


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Agusts]

22 minutes ago, JaiLai said:

 

I did not skip any of it.

Opened FCD, transferred £1000 to it from my current account, got book.

I’m sure it’s bkk bank, been using them for 15 years +.

I’ve already explained what I did twice now.

If you doubt it, up to you...


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

No doubt,  it's just amazing, and good for you,  anything is possible here in LOS.  

 

The only thing lacking in this country is consistency in anything, my BBL branch is in Phuket and that's how they do it here....