Bank account

[Binger]

 

Hi everyone dave 56 english hope I find you all safe and well anyway will be finely making the move in October will be living in si rattana with the wife of 20 years and will need a bank account to transfer money into for my extension of stay based on marriage just wanted to ask if anyone knows of any good banks in si sa ket or ubon that welcome foreign customers and have some staff that can talk a bit of English thank you for any help

 

 

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[SteveK]

It's not easy to open a bank account in Ubon as a farang - I tried many branches and they all wanted a work permit. Very little English spoken also. I ended up opening mine at a huge branch in Bangkok where they had someone who spoke English, about a year ago I guess now.

 

If you insist on opening your account in Ubon (being not retired, and having no work permit), you'll need someone of stature to counter-sign your application, like a policeman, village elder, doctor etc.

[SantiSuk]

Hi. You will be just up the road from me when you arrive - we live north of Kantharalak on the border of amphurs Kantharalak and Sri Rattana. Possibly only 5 to 10 km away from your place.

 

I do not know what current policy is but I opened an account easily with Kasikorn Bank in Kantharalak 10 years ago, whereas Bangkok Bank wanted me to get some kind of letter of my fidelity from the biggest crooks in Thailand - the police; small spherical objects to that!

 

Via Bangkok (the city, not the bank) I have accounts with Krungsri Bank which means I have had dealings pre-immigration regularly with Krungsri in both Kantharalak and Sisaket. In Kantharalak the long term charming manageress speaks fluent English and in Sisaket they will wheel someone out who speaks reasonable English. You will however need to either take your wife or get her to train you to ask in Thai for anyone who speaks English. There was someone in Kasikorn Kantharalak who spoke English but I haven't been in there for 5 or more years.

 

Feel free to look me up when you arrive. PM me on ThaiVisa. Can give you loads of local info. I'm not a bar stool Johnny Brit but you would find me in one of Black Dog bar or Pizza-4-U falang bars in Kantharalak once or twice a week. Would be your best go to places for an afternoon beer and English banter in Lower Isaan (possibly even this side of Bangkok). Ubon hardly opens for falangs until after dark (formal openings 4pm) but is good on weekend evenings.

[Binger]

Hi santisuk + stevek thank you for taking time to help me can i ask if i open bank account in bangkok can i still get letter of proof of my 400,000 in bank for 2 mouths from a branch in si sa ket or kantharalak Thank you


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[IsaanAussie]

Hi Binger, I am in Sisaket near Khukhan and recently opened an account at the Khukhan Kasikorn Bank. I took my passport (Non Imm O-A retirement visa) and my wife brought her housebook and ID card. I needed to open the account with a minimum of 10,000 baht. Within an hour I had the passbook, ATM card and internet banking established. The branch manager and assistant both have some spoken English, but both read and understand written English. The main evidence that opening the account depended on was that I had a long stay visa. Branch rang HO of the bank to clarify.

I don't have an answer of the banking evidence letter, but you do need to have everything updated on the day you apply at immigration. That could present a problem. Depending on how much time you have, you could open an account in Bangkok and then move it up here later.

One thing that is an irritation for me is I use Transferwise to bring money here. They use TMB as an intermediary bank here which means the Kasikorn account deposits are shown as local transfers not international transactions. For anyone using an income per month this is an issue. Before moving back to Thailand I sent money to the wifes Bangkok Bank account via Transferwise directly and it was coded as International transfer.

Devil is in the detail. Different banks and branches may operate differently.

[SantiSuk]

15 hours ago, Binger said:

Hi santisuk + stevek thank you for taking time to help me can i ask if i open bank account in bangkok can i still get letter of proof of my 400,000 in bank for 2 mouths from a branch in si sa ket or kantharalak Thank you


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I can't answer for all banks but I can and do work my Krungsri bank accounts that way. My accounts are with Krungsri in Thonglor, which claims and has English speaking capability, close to a condo I have in BKK (they also have English speakers at their head office branch in ChitLom). I get my certs and passbook updates from either Kantharalak or Sisaket; recently I have used Sisaket City since the immigration office for our province is there and they now want a statement showing the balance on the day of your immi visit*; no point in going south to Kantharalak and adding 40km to the day's business.

 

Always best to check for updates to the rules and practice at your chosen immi office closer to the time of visit, either by (1) posting for updates from others in Sisaket on ThaiV, (2) visiting immi before deadline date and asking or (3) timing your visit with your docs on a best-understanding basis and trying it out knowing that you have more days to come to revisit if you got it wrong. I tend to adopt the latter!

 

 

 

* ..... or dated on the day showing the previous day closing balance plus the passbook showing a balance on the date of visit. Krungsri (and maybe some or all other banks), in Sisaket and Kantharalak at least, will produce a certificate on demand, but it is a certification of the closing balance on the previous day, so immi (who want to see an updated passbook anyway to see that the money had been there consistently) will in that case need to see the passbook with the immi-visit-day balance shown. Handing your passbook in to update doesn't get you all the way there either with Krungsri (maybe the same with other banks) - their software can only respond to a passbook update request by printing out updated transactions and showing the balance on the date of last tramsacction. So you have to make a deposit on the day and then get the passbook updated. In theory all that minute concern over dating bolux should now stop as they will be doing examinations of accounts on your succeeding 90 day report visit (or something similar) so the need for pinpoint acccuracy of date recedes. Probably not - falang logic/falang think too mut! Welcome to our expat world.

 

 

[Binger]

Thank you to all of you have a great day really appreciate the time to help me will have to check about TransferWise as that’s how I normally send money in


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[Grundy1927]

I opened account in Bangkok Bank Kantharlak 1 year ago om still living in UK had no problem opening account wife was withme with proof of her  address .