CIMB Thai closing its Koh Samui branch

[GalaxyMan]

Which is where I have been banking. Great bank, great service, good products (i.e. interest rates for fixed accounts). But they are closing at the end of October and I'd need to go to Surat Thani to do any person-to-person banking if I stay with them. I need to find a new bank, preferably one that pays good interest rates on larger (5m+) accounts. Any suggestions? I've checked out Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn Bank, and Krungsri online, but wasn't very impressed. Perhaps their online presence isn't up-to-date...

[ronaldo0]

Damn . Was one of the few banks where people actually had a clue what they were doing !!

Only other one I use that seems to have a clue is Scb, gave up on Bangkok bank years ago and most of ones wife uses are useless . 

[GalaxyMan]

13 minutes ago, ronaldo0 said:

Damn . Was one of the few banks where people actually had a clue what they were doing !!

Only other one I use that seems to have a clue is Scb, gave up on Bangkok bank years ago and most of ones wife uses are useless . 

SCB seems to offer better everything online compared to the other three that I checked, but in the required documentation they mention passport and work permit. I'll need to ask them about that. Hopefully my retirement extension will suffice.

[crazykopite]

25 minutes ago, GalaxyMan said:

SCB seems to offer better everything online compared to the other three that I checked, but in the required documentation they mention passport and work permit. I'll need to ask them about that. Hopefully my retirement extension will suffice.

Your retirement visa will be fine . I have been with SCB for 13 years go to the one in Bophut by Fisherman village they are very efficient and helpful .

[Tidybeard]

I use SCB in Nathon ... excellent service and all of the online stuff works very well.

 

Good levels of English too, so everything is easy.

 

Good luck 

[GalaxyMan]

Good to hear, crazykopite & Tidybeard. Since I live in Maenam, I'll check out the branch here first, see how that goes. Thanks.

[khunPer]

4 hours ago, GalaxyMan said:

SCB seems to offer better everything online compared to the other three that I checked, but in the required documentation they mention passport and work permit. I'll need to ask them about that. Hopefully my retirement extension will suffice.

I'm using SCB, Bangkok Bank and K-Bank.

 

SCB is the most customer friendly in my expoerience, and on-line banking is as "easy" as it's called, i.e. SCBesay. I just clicked on "Online registration for new user" on their webpage, and did everything from there; but of course you need to open an account first. Passport with "retirement extension" or "extension based on marriage" will do fine. Pt. they pay 1.5% p.a. on fixed 12-month accounts (same as Bangkok Bank), and up to 1.9% p.a. on a fixed promotion account. SCB has before been negotiable for fixed interest rate on larger amounts. 

 

You can almost as easy open a SCB online account for SET stock trading.

 

Bangkok Bank's online banking is in my opinion not that good, and more complicated than SCBeasy. Takes looong time to get paperwork done.

 

However, both SCB's and Bangkok Bank's online banking are nothing that can compare with my Scandinavian online banker...????

[PoorSucker]

Been using SCB and Kasikorn. 

 

Why not go bank shopping in Central. 

All banks have branches there and they are are open on weekends. 

[GalaxyMan]

14 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Been using SCB and Kasikorn. 

 

Why not go bank shopping in Central. 

All banks have branches there and they are are open on weekends. 

Thanks for all the input. Everything that I've discovered so far says that SCB is the way to go if CIMB is closing their Samui branch. Ease of banking and high(er) interest rates on large deposit accounts are the most important things for me. I'll be going to Central on Tuesday when the wife has a day off, as I'll be needing her in any event to open an account, a Thai national being necessary to vouch for the 'quality' of a farang. Believe it or not, opening an account here in Thailand is a piece of cake compared to Portugal.

[khunPer]

Just saw SCB's present interest rates, seems like less than 5m baht is preferred for best rate...

Quote

DEPOSIT RATES % LOAN RATE %
Saving
0.50 %
Current
0.00 %
Fixed 12 Months < 5 m.
1.65 %
Fixed 12 Months >= 5 m.
1.40 %
Fixed 24 Months < 5 m.
1.70 %
Fixed 36 Months < 5 m.
1.85 %

 

[GalaxyMan]

23 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Just saw SCB's present interest rates, seems like less than 5m baht is preferred for best rate...

 

Yes, that's the same rate I was getting at CIMB, 1.85%.

[GalaxyMan]

Situation Update: I was finally able to open an account with SCB, but not without a whole lot of nonsense. Firstly, they simply told me 'no' to opening an account without a work permit. When I pointed out what the law was in regards to opening bank accounts, they didn't want to hear it. This is the SCB branch in Big C in Chaweng. The assistant manager spoke almost no English, nor did the lady trying to help me. I had my Thai wife with me, which seemed to only make it worse, as they didn't want to hear it. I went back to CIMB and talked to the manager. She immediately picked up the phone and called the Samui manager for all SCB branches, a friend of hers, and explained the situation. We were told to go back to the Big C branch, that this lady was on the way from Nathon.

We met her there, really nice lady, and she explained that SCB had their own policy over and above the requirements of the law to submit photocopies of farang passports to the BKK branch for approval if the farang had a retirement or marriage extension visa. It could take up to 3 days for either approval or denial. I had no choice but to agree. Amazingly, they called at 7pm that night and told me that it had been approved.

 

So I went back to the SCB bank today to open the account, along with a bank check from CIMB for the balance of my accounts there. They assured me that the check was as good as cash. It wasn't. SCB won't release the check's funds for 24 hours. They also wouldn't let me split the check so that I could open multiple accounts, normal and fixed-rate savings. I could only deposit the whole check into a single account, which means I have to go back again after 24 hours has passed to be able to open the extra account. This only took an hour, during which they asked me every question 3 times. They apparently thought that I'd give a different answer if they asked me enough times. Very frustrating experience. Glad I had my Kindle with me.

The problem with all of this is the whole seasoning of money for immigration. I want the money seasoned in the new account, not wanting to deal with the inevitable nightmare with immigration of overlapping banks and accounts. Since I'm leaving the country for a few weeks before my next 90-day reporting, the 'bonus' time I'll get resetting the 90-day clock for calculating my 90-day reporting will make it all work. Just another day in Thailand...