Since '99, I have always lived in Thailand with my employer taking care of all of the paperwork. When I retired to live upcountry this was now my responsibility and I went with the cheapest option, the marriage visa. I deposited exactly the B400,000 as required and had to let the money sit there (interest free I will add).  Now the yearly visa process has always gone smoothly for Thailand until this past week. When I updated my bank book, it was discovered that the bank had deducted B20 for three SMS, they said they had sent. I was now under the minimum that immigration required. 

 

And the SMS? The bank had never actually sent out an SMS but they had clearly deducted the fees from my account. The bank apologized and stopped any further SMS from being sent. It was now time to jump through the hoops and start cutting down a tree.  There is not much that I can do after all it is their ball park and their rules.They gave me a letter to give to immigration stating that I did have the required amount deposited. Immigration then asked for another letter from the bank written in Thai, so another trip was needed. At the end of the day, I was given a one month extension and the paperwork was sent to Chiang Mai for the final yes or no. I love living in Thailand, but I don't always like living here...

 

You have to be careful with banks and the alerts that they send by SMS.

Always best also not to try and have exactly 400k in the bank of a unknown fee was to taken out of the account. Best to have a few thousand baht extra in the account.

You got a under consideration stamp with a report back date 30 days from when your current permit to stay ends. It is not an extension. The under consideration stamp allows you to stay until your extension application is approved.

 

16 minutes ago, missoura said:

I deposited exactly the B400,000 as required and had to let the money sit there (interest free I will add). 

Also, why in an interest free account, I get interest on all my Bangkok Bank and TMB accounts.

The interest might be small, but it's always enough to pay my SMS and Debit card fees.

I was told there was no other option. Thanks for pointing this out and it is something that I will look into.

8 minutes ago, missoura said:

I was told there was no other option. Thanks for pointing this out and it is something that I will look into.

Indeed you should receive interest (but you may have to change the account number/open new account so get your extension of stay first).  And probably opt out of any charged SMS - most are free these days.