Retirement Visa - 800k Balance

[marcthailand11]

Retirement Visa:

 

- Does anyone know if the 800K THB that you need to have in your Thai bank account can be spread over several Thai banks? (For example 400K at Kasikorn and 400K at Krungsri)?

- Are you allowed to hold the equivalent of 800K in a foreign currency account at a Thai bank?

[ubonjoe]

There is no written rule stating you cannot have the funds in more than one account. Same for using a foreign currency account.

But best to check with the immigration office where you will be applying for the extension at to verify what they will accept.

[DrJack54]

28 minutes ago, marcthailand11 said:

Does anyone know if the 800K THB that you need to have in your Thai bank account can be spread over several Thai banks?

You stated "several Thai banks"

 

Good luck with that when dealing with immigration. 

 

I actually use 2 accounts.

An FD account and savings a/c. 

Both with the same bank. 

 

How many accounts are you asking about?

Also can't think of a valid reason for doing that. 

Makes job of checking against the financial requirements difficult. 

[marcthailand11]

9 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

 

Also can't think of a valid reason for doing that. 

Makes job of checking against the financial requirements difficult. 

Reason for doing that is if one bank goes belly up you only lose half of your funds

[DrJack54]

29 minutes ago, marcthailand11 said:

Reason for doing that is if one bank goes belly up you only lose half of your funds

You stated SEVERAL bank accounts.

Find this quoted post from you very naive.

 

I'm outta this thread from your post. 

IMO silly. 

 

[Jingthing]

I won't comment on the foreign currency thing when mixed with multiple accounts but technically multiple accounts are OK according to the law.

But when I think multiple for an extension, I think of two accounts.

The more complexity that you add to your application the more work it is for immigration to figure out if you've complied with the balance requirements throughout the year. So I would say it is quite ill advised to submit an overly complicated application. Not everything is black and white.

[mark5335]

10 hours ago, marcthailand11 said:

Reason for doing that is if one bank goes belly up you only lose half of your funds

In case you weren't already aware, the top 6 banks in Thailand carry the official designation of 'systemically important'. This means that the Bank of Thailand / Thai Gov't would support such banks in a liquidity crisis, i.e., they would be prevented from going 'belly up'. The top 6 are - Bangkok Bank (BBL), Krungthai Bank (KTB), Kasikornbank (KBank), Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), Bank of Ayudhya (BAY) and TMBThanachart Bank (ttb).

 

Regarding BAY (Krungsri), additionally they are a 76% owned strategically important subsidiary of one of the worlds top 10 banks, i.e., MUFG of Japan. You needn't be concerned about such banks going 'belly up'.

 

[DrJack54]

25 minutes ago, mark5335 said:

You needn't be concerned about such banks going 'belly up'

You know your stuff.

 

Isn't there also some sort 'order by government ' that deposits in Thai banks up to 1 million baht are backed by government.

Maybe a dream I had. 

[CMBob]

10 hours ago, marcthailand11 said:

Reason for doing that is if one bank goes belly up you only lose half of your funds

Almost no reason to suspect that will happen; besides, all accounts in one bank are backed by the Thai version of FDIC to the tune of one million baht.

[Mahks]

Some reasons not to use just one bank :

 

- A bank employee commits some act to move your funds to another account (either by mistake or from criminal intent)

- You are scammed by some electronic means (via a compromised debit card most commonly, normally would only affect one bank)

- Your debit card is lost, expires or malfunctions while you are away from home area. (you can use your card from the second bank)

- When I was younger I had accounts at many banks. This was to build up a reputation at each, so if I needed a loan I had options for where to obtain it.

- Allows access to more credit cards. This is especially important as I have had cards expire while overseas and was saved by having several more to choose from. 

 

All that said, I keep the immigration funds in one account (just eliminates a "point of failure" when dealing with immigration), and do not use that account for anything else. We have all seen posts of mistakes made and people dipping below the required funds.

 

[LALes]

I renewed at Jomtien with 800k split between baht and dollar accounts, both from Bangkok Bank.  Not a problem.

[rwill]

21 hours ago, marcthailand11 said:

- Are you allowed to hold the equivalent of 800K in a foreign currency account at a Thai bank?

I think the biggest risk with that is what is the equivalent of 800K today might not be tomorrow.

[rwill]

Some Thai banks have foreign owners too.  TTB(used to be TMB) for example the second largest owner is ING Bank N.V. with 22.96% ownership.  SCB has foreign owners but less than 1% total.  State Street Europe Limited owns 2.96% of KTB.  Etc....

[mrbojangles]

For me, I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of having to go to 2 banks, do 2 transactions on the day and to get 2 letters and double the amount of photo copies before even getting to immigration

[MJCM]

1 minute ago, mrbojangles said:

For me, I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of having to go to 2 banks, do 2 transactions on the day and to get 2 letters before even getting to immigration

Exactly.

 

It takes approx 30+ min for each bank (if you are lucky) and don't forget that you NOT only need the Bank Letter but you also need the Statements (going back 3,6 months or 1 year)

[MJCM]

27 minutes ago, rwill said:

SCB has foreign owners but less than 1% total.  State Street Europe Limited owns 2.96% of KTB.  Etc....

Isn't the KTB major share holder the Government?

[expat_4_life]

4 hours ago, Mahks said:

I keep the immigration funds in one account (just eliminates a "point of failure" when dealing with immigration), and do not use that account for anything else. We have all seen posts of mistakes made and people dipping below the required funds.

 

I fully endorse this way of thinking (eliminates a "point of failure") and also practice (do not use that account for anything else) this way of securing my retirement extension funds.

 

I might add that I've never been asked for a statement, photocopy of the bank book is sufficient, My experience, 20 years, has been in Bangkok.

 

I once upon a time had 400k in 2 separate accounts at the same bank and was asked by the IO to combine the funds into one account before coming back next year - I complied with their request.  All I can say about that is that I agree with making the job simple at immigration for the officers and as you rightly pointed out it "eliminates a "point of failure"

[TaoNow]

51 minutes ago, expat_4_life said:

I fully endorse this way of thinking (eliminates a "point of failure") and also practice (do not use that account for anything else) this way of securing my retirement extension funds.

 

I might add that I've never been asked for a statement, photocopy of the bank book is sufficient, My experience, 20 years, has been in Bangkok.

 

I once upon a time had 400k in 2 separate accounts at the same bank and was asked by the IO to combine the funds into one account before coming back next year - I complied with their request.  All I can say about that is that I agree with making the job simple at immigration for the officers and as you rightly pointed out it "eliminates a "point of failure"

I also do my ret. ext. at Immo/CW with 800K in a fixed deposit account, which is never touched until D-Day.  

 

In my experience (past 5 years), it seems that Immo/CW does want to see the one-year statement + the bank book, updated on the day of application.   

 

With a fixed deposit account, it is possible that the updates (showing interest and tax) are consolidated and hard to read -- thus, the need for the annual statement.

 

In any case, since you already have to go to the bank to get the bank letter authorizing the balance, I would err on the side of caution and get the annual statement too. 

 

There is no extra cost or time to do so -- at least at the SCB branch opposite Central/CW where I do the dox each year.