Bangkok Bank Central Festival Beach Road Pattaya

[roger101]

I made a mistake when I opened my BB account. Instead of Thepprasit Road (I mile), I went to Central Festival on the theory that the staff would be much more fluent in English there. They weren't but that's water under the bridge

.My main question is does anybody else have experience banking there?  I need to do my yearly extension (retirement) and wondered if anybody knew the best time to go or is it busy all the time.

I know Central opens at 11 but last year at 11 the bank was already busy.

Last thing do you know what time you can access the parking so at least have a chance to get to the bank before anybody else?

What is annoying I know exactly what times the local branch is not busy but you have to do the letter and yearly statement at your home branch.

[thainet]

5 minutes ago, roger101 said:

I made a mistake when I opened my BB account. Instead of Thepprasit Road (I mile), I went to Central Festival on the theory that the staff would be much more fluent in English there. They weren't but that's water under the bridge

.My main question is does anybody else have experience banking there?  I need to do my yearly extension (retirement) and wondered if anybody knew the best time to go or is it busy all the time.

I know Central opens at 11 but last year at 11 the bank was already busy.

Last thing do you know what time you can access the parking so at least have a chance to get to the bank before anybody else?

What is annoying I know exactly what times the local branch is not busy but you have to do the letter and yearly statement at your home branch.

Remember you need about 7 business days (after application) to receive your 12 months Statement.

[scubascuba3]

If you're after the letter, you know you can use it the next day so no major rush when you go to the bank

[MJCM]

You can get your statement at any Bangkok Branch you want. My main one is Located in a Big C and only opens at 10:30am, for my Immigration statements I goto one that opens at 9am.

Edited May 13 by MJCM

[bkk6060]

1 hour ago, roger101 said:

you have to do the letter and yearly statement at your home branch.

No you don't.  The branch across from Soi 6 opens early 0830 from my last contact there.

[roger101]

7 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

No you don't.  The branch across from Soi 6 opens early 0830 from my last contact there.

I will go to the Thepprasit Road branch and ask then. 2 years ago I had to go to my home branch to get them and last year I just went there automatically.

[andygrr]

14 hours ago, roger101 said:

I made a mistake when I opened my BB account. Instead of Thepprasit Road (I mile), I went to Central Festival on the theory that the staff would be much more fluent in English there. They weren't but that's water under the bridge

.My main question is does anybody else have experience banking there?  I need to do my yearly extension (retirement) and wondered if anybody knew the best time to go or is it busy all the time.

I know Central opens at 11 but last year at 11 the bank was already busy.

Last thing do you know what time you can access the parking so at least have a chance to get to the bank before anybody else?

What is annoying I know exactly what times the local branch is not busy but you have to do the letter and yearly statement at your home branch.

I have done the letter at a few different branches with no problems. So does not have to be your own branch.

[Skeptic7]

Have never used my "home branch". Opened 24 years ago in BKK...Sukhumvit near Nana. When lived in BKK, used the branch at CW. Now living in Jomtien 3 years, use the branch near Immigration. 

[soisanuk]

3 hours ago, andygrr said:

I have done the letter at a few different branches with no problems. So does not have to be your own branch.

Correct.  My branch is on Phratamnak Road (2nd road becomes Phratamnak once you go past South (Pattaya Tai) Road traveling toward Jomtien).  For the past several years, I have obtained my bank information from the counter at Tesco Lotus South (now closed - so next month when I need to obtain again, I will get from another branch).

 

As mentioned, if you will need 12 months of statements, give yourself time - Bangkok Bank Branches can only provide 6 months, so they must order more than that from Bangkok HQ. This takes at least 5 business days.

Edited May 14 by soisanuk

[hargri]

18 minutes ago, soisanuk said:

Correct.  My branch is on Phratamnak Road (2nd road becomes Phratamnak once you go past South (Pattaya Tai) Road traveling toward Jomtien).  For the past several years, I have obtained my bank information from the counter at Tesco Lotus South (now closed - so next month when I need to obtain again, I will get from another branch).

 

As mentioned, if you will need 12 months of statements, give yourself time - Bangkok Bank Branches can only provide 6 months, so they must order more than that from Bangkok HQ. This takes at least 5 business days.

I did my retirement extension on 7th May on the basis of monthly overseas payments. I also normally use Central Festival branch and don't mind the late opening as I always go to immigration in the afternoon and had an appointment for 2pm. 

 

I did go 10 days earlier to order the statements for the required bank letter only to find that the process had changed - for the better in my opinion. You now can order 12 months statements from the mobile app (go to 'more services' from the home screen and you will see 'request account statement'). You get them on an email and print them off. Take them to the bank the day/day before your immigration visit and they produce the letter.  From my number being called it took them 30/45 minutes, enough time for a coffee.  

[KhunBENQ]

17 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

No you don't.  The branch across from Soi 6 opens early 0830 from my last contact there.

At least for the letter I can confirm. Any branch.

For the statement I haven't tried.

6 month statements are available on the spot.

I think it should be possible to combine two or three statements for proof of transfer?

[AAArdvark]

1 hour ago, hargri said:

I did my retirement extension on 7th May on the basis of monthly overseas payments. I also normally use Central Festival branch and don't mind the late opening as I always go to immigration in the afternoon and had an appointment for 2pm. 

 

I did go 10 days earlier to order the statements for the required bank letter only to find that the process had changed - for the better in my opinion. You now can order 12 months statements from the mobile app (go to 'more services' from the home screen and you will see 'request account statement'). You get them on an email and print them off. Take them to the bank the day/day before your immigration visit and they produce the letter.  From my number being called it took them 30/45 minutes, enough time for a coffee.  

Odd, I just did my monthly deposit method extension at Jomtien. They would not accept the self printed 12 month statement which i had. I had to get the single page letter showing only the 12 deposits from my home branch. Two other branches told me I had to use my home branch. 

Much more convenient if I could have used the self printed one. 

[soisanuk]

3 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

At least for the letter I can confirm. Any branch.

For the statement I haven't tried.

6 month statements are available on the spot.

I think it should be possible to combine two or three statements for proof of transfer?

 

Chonburi (Pattaya) Immigration:

 

If using the 65k monthly income method will want a letter from your Thai  bank listing all the foreign deposits to your account for the past 12 months. They will then check to make sure there was a deposit of at least 65k in each of those months. It is my understanding that Bangkok Bank can provide the letter using your passbook - listing the deposits with an FTT code. Otherwise, they can use bank statements for each month (I don't keep my passbook regularly updated, so I have always ordered statements for the preceding 12 months and they use those to prepare the letter.  In addition to the letter listing the deposits, they will also want the usual bank letter verifying the account (required whether using 800k deposit or 65k monthly income).

 

If using 800k in your Thai bank account for renewal, they will accept copies from your passbook showing all transactions (no net entries which occur if you do not keep the passbook regularly updated).  They will check to make sure that your balance remained at 800k for 3 months after your previous extension and for the 2 months before your current application and that in the months in between, the balance never went below 400k.     If you have net entries, they will want to see bank statements for the 12 previous months; it is my understanding these have to be certified by the bank.

 

I have always obtained the both letters the day before going to Immigration (early morning before bank branches open) with no difficulty.  They may want to see your passbook showing a transaction on the day you apply (apparently depends on the Immigration Officer as last year I didn't do so and there was no problem).

 

 

Edited May 14 by soisanuk

[hargri]

21 hours ago, AAArdvark said:

Odd, I just did my monthly deposit method extension at Jomtien. They would not accept the self printed 12 month statement which i had. I had to get the single page letter showing only the 12 deposits from my home branch. Two other branches told me I had to use my home branch. 

Much more convenient if I could have used the self printed one. 

Unfortunately you have misread my post. It clearly states that you take the printed 12 months statement to the BANK and they produce the notarised letter that immigration require.

[AAArdvark]

5 hours ago, hargri said:

Unfortunately you have misread my post. It clearly states that you take the printed 12 months statement to the BANK and they produce the notarised letter that immigration require.

Sorry, I missed that but was it your home bank and did it still take a week?

[hargri]

7 hours ago, AAArdvark said:

Sorry, I missed that but was it your home bank and did it still take a week?

It is my account holding branch of Bangkok bank. Because you are providing the 12 months statement it doesn't take a week. I took the statement into the bank at 11am on the day of my immigration appointment at 2pm and it took them 30/45 minutes from my number being called for the bank to produce the 2 letters required for immigration. 

 

Off course whether all branches off Bangkok bank are using the same system I have no idea.

[roger101]

Sorry, feeling a bit thick, I understand printing a 12-month statement at home and taking it to the bank. They then give you 2 letters to take to immigration, What two letters? One is obviously a balance on that day what's the other one, and what happens to the 12-month statement do you still take that to Immigration?

And does it work at Jomtein Immigration? Every time I go there there is always something I'm short of.

Thanks

[scubascuba3]

2 hours ago, roger101 said:

Sorry, feeling a bit thick, I understand printing a 12-month statement at home and taking it to the bank. They then give you 2 letters to take to immigration, What two letters? One is obviously a balance on that day what's the other one, and what happens to the 12-month statement do you still take that to Immigration?

And does it work at Jomtein Immigration? Every time I go there there is always something I'm short of.

Thanks

You haven't said whether you do 800k method or 65k monthly method

[bbko]

The Bangkok Bank (BB) in Central Festival is my home bank, I did an extension based on retirement through them several years ago using the Wise monthly international transfer (FTT) method, while they knew exactly what I needed it was the 2 hour wait time to speak with the desk that irked me.  This year's extension I went to a local BB here on the Darkside a few weeks ahead of my extension and waited about 15 minutes to speak with the desk, I asked if I could get the same letters there or do I need to get it from my home branch and they said the letter comes from Bangkok, so it doesn't matter if the request comes from Central Festival BB or the Darkside BB, a few weeks later I went back to the Darkside BB, waited about 15 minutes again and I ordered the required paperwork and it came back about 4 days later. My extension was approved in Jomtien and now I know where I'll be requesting any future paperwork without having to wait more than an hour or two in the bank chairs.

 

It's been a while since I used the 800k parked in the bank method, and found the fastest way was to go to Central Festival before they opened, go to the 4th floor mall doors and wait for them to open, I'd be one of the first in the bank, get my letters, eat lunch then go to the IO in the afternoon.

As asked above, are you using the yearly 800k method or the monthly 65k method.

Edited May 17 by bbko

[roger101]

I'm using the 65,000 /month via Wise. One more question I thought of. if you print out the 12-month statement at home does it have to be on the morning you go to the bank for the letters?

[hargri]

Sorry, feeling a bit thick, I understand printing a 12-month statement at home and taking it to the bank. They then give you 2 letters to take to immigration, What two letters? One is obviously a balance on that day what's the other one, and what happens to the 12-month statement do you still take that to Immigration?

And does it work at Jomtein Immigration? Every time I go there there is always something I'm short of.

Thanks

 

13 hours ago, roger101 said:

I'm using the 65,000 /month via Wise. One more question I thought of. if you print out the 12-month statement at home does it have to be on the morning you go to the bank for the letters?

 

Hi

 

In answer to your questions:

 

One bank letter simply confirms that it is your account and gives that day's balance. Don't forget to make a transaction on that day before getting the letters. The other letter is a summary of the 12 monthly international transfers of at least 65k baht. Both letters have the official bank stamp. 

 

You can print the 12 month statement at any time as long as it includes the 12 monthly international transfers immigration require. The bank just extract those 12 payments from the statements to produce a summary for immigration. You do NOT have to take the 12 month statement to immigration, but do check that the bank have got the letter correct. If immigration want to check it they have the copies of your bank book pages to do that with.

 

On a general note Pattaya City Expats have a checklist on their website which I tend to have a look at each year before preparing the paperwork just to see if there is anything new. It doesn't mention the TM30 address reporting document which I've had to give them the last 2 years but, other than that, it's good.

 

Pattaya City Expats Club - Monthly Income 65k Checklist (pcec.club)

 

They also have a section for any possible recent changes.

 

Pattaya City Expats Club - LATEST-IMMIGRATION-INFORMATION (pcec.club)

 

Hope that helps!

 

[roger101]

To all that replied to help me, I send my thanks. It's what a forum like this is for.

[treetops]

3 hours ago, roger101 said:

To all that replied to help me, I send my thanks. It's what a forum like this is for.

 

What's this button for?

 

[roger101]

On 5/19/2024 at 12:33 AM, treetops said:

 

What's this button for?

 

I prefer to say thank you rather than just click on something.