Money

[kangeroo]

Hello .

Im thinking about placing some money every month in a thai bank so that in a year or so i will have the 8o,ooo bht required for a retirement vissa i will send from aus but which bank ?

thanks kangeroo

[beechguy]

Hello .

Im thinking about placing some money every month in a thai bank so that in a year or so i will have the 8o,ooo bht required for a retirement vissa i will send from aus but which bank ?

thanks kangeroo

You do understand that it is 800,000 not 80,000 Baht. Right? Anyway, I use Bangkok Bank, others report good service from Siam Commercial Bank.

Edited July 29, 2007 by beechguy

[lopburi3]

The requirement is 800,000 baht currently and you will have to establish a bank account here, in person. There is no need to have the money here if you use the non immigrant O-A visa option available in Oz as an account there can be used and the money transferred after you move here for the next years extension of stay. Also you should always try to transfer large amounts each time to lower the fees (a wire transfer costs a fixed amount) so monthly transfers would not be the best plan.

The three major banks that foreigners use are Bangkok Bank Ltd., Siam Commercial Bangkok, and K Bank.

[danone]

i warmly recommend kasikorn, formerly thai farmers bank.

why?

their rates for inbound transfers are always, and i mean always, better than any other bank here, even though its only a few satang, but that counts.

furthermore, each time i get a call from kasikorn about incoming money, they grant me a "special" rate of a few satang better than the published live rate.

and: only kasikorn offers the service that you can put an incoming transfer "on hold".

meaning: you can keep the money for six working days un-exchanged, which is especially good in turbulent times when the baht swings up and down.

furthermore, it prevents the bank from exchanging your foreign exchange at any bad rate they wish.

which makes the handling of your money much more transparent.

live rates are available online. you just call the bank and tell them i want this rate right now - a few minutes later the money is on your account.

if you wish not to exchange the money within those six working days for whatever reason, you can send it back to your home bank, paying a symbolic fee of some dollars/euros or whatever.

and: it never takes more than two or three working days - sometimes it takes one day - to have the money here.

once with siam commercial it took me nearly a week.

Edited July 29, 2007 by danone

[Krub]

Hello .

Im thinking about placing some money every month in a thai bank so that in a year or so i will have the 8o,ooo bht required for a retirement vissa i will send from aus but which bank ?

thanks kangeroo

As you will need your to go in person to 'your' bank when in Thailand, make sure you choose a branch near to where you plan to live.

If internet banking is important to you bear in mind that Bangkok Bank will not give it to you if you do not have a work permit

Sima Commercial Bank, Krung Thai and Kasikorn will

[Naam]

furthermore, each time i get a call from kasikorn about incoming money,

and: it never takes more than two or three working days - sometimes it takes one day - to have the money here.

once with siam commercial it took me nearly a week.

i get a call from Siam Commercial (BKK) when money is transferred and it never took longer than one day. very happy with the service of Pattaya Branch, Beach Road.

[kangeroo]

Thanks for the replies what about city bank in bkk do they have a branch in pattaya ,the reason i ask is that i can tranfer any money to city bank with no transfer fee even though thats not everything.

cheers and thanks kangeroo.

[cheshiremusicman]

once with siam commercial it took me nearly a week.

i get a call from Siam Commercial (BKK) when money is transferred and it never took longer than one day. very happy with the service of Pattaya Branch, Beach Road.

Live in Hua-Hin and have banked with Siam Commercial for over 18 months now. Not had any problems and find that they are extremely helpful, with good internet system.

Only problem we had, was when we first set up a joint account and they took my middle name to be my surname - seems that the Thai people don't have a middle name and this can cause confusion, so just make sure that you check this out.

Send your money in Sterling or dollars etc and have it converted here in Thailand - DON'T send it in Bahts as we did on the first few occasions , b l o o d y estate agent didn't warn us against this!

[naka]

Thanks for the replies what about city bank in bkk do they have a branch in pattaya ,the reason i ask is that i can tranfer any money to city bank with no transfer fee even though thats not everything.

cheers and thanks kangeroo.

If you mean Citibank, then no.

Naka.