33 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

Posted this in another thread.  Relevant here also. 

 

I would not be surprised if Thai banks start closing the accounts of foreigners who are not Thai tax residents in the future.  

 

I would very very surprised.

 

Thai banks want and need the foreign money to retain solvency.

 

If foreign money left ( due to foreigners having no Thai tax ID ), banks would be at more risk of not being solvent.

 

The top level bank managers have massive influence over politicians. They will ensure this doesn’t happen.

 

Money to the banks  talks here. 

34 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

I would not be surprised if Thai banks start closing the accounts of foreigners who are not Thai tax residents in the future.

I predict your future will be sprinkled with surprises, Exiting!

On 11/3/2024 at 7:04 PM, scubascuba3 said:

Keep minimal balance here, rubbish rates anyway 

 

A practice that I have also recently adopted.

56 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

 

A practice that I have also recently adopted.

 

A factor here is also the foreign exchange rate. The Thai Baht is up 9%  vs the Euro in the past year. Pre-1-Jan-1954 Euro savings I brought into Thailand i Dec 2023 and converted to Thai baht is up about  9% ( due to strong Thai baht vs Euro). Add 1.5% earned in a Thai bank and subtract 2.5% average Germany bank interest for Euro and that means I am 8% better off had I left that money in Germany. 

 

However this dynamic,  and if it is not planned to spend the money now in Thailand, then in such a case now may be a good time to move the money out of Thai baht to another currency. 

 

It's very difficult to time such .. but the point I wish to make is when looking at interest rates of different countries, one also has to consider the currency exchange rate. Don't just blindy assume country A is a better place to keep one's money due to their higher interest rate. The relative movements of the currency to the Thai baht is also a big factor.

On 11/3/2024 at 12:40 PM, CallumWK said:

I'm an account holder with Tannachart bank (now called TTB) for the best part of the last 20 years. I opened my last account (no-fixed) earlier this year.

Furthermore, I'm on an extension based on retirement and have a yellow book and pink ID card.

Since the no fixed account pays a meager 1.1% in interest, I went today to the same branch where it was opened (central festival) to see which better option they had.

They offered a 12-month term deposit at 1.85%, but then it started.

 

To open a new account, a work permit is now needed. 1 year retirement and yellow book don't suffice anymore. When I showed them my no fixed account book, they said, new rules.

I asked them to call head office for me, which they did, and which confirmed that now a work permit is needed to open an account.

So I withdraw half the balance in the account, and went to the Bangkok bank branch opposite the TTB bank, where I opened a new term deposit without issues.

 

I then went to the branch in Big C South Pattaya, and asked there to open a term deposit, only to get the answer that I needed a work permit. Again I showed them the no fixed account, and asked how I could have opened that one, since I never have had a work permit. The branch manager then called the head office herself, and again was told only with work permit. It was a different person answering the phone, by the way.

 

So that is when he withdrew the remaining 50% of the balance, and closed the account.

 

Does anyone else sees the writings on the wall, if all banks in the future will start requesting a work permit to open an account?

 

 

 

I had exactly the same experience with Bangkok Bank a few years ago.

I opened a Foreign Devices account with the head Bangkok Bank in Bangkok back in 2004 in order to get my Visa based on Retirement.
The required sum was 400,000 Baht.

ce

A few years later, when the required bank deposit, changed to 800,000 Baht, I went to the same Bangkok Bank to top-up my balance to the new requirements.
 

The same lady who opened my account told me that the bank rules had changed and I needed to get a "Letter of Reference" from the embassy and a proof that the money was legally earned.

I tried to convice them that I was not asking for a new bank account but only top-up my current account, but only to meet a "NJET".

I had an account since day 1 in Thailand, but they had refused to open a Foreign Devices account in 2004 unless the minimum deposit was meet (4 million Thai Baht).

I went back to the UOB bank to ask to open a Foreign Devices account and that was suddenly no problem.

Thailand or "Change with the wind".

3 hours ago, oldcpu said:

 

A factor here is also the foreign exchange rate. The Thai Baht is up 9%  vs the Euro in the past year. Pre-1-Jan-1954 Euro savings I brought into Thailand i Dec 2023 and converted to Thai baht is up about  9% ( due to strong Thai baht vs Euro). Add 1.5% earned in a Thai bank and subtract 2.5% average Germany bank interest for Euro and that means I am 8% better off had I left that money in Germany. 

 

However this dynamic,  and if it is not planned to spend the money now in Thailand, then in such a case now may be a good time to move the money out of Thai baht to another currency. 

 

It's very difficult to time such .. but the point I wish to make is when looking at interest rates of different countries, one also has to consider the currency exchange rate. Don't just blindly assume country A is a better place to keep one's money due to their higher interest rate. The relative movements of the currency to the Thai baht is also a big factor.

 

 

Exactly what prompted my decision

6 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

 

 

Exactly what prompted my decision

 

I think you misread @oldcpu post. He is 8% better off because he transferred the money to Thailand, because the Euro weakened by 9% against the baht between 1 January 2024 and today

9 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

 

I think you misread @oldcpu post. He is 8% better off because he transferred the money to Thailand, because the Euro weakened by 9% against the baht between 1 January 2024 and today

 

 

I think I did. Although my point is valid for the opposite reason ie NOT transferring - and I think the shared point is that exchange rates are a much bigger factor than interest rates when making these decisions.

 

14 months is a long time to take an exchange rate view. In my case I needed to transfer circa £15k at a rate that was 5 Baht lower than last August (and one that I am convinced will improve when/if I next transfer - August 25).

 

I wasn't aware that the EURO was particularly strong.........it must have been pretty dire last January.

6 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

I wasn't aware that the EURO was particularly strong.........it must have been pretty dire last January.

Euro is weak, not strong.

 

If he sends back 800.000 baht to Europe he gets more Euros than he sent last year.

 

@CallumWK Euro is weak, not strong.

 

If he sends back 800.000 baht to Europe he gets more Euros than he sent last year.

 

 

 

 

 

Got it. I certainly didn't read his post properly.......sorry for making you spell it out.

 

 

I have never bothered to repatriate funds when the Baht has strengthened but I can see that, with the rate movements over the last year, it could be advantageous to do.