Do I need to beware of setting up regular bank transfers?

[BeastOfBodmin]

Been here permanently for just over a year. Our family have a few regular payments to take care of. Only I use regular transfers from my bank account.

 

The reason given for not having such things as the electricity bill on automatic payment is along the lines of "doing this may cause the wrong amount to be sent either in error or as a result of fraud". I can't get specific details from family members as to how these mistakes/ fraud are perpetrated, which can be down to language difficulties as much as anything else. I assume the risk is, when setting up a regular payment from account A to account B, either/ or account A will send the wrong amount to account B, or account A's regular payment will somehow be used to send an amount to account C.

 

A Google search didn't turn up anything clear in English, beyond MSM articles discussing Thai bank security measures, blah blah. I couldn't find any examples of abuses nor recourse should this happen, but these may well be lurking somewhere in the Thai language.

 

Which brings me to the question: what is your take on this? Is banking here liable to such abuses? Any concrete examples I can take a look at?

[ThreeCardMonte]

The only reason you should beware is depending on who you’re serving bank transfers to.

[mudcat]

Always keep in mind that Thailand is a low trust country where "people say" all sorts of things that reinforce their suspicion  of anything other than cash.

We have PEA and NT (TOT) on autopay and make a monthly transfer to my wife's for food and household expenses.  The only issue with individual transfers is they are limited to one year and need to be renewed each December.

[BeastOfBodmin]

Thanks guys, that helps a lot. 👍

 

I am currently working on paying the electricity bill via auto bank transfer, which is one of the drivers for the original post. I really don't want to have the supply cut off because I missed my calendar reminder to check the PEA app AND sister-in-law forgot to check the PEA app (it's all in her name at the moment) and remind me. We lose it enough during the month anyway, even when we do pay the bill on time...

 

Ironically the local PEA office is only a couple of hundred metres away.

 

19 hours ago, ThreeCardMonte said:

The only reason you should beware is depending on who you’re serving bank transfers to.

Indeed. Which is probably one reason why I get a prompt from my banking app every time I scan a QR code in a shop.

 

17 hours ago, mudcat said:

Always keep in mind that Thailand is a low trust country where "people say" all sorts of things that reinforce their suspicion  of anything other than cash.

We have PEA and NT (TOT) on autopay and make a monthly transfer to my wife's for food and household expenses.  The only issue with individual transfers is they are limited to one year and need to be renewed each December.

My biggest objection to cash in Thailand is the ATM fees we have to pay in order to get it. <off topic>I am not looking forward to the Thai version of a CDBC.</off topic>

 

I top up my mobile phone via regular transfer and I pay our internet connection bill via direct debit or whatever it is called here.

 

The one year renewal is a PITA, but small fry compared to all the other (to me) PITAs I experience as I adjust to life in Thailand.

[CygnusX1]

I’ve had my electricity bills auto paid from my Bangkok Bank account for the last 5 years with zero problems. No guarantee that will continue of course.

Had to do it as I’m in Thailand less than 6 months a year, and the electricity authority wouldn’t accept advance payments. A very helpful bank teller spent over half an hour completing a fearsomely complicated form to set up the auto transfer.

[mudcat]

I am not sure about your PEA, but I believe that here the bank transfer has to happen from the PEA account holder's account.  

 

I simply transfer ThB2k per month to cover utilities (water, garbage, internet (NT), and PEA.  Over the year it is more than enough and leaves her money to top up her DTAC account - I cover an annual data sim card (about ThB 1,800).

 

My wife maintains an adequate balance for the two direct pays (PEA and NT) so this only works if the account holder can be trusted to maintain their balance,   The other two (water and garbage) are chump change.