Interest Earning Accounts At Banks In Phuket On Retirement Visa

[chickencurry]

On another part of Thai Visa, someone mentioned that the official line for those on retirement visas is that they cannot earn interest on bank accounts in Thailand (only for those on work permits). However it was mentioned that if you are living in Thailand, speak some Thai, nice to bank manager etc it is possible.

Does anyone on retirement visa in Phuket have any experience of this? Would particularly be interested in any banks in the south who are flexible to this idea.

[naka]

There is no requirement to have a work permit, in fact most of my mates who are living on a Thai salary

don't have a spare Baht to invest anyway.

No need to speak Thai and not even necessary to be nice to the manager

Anyone on a retirement visa can open a fixed term deposit, rates are not very good though i.e.

2.25% p.a. for a Baht 1 year fixed deposit.

Naka.

Edited September 10, 2007 by naka

[stevenl]

The problem is not the bank, the problem is weather immigration excepts the fixed accounts as basis for your required money in Thailand.

[fiddlehead]

You may want to think about saving the way Thai people do: Buy gold! it not only increases in value with time (especially in this day and age) but you can show it off too.

It's a grand idea actually and the gold shops act like pawn shops back in the states. You can borrow cash against your jewelry for a limited time.

Look what's happened to gold in the last 7 years: http://www.the-privateer.com/chart/gold-pf.html

Sometimes my wife (Thai) is smarter than i give her credit for.

Edited September 10, 2007 by fiddlehead

[geoffphuket]

You may want to think about saving the way Thai people do: Buy gold! it not only increases in value with time (especially in this day and age) but you can show it off too.

It's a grand idea actually and the gold shops act like pawn shops back in the states. You can borrow cash against your jewelry for a limited time.

Look what's happened to gold in the last 7 years: http://www.the-privateer.com/chart/gold-pf.html

Sometimes my wife (Thai) is smarter than i give her credit for.

And when you're well known in the neighbourhood for having lots of gold, you'll need to make your property like fort Knox

[chickencurry]

The problem is not the bank, the problem is weather immigration excepts the fixed accounts as basis for your required money in Thailand.

yes that's what I was wondering too - maybe not a good idea to have the 800K on deposit.