Proving Minimum Balance Maintained For 3 Months

[dsfbrit]

Today I went to Immigration to renew my Non Immigrant O-Visa based on Marriage. I am able to do this based on a bank balance of 400,000 Baht. This is because the recent Visa changes did not affect those of us who had been using this method before the changes and we are 'grandfathered in'.

So as in previous years, yesterday I went to Kasikorn bank to get my letter for Immigration proving my bank balance is over 400,000 baht. I had no problems with the letter.

However, when I asked foy my bank book to be updated, the new method they use for this caused me all kinds of hassle.

Like many people I just use the ATM and never go inside the bank and hence never use my bank book. When I asked for it to be updated with all my transactions, it came back with just 3 transactions. More importantly it did not show tranasactions from 3 months ago. This meant I could not prove that I had the minimum balance of 400,000 Baht for the 3 previous months.

The new system works such that only all the transactions from the previous one month are shown. The rest of the transactions are all 'rolled up' into a balance. So for the last 6+ months I had just 4 transactions shown instead of 20 there should have been. Worse still, the transactions from 3 months ago were 'missing'. Its hard to explain, but basically this could not be used to prove the minimum balance rule had been adhered to.

This is all it had:

31/10/07 - amount blah

20/07/08 - amount rolled up

21/07/08 - ATM

03/08/08 - ATM

17/08/08 - ATM

After an hour of talking to the staff there, including the manager etc... despite their best efforts they could not provide me with the details I needed as even their computer screens did not have the 'missing' information.

Their solution was to order a bank statement, which would take a week!!! No use for me.

Fortunately I have internet access, so I went home and was able to print out up to 3 months of transactions myself.

Immigration queried this, but then accepted it when I explained the situation.

Still this could be a problem for people without Internet access needind this information quickly - so beware!!!

[Maestro]

Usually, a bank in Thailand can easily print out the details included in an entry in the bank book that sums up several transactions and I have had my banks make such printout on a number of occasions right on the spot. Strange that your bank was unable to do this.

--

Maestro

[dsfbrit]

Maestro, agreed.

I have never had a problem before. The manager at the branch in South Pattaya tried on her terminal and showed me all the information she could access. It was just the last months details.

For me it was not an issue as I had to renew my visa on 30th August and always go 10 days early in case of problems. In the end I just used the internet, but it could have been quite nasty!!

In future I will just keep my book updated.

Keep up the good work there Maestro - all the good advice is much appreciated.

[claus31130]

Happened for me to...Bangkok Bank , the book only updated the last month.....i went inside and the girl at the desk helped me out and got me a priint of what was missing in the book ,about 6 months......

so guys ...send the misses down to the bank with the book at least every 3 weeks

Claus

[KamnanT]

Yep, seems most if not all Thai banks will roll up transactions into a single "summary" entry if you haven't updated your passbook for 30 days. But my branch staff at Bangkok Bank have always had access to the detailed transactions and can print them out. If you want the detail in your passbook, you need to get to a passbook updating machine at least once a month.

[dsfbrit]

Agreed, I was surprised that the manager at the branch could not give me this detailed information. She was very helpful and showed me her screen which had just the 'rolled up' figures as well.

I told her I had to go to Immigration the next day and without this information I would be kicked out of the country!

Not quite true, as I always go to Immigration 10 days-ish before the visa expires just in case there are problems like this.

She even agreed to write a letter for me stating I had maintained this balance for the 3 month period, if I would just prove the date I transferred the funds from the UK. Mind you this all sounded a bit dodgy - still better than nothing.

I returned home to get this info, went onto the internet and realised I could print out a 3 month statement myself.

Anyway, I hope this post saves someone who really is time constrained a potential problem!

By the way, the Immigration Official was not at all happy with the 'rolled up' figures - I pointed out the statement I had attached and that was fine even though it did not have the Bank stamp nor logo.

Mind you, I dont like the idea of sending the missus down the bank too often with the bank book to update - she will see how much money I really have - then I would have to leave the country anyway!!!!!!

[mahjongguy]

Go to Kbank's online banking and set up to have your monthly statements emailed to you.

[gzu88bv]

However, when I asked foy my bank book to be updated, the new method they use for this caused me all kinds of hassle.

Like many people I just use the ATM and never go inside the bank and hence never use my bank book. When I asked for it to be updated with all my transactions, it came back with just 3 transactions. More importantly it did not show tranasactions from 3 months ago. This meant I could not prove that I had the minimum balance of 400,000 Baht for the 3 previous months.

The new system works such that only all the transactions from the previous one month are shown. The rest of the transactions are all 'rolled up' into a balance. So for the last 6+ months I had just 4 transactions shown instead of 20 there should have been. Worse still, the transactions from 3 months ago were 'missing'. Its hard to explain, but basically this could not be used to prove the minimum balance rule had been adhered to.

This is all it had:

31/10/07 - amount blah

20/07/08 - amount rolled up

21/07/08 - ATM

03/08/08 - ATM

17/08/08 - ATM

After an hour of talking to the staff there, including the manager etc... despite their best efforts they could not provide me with the details I needed as even their computer screens did not have the 'missing' information.

Their solution was to order a bank statement, which would take a week!!! No use for me.

Happened for me to...Bangkok Bank , the book only updated the last month.....i went inside and the girl at the desk helped me out and got me a priint of what was missing in the book ,about 6 months......

so guys ...send the misses down to the bank with the book at least every 3 weeks

Claus

Yep, seems most if not all Thai banks will roll up transactions into a single "summary" entry if you haven't updated your passbook for 30 days. But my branch staff at Bangkok Bank have always had access to the detailed transactions and can print them out. If you want the detail in your passbook, you need to get to a passbook updating machine at least once a month.

My 2 cents.

This all makes sense to me. There is no automated system that updates single bookings on different pages in a passbook which leads to an automatic roll up. As the OP said, he had to update about 25 bookings and when I look at my Krung Thai Bank passbook it has 22 lines available for individual bookings. Therefore, as the last two quotes above suggest, have your passbook updated regularily at least once per month inside the bank. Think about it, your passbook has only 2 remaining lines but to do i.e. 4 bookings and you will get an automatic roll up at an ATM machine.

[Naam]

Siam Commercial updates showing each and every single booking even after six months. if there is no space additional pages are printed out and attached to the bank book.

[Pattaya46]

Hi,

Like many people I just use the ATM and never go inside the bank and hence never use my bank book.

You speak about the South Pattaya Kasikorn Bank :

You do not need to go INSIDE the bank to update your passbook,

there is a printer terminal OUTSIDE the bank near ATM terminals.

I just update mine here every few weeks after I withdraw money.

[wpcoe]

Siam Commercial updates showing each and every single booking even after six months. if there is no space additional pages are printed out and attached to the bank book.

I will corroborate Naam's experience. I have two SCB savings accounts, one in BKK that I have not used/accessed in over two years, and though I couldn't use the "update passbook" machine outside the bank, when I went inside and had the manager enter some override code, the teller inserted my book into her printer, and it brought the bank book entirely up to date, including the interest payments throughout the 2+ year period.