Credit Report In Thailand

[floridaguy]

I hope that this is not a redundant post. If so, I appologize, but I could not find any topics that satisfied my questions.

I was born in Thailand as a US and Thai citizen, and moved to the States when I was 8 mths old; I haven't been back to Thailand. I am moving permanently to Thailand in Jan 2009, and will be establishing my status as a Thai citizen, getting ID card, etc.

How do I establish credit? I have a long credit history in the US, with may houses, cars, credit cards. But in Thailand, it will be as if a 37 year old man appeared out of no where! Will I be able to get home loan, car loan, credit cards, establish utilities for my home, get a mobile phone, etc, etc.

We have a trick in the States that clients with no credit history could quickly establish credit by being added to someone else's credit cards, thereby giving them years of credit in an instant. Is this possible in Thailand? What other ways can I quickly establish credit?

Thank you! This has been absolutely the best resource for making my move from the US to Bangkok easier and smoother.

[soundman]

Moved to business & banking forum.

[underexpose]

I hope that this is not a redundant post. If so, I appologize, but I could not find any topics that satisfied my questions.

I was born in Thailand as a US and Thai citizen, and moved to the States when I was 8 mths old; I haven't been back to Thailand. I am moving permanently to Thailand in Jan 2009, and will be establishing my status as a Thai citizen, getting ID card, etc.

How do I establish credit? I have a long credit history in the US, with may houses, cars, credit cards. But in Thailand, it will be as if a 37 year old man appeared out of no where! Will I be able to get home loan, car loan, credit cards, establish utilities for my home, get a mobile phone, etc, etc.

We have a trick in the States that clients with no credit history could quickly establish credit by being added to someone else's credit cards, thereby giving them years of credit in an instant. Is this possible in Thailand? What other ways can I quickly establish credit?

Thank you! This has been absolutely the best resource for making my move from the US to Bangkok easier and smoother.

we run on a different financial system. while the credit history is extremely essential in the states, it is virtually unknown to the thais (yet). we just start collecting credit data which reports to thai credit bereau couple years back. it is a very new system for thai people. and since the data dated back only a few years, financial institution doesnt really use it much when you apply for a credit. (but they do care if there's a "black-list" status in your credit history report).

we don't even have a formula for credit score yet. if i'm not mistaken, they are developing one right now. but then again, the credit data dated back only few years. we might have to wait for many more years before all the institutions will start to adopt the score system.

for your concern, here's some suggestion.

creditcard- they do run your credit history. but that's not the most important factors. the real important factors are either 1) you have a proof of full-time salary for at least 3 months (need to be an official bank slip. cash salary won't help) or 2) show them you have lots of money in your bank account.

loan- they also do run your credit history; but again, it's not really matter. they just check if you are "black-listed" or not (black-list = serious delinquent). what matter is your colletaral. chances are pretty slim to get loan from bank without any colletaral (cash, land, etc..) ofcourses, unless you know the bank manager.

utilities- they are state-subsidized; so it's really cheap. water might run you about 100 baht per month. electricity might run anything between 1000-3000 baht. none of them check your credit. but i think you need to pay deposit for electric service (unless you live in a building where they already paid for you)

mobile phone and bunch of other stuff- no credit check

renting a place to live- no credit check. all you need is the pay them upfront + 1 to 2 months deposit

employment - no credit check.

oh, also you can tag along your creditcard with other people. that's mean you can use the card and built a history. although it might be of a little help for the time being since there's noone checking your credit history (yet) lol. hope that's help!

[floridaguy]

I hope that this is not a redundant post. If so, I appologize, but I could not find any topics that satisfied my questions.

I was born in Thailand as a US and Thai citizen, and moved to the States when I was 8 mths old; I haven't been back to Thailand. I am moving permanently to Thailand in Jan 2009, and will be establishing my status as a Thai citizen, getting ID card, etc.

How do I establish credit? I have a long credit history in the US, with may houses, cars, credit cards. But in Thailand, it will be as if a 37 year old man appeared out of no where! Will I be able to get home loan, car loan, credit cards, establish utilities for my home, get a mobile phone, etc, etc.

We have a trick in the States that clients with no credit history could quickly establish credit by being added to someone else's credit cards, thereby giving them years of credit in an instant. Is this possible in Thailand? What other ways can I quickly establish credit?

Thank you! This has been absolutely the best resource for making my move from the US to Bangkok easier and smoother.

we run on a different financial system. while the credit history is extremely essential in the states, it is virtually unknown to the thais (yet). we just start collecting credit data which reports to thai credit bereau couple years back. it is a very new system for thai people. and since the data dated back only a few years, financial institution doesnt really use it much when you apply for a credit. (but they do care if there's a "black-list" status in your credit history report).

we don't even have a formula for credit score yet. if i'm not mistaken, they are developing one right now. but then again, the credit data dated back only few years. we might have to wait for many more years before all the institutions will start to adopt the score system.

for your concern, here's some suggestion.

creditcard- they do run your credit history. but that's not the most important factors. the real important factors are either 1) you have a proof of full-time salary for at least 3 months (need to be an official bank slip. cash salary won't help) or 2) show them you have lots of money in your bank account.

loan- they also do run your credit history; but again, it's not really matter. they just check if you are "black-listed" or not (black-list = serious delinquent). what matter is your colletaral. chances are pretty slim to get loan from bank without any colletaral (cash, land, etc..) ofcourses, unless you know the bank manager.

utilities- they are state-subsidized; so it's really cheap. water might run you about 100 baht per month. electricity might run anything between 1000-3000 baht. none of them check your credit. but i think you need to pay deposit for electric service (unless you live in a building where they already paid for you)

mobile phone and bunch of other stuff- no credit check

renting a place to live- no credit check. all you need is the pay them upfront + 1 to 2 months deposit

employment - no credit check.

oh, also you can tag along your creditcard with other people. that's mean you can use the card and built a history. although it might be of a little help for the time being since there's noone checking your credit history (yet) lol. hope that's help!

Underexpose, your explanation was great. I can't believe that there is little to no credit checks in Thailand. I worked in banking, and we live or die by our credit history here in the States. If you have bad credit here, then home/car insurance is more expensive, interest rates on credit cards and car/house loans are more. You even can be denied employment if you have bad credit.

I have always had very good credit. I am glad that I can start new and build credit in Thailand very easily. Thank you for your help.

[Khun Jean]

I think going to live in Thailand is a nice opportunity to erase credit from your live. Except maybe a mortgage. All other things/needs are easy to obtain after some saving.