Cost To Close That Bank Accounts

[lukeskywalker]

Hello,

I used to have 3 different employers (I work freelance) and each required I have one of "their" banks to aid (ie. cheaper) in transferring to me my paycheck.

Well, now I no longer work for any of them and don't see a need to have 3 bank accounts. I have: Bank of Ayudaha, Kasikorn Bank and Siam Commercial Bank.

Also, I opened all 3 accounts on Koh Samui, but now I live in Chiang Mai. Each account has money in it and when I either deposit or withdraw money from any of the accounts, there is an associated fee. Since there is a fee, I usually withdraw quite a bit and keep the cash in my house, but that makes me nervous. But the 20 baht fee here and the 40 baht fee there and then 50 baht fee is all beginning to add up. I need to make a change. Each time I pay one of these charges I think, "That's the cost of a good Thai meal!" I hate wasting money, no matter how small the amount. My motto is "Save money where you can, so you can spend it where you want."

What should I do?

Close all of them and open 1 new one? Keep them open and open a new one in CM anyway?

Are there charges to close accounts?

Any advice?

Thanks

[bojo]

There's no charge to take all the money out if you go to the branch where the account is. But if you take the cash out in Chiang Mai they will charge you as they do when it's small amounts as you've mentioned and pro rata, I forget the percentage. I had accounts in Samui and emptied them and put the cash in my Chiang Mai new account. There is no charge to close a savings account. No need to keep them open unless you really want to.

regards Bojo

[ballbreaker]

Hard to believe someone is asking this question.

Open new account in CM and then transfer funds from other banks into new account

My Bangkok Bank account allows me to move money to other named banks using ATM without any problems. You should be able to do the same if other banks have that option on their ATM's. You will get hit with one time fee from each bank you empty but all funds will be in one bank.

[longball53098]

I believe if you transfer the funds out of the accounts you no longer need and leave them dormant with a zero balance for a given period of time the bank will automatically close the account. We got a letter from KTB some time ago indicating if there was no activity on account xxx at yyy office the account would be closed in x amount of time.

[teletiger]

Bangkok Bank (Bangkok) charged me 1% on a 1.1 million transfer to my Chiang Mai acc. More than a few good Thai meals.

International bank? Bandits more like.

Regards.

[poldebol]

I wanted to close my fixed term account (3 months, rate 0,85%!) in SCB and open a saving account with a debit Mastercard and an ATM card in the same branch.

First they said I had to leave minimum 1000 THB in the fixed term account. No explanation was given and my gf is always afraid I will get angry again with the bank people, so she was not much help at all.

Nobody of the staff spoke english.

I tried to confirm several times that I wanted to bring the old account to 0, open the new account and the bank cards in one session, since I have to drive about 35 km to the bank office. No problem, smiles all-over.

Result:

Fixed account closed after deduction of 1009 THB.

transfer to new account with a difference of 900 THB (negative).

"Sorry today no card available, please come back tomorrow."

Two days later:

Big smile: "please Mastercard."

"And the ATM card?"

"Please come back tomorrow."

My gf nearly broke my left shinbone, so I stayed put. I asked the manager to pay at least 2000 THB for my travelling expenses. He got me somebody on the phone who spoke good english and offered me two Mastercards instead of one plus one ATM card. That was 200 THB extra please.

I believe the rules are:

ATM withdrawal or tranfer same bank same province: no charge

ATM withdrawal or transfer diff. bank or diff. province: 20 or 50 THB

farang account ATM withdrawal: 150 THB extra (goes from your farang account)

The Thai Government Savings Bank does not charge for withdrawal at diff. province.

Some charges may depend on the amount.

When I left the office, I told the staff that I was very happy they must have very high salaries, the bank stealing so much money from my account. Suddenly they all started: "Nonononono". At least two of them had understood every word I said.