Internet banking in thailand

[Herbie]

I stay upcountry and would like to open a bank account that gives my internet banking.

Any suggestions? I can not read Thai, so it must be in English.

I have an account with TFB already, anyone knows if their internet banking is good or not?

Can you pay your UBC, mobile bills there without problems?

[Rinrada]

If any help I use these 2 ...

Bangkok.

http://www.bangkokbank.co.th/Bangkok+Bank/Main.htm

London..

AOL:  Nationwide

and I do not work for them...regards ::

[Howard]

I dont know about BBL and TFB but I have an account with SCB which I regularly work via the internet. I can pay UBC, electricity, etc.

You can get more info at www.scbeasy.com

Howard

[cbatson]

In theory, Bangkok Bank has it, but it's a huge pain in the to set up.  There's no internet sign-up -- you have to go to the bank.  First, I tried to sign up at some random branch.  I was told I would have to go to the exact branch at which that account was opened.  I went to that branch.  They had never heard of internet banking.  Finally found one lady who knew about it, but said she didn't have any of the forms, but were expecting them in a week.  She took my phone number.  Never heard from her.  A couple weeks later, I found the application forms online, printed them out myself, and took them to the bank.  After filling out all the forms, after the whole process, an employee pointed out that my account is a joint account, which is not eligible for internet banking.

Bangkok Bank is in the stone ages!

Chuck

[chefhunter]

well in my experiance here with both Bangkok bank and SCB, they are both a problem when it comes to Internet banking.

i work in Thailand and have a work visa that is suposed to make things easier as i have a reason to be transtering money overseas or between accounts (so im told) but it doesnt seam to make it that easy.

first SCBeasy as they call it!

well on recomendation from a friend who had just set up an account over the internet i tried to do the same thing. all was going fine till it asked for my id card no. which is an 11 digit no! well i tried my pasport no. and refused and then tried what my friend did and just put any no in there after his passport no to make it up to 11 but still no way.

well after a few weeks i whent to the bank and they didnt have thepapers etc long story, many calls to bangkok and time latter i managed to  give the id card no. my passport no. by adding zeros after it and no letters. the account was aprover 3 months latter but still no international money transfers.

so now through the SCB branch my wife who is Thai we have a joint account that we opend in october last year and with in a couple of weeks and a few faxes here and there its aproved and i pay my bills from it and can send money internationaly as well.

Bangkok bank is another story.

i have applied with them several times and continualy get either no response for months or years and also lost or misplaced paper work!

Good Luck

[Howard]

I guess that internet banking is not that much different from many things - individual experiences differ.

I live in Australia and opened my SCB account at a suburban Bangkok branch. That was easy - did it on the spot with the help of my future wife - just needed my passport for ID.

Later I applied on the internet for internet banking. SCB then mailed the application form to me at my address in Australia. Unfortunately it was in Thai and when I took it to my Thai language teacher he lost it... Got another form, completed and returned it and the account opened fine.

HOWEVER while I can transfer funds to the account from Australia, transfer the other way is somewhat limited. More importantly I can NOT transfer funds to accounts at other banks in Thailand. Well that was the case two months ago - I have not checked more recently.

BUT as I mentioned earlier I can pay many accounts via the internet.

So it depends pretty much on what you want to do.

NOW the rub. If you want to do the same with a business account you will find it more complicated and more expensive. Even at SCB head office staff did not know such a facility existed and it took quite a lot of effort to get it organised.

BUT to be optimistic - I find that the facilities and services are constantly being improved, maybe only in small increments but still they are working on it.

I would suggest you look at Bank of Asia. I have not opened an internet account with them but they have great customer support via the internet (practical news on internet tax payments for example). They seem to be pretty much on the ball and are proud that they are developing their ideas, software and systems internally. Their staff seem well briefed but this could simply be that the branch we have an account mainly services business.

Howard

[caughtintheact]

Looks as if everyone is having the same problem.  If you do not read Thai, forget about TFB for the time being, as they are not yet prepared to have online banking in English.  I started an online account with TFB months ago, but every document must be accompanied by a signed copy of your passport, and needs to be manually submitted (although you can give it to a bank clerk at any branch and they have been efficient in forwarding it to headquarters. Even when your account is established, if you want to make additions, you have to go through the manual processes again, i.e., apply to add a third party account (can't let the girlfriends go hungry, now, can we?), get the computer generated application form, make a copy of your passport, go to the bank, submit the documents to a clerk, then wait a week or two, and if you don't use your banking signature as it appears in your bank records, - resubmit.  

I have accounts at a number of banks in the USA and everything is done online, with the exception of a couple of mandatory phone calls.