Thai Bank Account

[el jefe]

Yeah, I agree that Bangkok Bank is killing a forest of trees every month with all the copies , but I just learned to bring my passport with me whenever I want to conduct any business more complex than getting money from my account or turning those 1000 baht notes into smaller ones.

Another bit of advice is to select a branch bank that's convenient as your "home" branch. Ours is in Chiang Mai and, as we discovered during a recent in-country vacation, they charge a 20 baht fee for withdrawals that are "out of area" for your home branch.

Hi NancyL, our branch also in CM now keeps a folder with copies of passports of "regular" customers. The branch has many farang customers and we all objected to this ridiculous ongoing request for passport and copies on every occassion. So the manager instituted this'folder' - a bit of a brain this guy.

The 20 baht charge - is it charged on ATM withdrawals too - havent noticed it to be honest.

I use the Bangkok Bank branch at KSK, which I bet NancyL does too. They have a dozen copies of my passport and asked for another yesterday.

never been asked for a work permit though.

[Stjohnm]

thanks for the support gotlost...seems you r following me around the forum today.

at least it was some form of address confirmation .....

what amazes me with BBl is ive been there customer for 15 years and EVERY time i want to do something i have to provide my passport,, like, new passbook when the old one is full, new ATM card when the old one doesnt work through no fault of mine, change of address, and yes change of phone number, ..

Why oh why do thye need a passport EVERY f,,ing time... especially at the branch where the account is based..

They have enough copies of my passport to fill a filing cabinet....

I wonder why the bank doesnt have a more up to date technology and just "scan" the passport ( or for Thais their ID card) into their system - then it would be easy to go to any branch or do any paperwork and be easily identified... too much work i guess..

My you UOB has a system where they scan the signature cards so you can go to any branch to withdraw etc.. good one UOB.

Perhaps the resident BBL member can offer some insights into this paper warfare...that cant be made technologically more efficient.

T.I.T

UOB is a Singaporean bank so you'd expect them to have all the latest equipment.

Edited March 6, 2011 by Stjohnm