Banking For Americans In Thailand 101

[Pib]

So Fidelity does charge the 1% visa fee for over the counter cash withdraws. BUT Fidelity does not charge the 1% visa fee for atm withdraws

Sounds like they're competing directly with Schwab, in that they're 'eating' the 1% foreign transaction fee for ATM transactions (but why that's unadvertised is curious....).

But for POS and over-the-counter cash transactions, the 1% fee occurs. And, as such, these transactions are encoded differently than for an ATM transaction.

Nothing curious about a POS transaction being differently encoded than that for an ATM transaction. But getting cash "manually" might not seem to warrant different encoding than from a machine. However, look at the bottom of the chart shown here: http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/visa-usa-interchange-reimbursement-fees-april2013.pdf

[The chart is for transactions within the US, but still serves to illustrate different encodings.]

So, yeah, a counter transaction doesn't show up as an ATM transaction to Fidelity -- hence, the 1% fee. But, the common vanilla clerk at Fidelity probably wouldn't know manual cash receipt is treated differently than receipt from an ATM.

Interchange fees seem to be a dark and mysterious world....I expect the card networks like Visa and Mastercard want to keep it that way. And apparently the interchange fee and which way the funds flow can be between a credit card and a debit card.

For a credit/debit card "purchase" transaction the "card-issuing" bank is making the most in the transaction (i.e., collecting the biggest portion of the interchange fee), but in a debt card "ATM" transaction the bank owning the ATM makes the most as the card-issuing bank pays the ATM bank a fee. Link 1. Link 2 Note: in Link 2 I'm assuming where they say "reverse interchange" that is for an ATM transaction.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Did an AEON ATM withdrawal today around dinner time using a no-fee U.S. bank VISA debit card. Came home and checked my exchange rate and found it to be 32.083 baht to the dollar, which exactly matched the VISA network rate for today (Dec. 3).

Always happy to see that! Looks like only the second period this year the rate has topped 32, and most of the year it's been well below there.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On a different topic, wondering if any of you have had any experience with this?

I use USA2Me, one of the prominent mail forwarding services in the U.S., as my U.S. address of record for all my official stuff.

Over the past couple months, I had applied online at different times for two new bank accounts, one at a small local bank, and the other at one of the largest national banks.

In both cases, my applications were flagged and the bank staff I was talking to said my address had come up (in whatever system or databases they're using) as being in a "non-residential area."

In one case, I was able to resolve the situation by providing a copy of my driver's license with the matching address. But in the other case involving the large national bank -- one that has a reputation for being finicky about having customers who spend any time outside the U.S. -- I had to bail out of the application process.

In various prior online account openings using my same U.S. address, I've never had any problems about the bank complaining my address was "non-residential," and that address has not changed. But now in the past couple months, I've had that issue crop up two times in a row.

Anyone else ever run into this same kind of a "non-residential address" issue with bank account applications?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Lastly for the day, after a couple of decades of a banking relationship, BofA and I have finally parted ways, and I closed my BofA checking account that I've had for longer than I can remember.

In recent years, BofA (and other banks too) have been gradually removing their willingness to offer really FREE checking accounts, like the one I'd had with them for many years, with no monthly fees and no onerous use requirements.

So then in the mail recently, I got a BofA letter informing me that my account was being converted to another type and would no longer be free, unless I arranged a couple of hundred of dollars a month or more direct deposit, or kept a sizeable balance, something like $1500 or so.

I wasn't inclined to take either of those steps, particularly for a bank with a high FCF. So I politely called up, asked if they were willing to offer any better alternatives (they weren't), and so I pulled the plug on BofA and cut up their ATM card.

Considering their policies toward folks here, not likely to have any regrets.

[asiaexpat]

On a different topic, wondering if any of you have had any experience with this?

I use USA2Me, one of the prominent mail forwarding services in the U.S., as my U.S. address of record for all my official stuff.

Over the past couple months, I had applied online at different times for two new bank accounts, one at a small local bank, and the other at one of the largest national banks.

In both cases, my applications were flagged and the bank staff I was talking to said my address had come up (in whatever system or databases they're using) as being in a "non-residential area."

In one case, I was able to resolve the situation by providing a copy of my driver's license with the matching address. But in the other case involving the large national bank -- one that has a reputation for being finicky about having customers who spend any time outside the U.S. -- I had to bail out of the application process.

In various prior online account openings using my same U.S. address, I've never had any problems about the bank complaining my address was "non-residential," and that address has not changed. But now in the past couple months, I've had that issue crop up two times in a row.

Anyone else ever run into this same kind of a "non-residential address" issue with bank account applications?

Several years ago while working in Korea I used the home office address with my company mailbox number as an address. Several banks informed me that this was a business address and not acceptable to them (BofA, Discover, etc.)I had to provide a copy of my Korean assignment contract to each bank to keep the accounts open.

Edited December 4, 2013 by asiaexpat

[Pib]

I expect its a case of financial organizations continuing to tighten up their Know Your Customer, Fraud Prevention, compliance with law/regulation XYZ, etc. Recently on the wife's fee annual credit report (got this one from Experian...I know you can get an annual free one from the other two agencies also and we do that on a staggered period basis) I noticed something I hadn't noticed before.

Under the area of the report which reflected addresses the wife has received mail there was a column titled "Type of Address." For our previous physical residence addresses in the U.S. before each address was coded as "Single Family" but since moving to Thailand and using our military APO address it's coded as "Military." I expect they have "numerous categories" of addresses such as Business or Non-Residential also...like mentioned by asiaexpat and TallGuy above.

From doing some googling I see that "type of address" is just one of many flags that credit reporting agencies, banks, companies, etc., can use for various purposes like fraud prevention/account application. Like below partial quote from some come company called ID Analytics where they talk a little about using "type of address" to help in fraud prevention, especially when an account/credit application occurs and the address don't match the person's previous address...now that don't necessarily mean fraud is occurring "but when combined with other flags/data it might." When it comes to "flags" there are many in use by credit agencies/banks/etc. In the quote below the company can identify if the address is a prison, mail drop, campground, etc....it wouldn't surprise me if they have a category for a Mail Forwarding. Basically, the Type of Address can serve as a flag.

Kinda like a couple months ago when one of my debit cards started being rejected at ATMs...had been working fine for two years in Thailand, the Visa Fraud Prevention folks called me, I told them it was indeed me making the transactions in Thailand, they turned the card back on again but said I should also call my card issuing bank which I also did a few weeks later. But during that call with Visa the Visa CSR said Visa has around 758 flags (wow, 758 possible flags I thought) available for Visa and card-issuing banks to use to try detect certain things/fraud....how many flags are used not only depends on what Visa uses by default on all Visa cards but additional flags the card-issuing bank can optionally have set....probably flags like if the card gets used overseas and you didn't call the card-issuing bank to tell them of your trip itinerary your card may not work outside the U.S....we know some banks are pretty hardcore about that.

I

D Analytics retains substantial, proprietary information related to address risk. Through

the feeds of information from its contributing members, the ID Network receives

legitimate address changes as well as reported frauds on a daily basis. ID Analytics for

Compliance can determine whether a specific address is a Post Office box, mail drop,

prison, campground or other address type with a high likelihood of being associated with

fraud. In addition, the ID Network contains detailed information on two million reported

frauds including specific addresses used and the identity elements associated with these

addresses over time.

Just as additional FYI since I mentioned the Experian credit report...the Social Security Agency uses Experian for verification of certain data when you register for an online SSA account and a variety of SS benefits...I'm not old enough for SS penson yet, but if you want to see what the SSA sees based on what Experian collects, you need to be sure to get an Experian credit report also...since Experian is only one of three main credit reporting agencies. Now, although the SSA will see your address data in the Experian data, for your current address the SSA uses the address used on your last IRS federal tax return as the primary source of your current address...I was told that by a SSA CSR when trying to register an online account for the wife in order to get the yearly SS report online vs having to ask for it by mail....they are doing it by mail again upon mail-in request as we'll never been able to get online account set up for the wife (always some data mismatch)...requested a report for the wife in early Oct....got it in the mail in late Oct. I got my online account setup no problem...but the wife (US & Thai citizen) still can't get setup...maybe the same people who built the Obamacare website built the SSA online account website....I don't know.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thanks Pib and Asia...

The curious part of this is, I've never had any issue about my address with any of my existing banks/accounts during the years I've had it and them. No problem at all.

And I hadn't had any problem previously even in opening new accounts, using the same address of record. But just lately, as I mentioned, it's been problems two times in a row.

KInd of has me thinking to look for an address solution that's going to provide the services I need, but still be coded as residential.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

HALTING MAILED BALANCE TRANSFER CHECKS

BTW, this reminds me on another related topic....

I'd been getting more and more annoyed lately with receiving every month postal mailed balance transfer checks from my various credit card companies. Even though I have all my account privacy/data sharing options set to be private.

And of course, those federally mandated privacy provisions don't restrict the credit card companies mailing you their own balance transfer checks, because it's the company you have the account with using your information and mailing to you... and not any affiliate or thirty party.

So, I did some checking, and supposedly, you can call in to your credit card company and simply make a request for them to CEASE mailing balance transfer checks. I did so recently with two of the largest credit card providers, and both seemed well-acquainted with handled such requests, even to the point of having standard disclosure language they had to read to me over the phone.

I won't know for sure for a couple of months, because as the credit card companies warned, their mailings are planned and processeD ahead of time. But ultimately, I'm hopeful the change will cut down on up to a half dozen or so check transfer mailings I'd been receiving per month. And make no mistake, some of the big providers mail those checks out EVERY month.

All of my card accounts are already set to receive electronic statements and disclosures. So if I can get rid of the balance transfer checks, then pretty much the only physical card mailings I'd be receiving would be when it's time to renew/issue a new physical card. And those, of course, I definitely want.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Meanwhile, some interesting news elsewhere in the forum today:

Wonder if this was spurred along by the recent spate of ATM skimming fraud in BKK.

I don't recall ever before seeing any public announcement that the other Thai banks were going to have to join BKK Bank in offering chip cards.

Also, the article doesn't mention that BKK Bank now only offers the chip cards as an option, while still offering the regular mag strip cards as well because of the incompatibility problems with the chip cards.

Wonder how that issue will get handled once all the Thai retail banks are into this game.

PS - I think the MCOT article below is wrong in regards to the U.S. While some banks and cards used there have chips, my impression is the vast vast majority in use still are the non-chipped variety.

Of all of my various U.S. bank cards, only ONE has a chip, and that was a voluntary change I opted for just in the past few months with one of the larger U.S. credit unions.

BANGKOK, Dec 2 – Thailand's commercial banks nationwide will start shifting existing magnetic strip ATMs and debit cards to chip-embedded cards by next year to prevent skimming fraud.

Bank of Thailand Payment Systems Policy Department senior director Jaturong Jantarangs said all commercial banks will start using the chip technology to prevent skimming fraud. So far, up to 30,000 out of 50,000 ATM machines nationwide have been made compatible with the chip technology and the rest should be upgraded by next year.

Mr Jaturong said all banks will bear the cost of the technology upgrade. At the same time, card users will need to learn how to operate internet banking and mobile banking to protect themselves from falling prey to skimming fraud.

As of now, banks in Europe, the US and Japan have shifted to chip-based debit and ATM cards which bar skimmers from copying card information. In Thailand, Bangkok Bank, the country's largest bank in terms of assets has already upgraded to chip-based ATMs and debit cards. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2013-12-03

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/686294-banks-set-to-switch-to-chip-based-atms/

[Pib]

I also think the great majority of cards in the U.S. are still magnetic strip based...I probably have around ten U.S. debit and credit cards (around half are debit cards)...from the largest banks/credit card companies to small regional credit unions..."none" of them have chips. However, I have seen where at least one of my U.S. banks is now offering chipped cards (I think it was a credit card not debit card) but you need to request it at time of issue otherwise you still get the magnetic strip card. No doubt there is a shift beginning in the U.S. towards chip based cards, but I expect the shift will take (fill in the blank) years.

[Pib]

In my post above where I said my wife's Experian report reflected the various addresses she received mail at as Military or Single Family, here's an exampe of a Experian credit report for John Q. Consumer and if you go to the last page you see where they have his addresses coded as Apartment Complex, MultiFamily, or Single Family.

I expect they have quite a few categories addresses can fit into such as Single Family, Apartment Complex, MultiFamily, Military...and based on some of the other above posts maybe Business, Non-Residential, etc. I may goolge some more to see if I can stumble upon a list Experian uses.

[maphraw]

Does anyone know if you can open a Schwab account online while residing in Thailand? I have an account with M&T Bank in the US and their international ATM fees are high and they won't wire money to my Thai bank account unless I do it from the US. So I write a check from my M&T bank and deposit it with my Siam Commercial Bank but it takes about five weeks to clear. However, it works. But would like the convenience of the Schwab account and ATM. Thanks.

[Langsuan Man]

Does anyone know if you can open a Schwab account online while residing in Thailand? I have an account with M&T Bank in the US and their international ATM fees are high and they won't wire money to my Thai bank account unless I do it from the US. So I write a check from my M&T bank and deposit it with my Siam Commercial Bank but it takes about five weeks to clear. However, it works. But would like the convenience of the Schwab account and ATM. Thanks.

If you have a US address that you can use, then you can apply using that address and not be bothered with opening a 'foreign" account

[SailingHome]

Does anyone know if you can open a Schwab account online while residing in Thailand? I have an account with M&T Bank in the US and their international ATM fees are high and they won't wire money to my Thai bank account unless I do it from the US. So I write a check from my M&T bank and deposit it with my Siam Commercial Bank but it takes about five weeks to clear. However, it works. But would like the convenience of the Schwab account and ATM. Thanks.

If you have a US address that you can use, then you can apply using that address and not be bothered with opening a 'foreign" account

Cool! So, apply online or there is an office in BKK? If online, how to sign the documents?

Sent from my MyPhone A919 Duo using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Re Schwab, you really want to have access to some kind of U.S. mail address of record, whether it be your own, a family member, or a mail receiving service that can forward to you. Especially for the account opening process, and preferably on an ongoing basis.

The domestic account has advantages over the Schwab international account, including the domestic account not having any minimum balance to open the combo of a Schwab One brokerage account and Schwab checking account.

If you're going to do the online account opening, you might want to be careful to make sure you have a U.S. IP address when doing so. I'm not sure a non-U.S. IP is going to play well with the online account opening process for a U.S. account.

Once the account is open and established (card received, etc), there's little to no mailed paperwork involved or required. Everything can be set for online account statements and document deliveries, including annual tax forms, etc etc.

[SailingHome]

AWESOME! Excellent info, John. I checked the site yesterday, but was not using my US IP proxy (hotspot shield is free) so it said to call for a new account. It looks like fees are small for small balances too.

Sent from my MyPhone A919 Duo using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Langsuan Man]

I don't know if TallGuyJohninBKK is correct about the IP address since they will mail the signature cards, debit cards, etc. to your US address but to cover yourself use a proxy. A free one, admittedly never used for Schawb, I have successfully used is TunnelBear, available here

www.tunnelbear.com

Hopefully someone with a US address that has applied from Thailand will post if a US proxy is required

[SailingHome]

I think the proxy is to fill out online forms. Being in Philippines right now, when not using a proxy, it tells me I have to call to open an account and does not offer online forms like my normal US bank does when I am in the US.

Sent from my MyPhone A919 Duo using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[CaptHaddock]

If the US address you use is in a state with an income tax, that state may come after you for taxes due at some point. For instance, the annual 1099 from Schwab reporting your interest income will be forwarded to the income tax bureau of the state on your address.

Much better to use a mail forwarding service that provides an address in a state without an income tax. Mail forwarding services will also let you read a scanned version of the contents of mail you receive, if you choose. Enables you to read your snail mail promptly.

Re Schwab, you really want to have access to some kind of U.S. mail address of record, whether it be your own, a family member, or a mail receiving service that can forward to you. Especially for the account opening process, and preferably on an ongoing basis.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Yup, that's an issue for anyone living abroad, but still having a financial presence back in the U.S.

Every state has its own rules about what circumstances they consider to make a person subject to state income tax.

But the Schwab account wouldn't be the only thing subject to that, if someone had, for example, a family residence in an income tax state.

On the other hand, it's probably no coincidence that there are a lot of the mail forwarding services located in no state income tax states such as Texas and Florida, among others.

But going that route may have its own limitations, as well. For example, I posted a few posts above about my experience with opening a couple of new bank accounts recently, and having trouble with those banks because, somehow in the process, they looked at my official residence address and it came back classfied as "business" or "commercial" instead of residential.

[Pib]

I think the proxy is to fill out online forms. Being in Philippines right now, when not using a proxy, it tells me I have to call to open an account and does not offer online forms like my normal US bank does when I am in the US. Sent from my MyPhone A919 Duo using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Unless something has changed from several years ago a person could apply for the U.S. Schwab Brokerage/Checking accounts "online" for single account but had to mail in a separate form if also wanting a Savings account. But if you want a joint account you couldn't apply online...you had to mail in the forms which is what I did almost 3 years ago. Scbwab will run a credit report on you to help validate who you say you are, residence, etc. In fact when I applied my account using a U.S. Residence and an APO mailing address the application was put on-hold during the application process when the credit report couldn't find any recent financial activity around my U.S. residence address for me or the wife. I found this out when calling up Schwab to check on the status of my application....during that call to get the application off hold status I underwent a Q&A "test" to verify my identity which was basically a test on previous addresses, bank loans, etc...public records type stuff (the kind of test that Langsuan Man loves when logging onto his St Farm bank account sometimes :-). See this post number 88 in a similar ThaiVisa thread regarding my Schwab account opening. I passed the test, account application taken off hold, accounts opened...going on three years with the accounts now....used my Schwab debit card just an hour ago to get some money out of an AEON ATM. So if you do apply and it seems you should have got some kind of account approval notice by day-X and haven't, then give Schwab a call as the application my have been put on hold status for some reason you can clear up over the phone. And Schwab is definitely looking for a U.S. residence address in order to open the account; otherwise, they will tell you to open a International account which has a whole different set of rules, opening amount, minimum balance, etc.

And for TallGuy, the AEON ATM machine in my nearby Tesco Lotus Mall got moved to a new location on the mall grounds and during that move they actually replaced it with a new AEON ATM "and CDM" machine which "does" state the Bt20K withdrawal limit per transaction where the old AEON ATM would not display any limit...and if you tried to withdraw more than Bt20K from the old ATM it would just unceremoniously abort the transaction, screen go gray, and spit-out your card within about 3 seconds giving you the bad feeling your bank account may have been charged but you got no money from ATM...but fortunately the account wouldn't actually get charged....summary: glad to have a new AEON ATM....but now I've probably got a 150 steps between the AEON ATM and my Bangkok Bank branch where I open deposit the funds I get out of the AEON ATM for absolutely no fees anywhere along the way between my Schwab bank account and the AEON ATM money output slot.

P.S. SailingHome, since you are in the P.I. and since I happened to spend a lot of years in the P.I. (Angeles City) during my earlier years, if you see any one running around looking like a Pib (handsome or ugly) then its a total coincidence.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Pib

[SailingHome]

Pib, too many. You get around ;-) Heck, other than no xoom, I am SO happy to be leaving this place. Back to Thailand Jan 12!

Sent from my MyPhone A919 Duo using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Variously on some of the items mentioned just above:

Schwab and VPN: Just to clarify, I think using a proxy or VPN is a wise and perhaps necessary step when going thru the initial online account opening process. And you probably need to use a U.S. mailing address of record. But, once the account is open and everything's done, then moving forward, I don't think it matters about one's computer IP address at least insofar as doing biz with Schwab.

I will say, though, I've become a bit more sensitized to the IP issue lately, particularly after a run-in with an attempted online new account opening where that was a problem. So I've pretty much decided moving forward, that anytime I'm doing any kind of online banking activity, I'm going to be using the IP address that matches my U.S. residence address.

Account opening challenge questions: As I mentioned above, I recently went thru two new account opening processes with two different banks, both of which got flagged for me having, according to their systems, a non-residential address. In the big bank case of the two, I also had to go thru the verbal challenge questions process, which I passed. But in the end, I still couldn't open the account because of the address issue.

But among the challenge questions, they pulled out two of my favorites.... 1. What was the birthday month of a ex-GF who I haven't seen or had any contact with for the past 10+ years. and 2. In what city is an ex-wife of mine living, someone who I haven't had any contact with for close to 10 years. How the **** am I supposed to know in what city she's living now? At any rate, graciously, the bank allowed me to skip answering those questions, which admittedly, had little to do with ME and my details.

Inter-Asia Moving: Pib or Sailing, someone ought to start a ThaiVisa thread, or if one already exists, link to it here, about how folks go about handing inter-Asia moves. I've done the U.S.-Thailand move and that wasn't too difficult at all, especially starting from the U.S. But I've always wondered, if I ever wanted to move from Thailand to Cambodia or Thailand to the PHs, just how would one arrange that, particularly in terms of finding the right company/entity to handle the moving/delivery of one's household goods.

Edited December 15, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[SailingHome]

I'm the wrong guy to make that thread... 2 suitcases is all the junk I want in life. The rest is disposable. That will change when I have kids. Sounds like an informative discussion, however.

Sent from my MyPhone A919 Duo using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[zeekgarcia]

I found this site that has some good information about banking and US expats.

http://americansabroad.org/issues/banking/banking-and-the-patriot-act-update/

Edited December 17, 2013 by zeekgarcia

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

fyi, the Bank of Thailand's Financial Consumer Protection Center, which supposedly was set up to handle consumer complaints over problematic financial services and practices here, appears to have changed their website domain.

The new homepage for what the Thais shortened to the FCC (for some reason leaving out the P for Protection) is now at:

http://www.1213.or.th/en/Pages/default.aspx

There's also a web version of their 2013 accounting of complaints filed, what the complaints were about, and generally how they were resolved. It's all pretty broadly summarized, but at least worth perusing.

http://www.1213.or.th/en/Pages/2013FCCReport.aspx

Curiously, in the more than past year that the FCC has been operating, I don't believe I've seen any report here on ThaiVisa of any members experience of dealing with them.

Edited August 20, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Pib]

I see in the complaint stats there was a good amount of complaints about being forced to buy insurance or other products. I wonder how many of those were related to banks hard-selling their more pricey debit cards which come with insurance just to open a bank accounts....that is, if you don't signup for their pricy debit card with insurance then you can't open an account. Now of course you can indeed open an account without taking any debit card or just taking the regular debit card with no insurance, but the some branches we trying to make it sound like "you had to sign up for the pricey cards or you can't open an account." Been quite a few ThaiVisa posts in various threads complaining about that.

[zeekgarcia]

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AWESOME! Excellent info, John. I checked the site yesterday, but was not using my US IP proxy (hotspot shield is free) so it said to call for a new account. It looks like fees are small for small balances too. Sent from my MyPhone A919 Duo using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I don't know if TallGuyJohninBKK is correct about the IP address since they will mail the signature cards, debit cards, etc. to your US address but to cover yourself use a proxy. A free one, admittedly never used for Schawb, I have successfully used is TunnelBear, available here

www.tunnelbear.com

Hopefully someone with a US address that has applied from Thailand will post if a US proxy is required

A good friend told me they applied online for Charles Account but then they were flagged because their IP was outside the USA and now the only way they can apply for a Charles account is by going into one of there offices in the USA. They even said they tried several months later hoping Charles clean their non account files but Charles still had a file on them.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Yes, there's that issue for people who are applying for new accounts. But it also impacts people with existing accounts who log-in with non-U.S. IP addresses.

In the past, before I went to an all-U.S. IP address approach to online banking, I had online access to several different brokerage accounts temporarily frozen for no other reason than their systems detected a non-U.S. IP log-in, and obviously , suspected it was potential fraud.

Then, in each case, that meant having to call the institution and go through their particular security protocol to prove I was the legitimate account holder, before they'd unlock access to the account. But the more troublesome part was, once I went thru that process, in each case, the institution's security staff said they couldn't promise the same thing wouldn't happen again, even if I informed them that I'd sometimes be logging in from non U.S. IPs, because their setups are automated, etc etc.

So, that's what let me to follow the always log-in with a U.S. IP address policy. And ever since I've been following that, I've never had a single problem.

PS - another issue with Schwab is, their online security/fraud staff DON'T work weekends. So, one time, I had my account temporarily frozen on a Friday, and then could do nothing about it until Monday night local time here, when the fraud staff finally returned to work. I was NOT a happy camper.

Edited September 2, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[CaptHaddock]

So, that's what let me to follow the always log-in with a U.S. IP address policy. And ever since I've been following that, I've never had a single problem.

However, you may find, as I just did yesterday, that currently if you login to Bangkok Bank with a US ip then you have to provide additional credentials. So, this means now we have to turn the thing on and off again depending on the financial institution.

Plus, I hear that Fidelity is rolling out a two-level authentication that sends a one-time password to your cell phone that you then must enter in order to login. If that catches on, it could be a big headache for us.