Any Real Advantage To Obtaining A Thai Checking Account?

[4evermaat]

In Thailand, is there any advantage to having a checking (current) account vs savings account for individuals? Like higher limits or any special features not available on savings account? Not sure if corporations can still have a merchant account (accept credit cards) that is savings account. USA has different laws specifically for savings accounts like restrictions on the amount of withdraws per statement cycle, but it seems like Thai savings accounts are only limited to the technical capacities of the bank. Was curious to know if others have some insights on thai checking vs savings account benefits and limitations.

Any of the Thai banks.

Edited February 1, 2012 by 4evermaat

[Nisa]

I think you need a much larger amount to open a checking account -- Citibank I think is 100k baht

[stockinvestor]

The advantage is that you can apply for a cheque book and make payments by cheque if required.

[pmarlin]

The advantage is that you can apply for a cheque book and make payments by cheque if required.

haven't made a payment by check in years, Bill pay or bank transfer is safer and faster and you can do both on a savings account.

[4evermaat]

The advantage is that you can apply for a cheque book and make payments by cheque if required.

haven't made a payment by check in years, Bill pay or bank transfer is safer and faster and you can do both on a savings account.

I know about cheques, but besides that....what else is exclusive to checking acct?

"2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from ThaiVisa app.

Edited February 2, 2012 by 4evermaat

[Daveroc]

In todays electronic world the useage and advantage of cheques is diminishing. Internet Banking provides all the convenience most people require without the need to issue cheques.

There are greater restrictions around opening the accounts and the minimum opening balance required. However for some customers their confidence in the electronic methods or their own confidence in using them is such that they prefer to use the paper base method.

[QED]

Cheques are well used within the corporate world still here in Thailand. I suspect if you as an individual tried to make a purchase by cheque you would not have much joy.

In the UK the main difference between a cheque account and a savings account (cheques aside), is the ability to have a proper Visa/Mastercard debit card, but you can do that on your savings account here so I see no benefit really. You might get an overdraft on a cheque account also, if you are in to that kind of thing.

[harrry]

In Thailand bouncing a cheque is a serious criminal offence. Make sure you do not do it accidentally.

[4evermaat]

...........

In the UK the main difference between a cheque account and a savings account (cheques aside), is the ability to have a proper Visa/Mastercard debit card, but you can do that on your savings account here so I see no benefit really. You might get an overdraft on a cheque account also, if you are in to that kind of thing.

Same in usa with the check card for checking acct vs pin-only atm card for savings, not to mention restrictions on #of monthly withdrawals. They really encourage you to use cheking acct for everything.

In Thailand bouncing a cheque is a serious criminal offence. Make sure you do not do it accidentally.

Question: do they charge both the offending party (account check is written on) and the depositor with return cheque fee, or only the offending party?

In usa, one of the biggest dangers in accepting a check is that it could bounce, and both parties receive the bounce fee by their respective banks.

"2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from ThaiVisa app.

[harrry]

...........

In the UK the main difference between a cheque account and a savings account (cheques aside), is the ability to have a proper Visa/Mastercard debit card, but you can do that on your savings account here so I see no benefit really. You might get an overdraft on a cheque account also, if you are in to that kind of thing.

Same in usa with the check card for checking acct vs pin-only atm card for savings, not to mention restrictions on #of monthly withdrawals. They really encourage you to use cheking acct for everything.

In Thailand bouncing a cheque is a serious criminal offence. Make sure you do not do it accidentally.

Question: do they charge both the offending party (account check is written on) and the depositor with return cheque fee, or only the offending party?

In usa, one of the biggest dangers in accepting a check is that it could bounce, and both parties receive the bounce fee by their respective banks.

"2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from ThaiVisa app.

Not just the fee. The owner of the account it is written on will almost certainly charged with fraud. It is considered very seriously even if the amount is small.

[InteractiveThailand]

A personal checking account is most useful for people who are engaged in business activities as a sole proprietor or in a partnership. They are trading from their own individual name and thus have need for the corporate nature of checking.

In other circumstances, it may be useful in scheduling payments of rent, car, or loan etc. It is a criminal offense in Thailand to "bounce" a check. The police can be involved immediately.

Interesting note: post-dated checks are sometimes even traded as currency in Thailand - being sold to other parties at a 10-20% discount in return for the funds upfront.

In terms of flexibility and functionality, you are much better to stay with a savings account. Some banks (not all) will not even issue passbooks for checking accounts and require you to request a statement from them directly.

[tombkk]

My company's account is a checking account. The reason is that most vendors accept checks, and can issue the WHT-certificate right away and hand the tax receipt over to the messenger while he waits. We would not want to transfer the money by internet, as then we would have to trust the vendor to send us the receipts by mail.

Same for our customers: they prefer to pay by check, as long as they are located in Bangkok.

Privately, my main account (where the salary arrives by internet transfer from the company) is a savings account, for which I have internet access and can pay or transfer. However, I have not found a way to pay my credits (which have been issued by others banks) by internet, so I issue checks and my secretary walks over to the branches of these other banks. I can transfer the amounts from my savings to my checking account, or if I forget, it will be transferred automatically by the bank (for a fee of THB 30), so the checks won't bounce.

Edited February 4, 2012 by tombkk
Typo

[aurelius]

No benefit really, unless you need to pay sums of money across banks that don't fit within the standard transfer limits. But if you are receiving payments from payers who are not reliable it is good to get a posted dated cheque upfront to somewhat guarantee the payment.

Ironic that the BOT is implementing an advanced cheque scanning system with scanners in all bank branches when the usage of cheques is and should be declining. Waste of money in my view.

[4evermaat]

My company's account is a checking account. The reason is that most vendors accept checks, and can issue the WHT-certificate right away and hand the tax receipt over to the messenger while he waits. We would not want to transfer the money by internet, as then we would have to trust the vendor to send us the receipts by mail.

Same for our customers: they prefer to pay by check, as long as they are located in Bangkok.

Privately, my main account (where the salary arrives by internet transfer from the company) is a savings account, for which I have internet access and can pay or transfer. However, I have not found a way to pay my credits (which have been issued by others banks) by internet, so I issue checks and my secretary walks over to the branches of these other banks. I can transfer the amounts from my savings to my checking account, or if I forget, it will be transferred automatically by the bank (for a fee of THB 30), so the checks won't bounce.

1) So cheque deposits free?

2) how long does it take for domestic check to clear? Are their any fees/holding times for out-of-province cheque deposits? Example: i take a bangkok bank chq from bangkok opened acct and deposit into chumphon-opened bangkok bank account (or maybe tmb bank)

"2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from ThaiVisa app.

[4evermaat]

A personal checking account is most useful for people who are engaged in business activities as a sole proprietor or in a partnership. They are trading from their own individual name and thus have need for the corporate nature of checking.

.........

In other circumstances, it may be useful in scheduling payments of rent, car, or loan etc. It is a criminal offense in Thailand to "bounce" a check. The police can be involved immediately.

Interesting note: post-dated checks are sometimes even traded as currency in Thailand - being sold to other parties at a 10-20% discount in return for the funds upfront.........

If cheque bouncing was rare here in thailand, i'd find that very impressive. maybe saving face works well in favor for the cheque casher. What would the police really do? and how would that help the cheque casher recover his funds?

"2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from ThaiVisa app.

[tombkk]

My company's account is a checking account. The reason is that most vendors accept checks, and can issue the WHT-certificate right away and hand the tax receipt over to the messenger while he waits. We would not want to transfer the money by internet, as then we would have to trust the vendor to send us the receipts by mail.

Same for our customers: they prefer to pay by check, as long as they are located in Bangkok.

Privately, my main account (where the salary arrives by internet transfer from the company) is a savings account, for which I have internet access and can pay or transfer. However, I have not found a way to pay my credits (which have been issued by others banks) by internet, so I issue checks and my secretary walks over to the branches of these other banks. I can transfer the amounts from my savings to my checking account, or if I forget, it will be transferred automatically by the bank (for a fee of THB 30), so the checks won't bounce.

1) So cheque deposits free?

2) how long does it take for domestic check to clear? Are their any fees/holding times for out-of-province cheque deposits? Example: i take a bangkok bank chq from bangkok opened acct and deposit into chumphon-opened bangkok bank account (or maybe tmb bank)

Cheque deposits are free, at least within the same province.

We (as a company) don't accept cheques from other provinces, It used to take a month to clear. It may be faster now, but I don't care. Our out-of-province customers are required to pay directly into our account, and they can do that at any branch of our bank.

Example: They pay from their Chumpol branch of our bank to our account in Bangkok, we receive the funds instantly.

When they transfer by internet from another bank, it can take 2 days or so.

[fletchsmile]

The main advantage of having a cheque account is the obvious one that you can write a cheque. Aside from that they tend to be inferior to savings accounts in almost every way. I write two or three cheques a year at most, as internet transfers, direct debits, visa cards, debit cards, etc make them almost obsolete. On rare occasions they are useful for individuals. They're more common for business use than individual use, and facilitate useful controls such as dual signatures on a cheque, and enabling senior management to review manual payments - eg separating roles and responsibilities for the preparation, review and actual payment tasks,

The best bet is to set up a cheque account which is linked to your savings account, where you maintain a zero balance in the cheque account, and they automatically sweep the money from your savings account, should you feel the need to write a cheque, . UOB and Stan Chart among others offer this, and there's no extra cost except paying a couple of baht for each cheque when you order the cheque book.

[tombkk]

The main advantage of having a cheque account is the obvious one that you can write a cheque. Aside from that they tend to be inferior to savings accounts in almost every way. I write two or three cheques a year at most, as internet transfers, direct debits, visa cards, debit cards, etc make them almost obsolete. On rare occasions they are useful for individuals. They're more common for business use than individual use, and facilitate useful controls such as dual signatures on a cheque, and enabling senior management to review manual payments - eg separating roles and responsibilities for the preparation, review and actual payment tasks,

The best bet is to set up a cheque account which is linked to your savings account, where you maintain a zero balance in the cheque account, and they automatically sweep the money from your savings account, should you feel the need to write a cheque, . UOB and Stan Chart among others offer this, and there's no extra cost except paying a couple of baht for each cheque when you order the cheque book.

Bangkok Bank also offers this, but they charge THB 30 per automatic transfer from savings to checking account. Therefore, whenever I sign a cheque, I transfer the amount from the savings to the checking account right away by internet.