Non-resident Bank Account

[thai1on]

i'm a us citizen and would like to open a bank account and safety deposit box with a thai bank but reside in the us and won't have a thai residence address.plan to visit thailand once or twice a year but live in the us for now.can i open an account and have a safety deposit box in thailand with a us residence and how would i receive any statements,notifications,etc.?also same question for singapore banks if anyone has accounts in singapore but no residence there.

[cclub75]

i'm a us citizen and would like to open a bank account and safety deposit box with a thai bank but reside in the us and won't have a thai residence address.plan to visit thailand once or twice a year but live in the us for now.can i open an account and have a safety deposit box in thailand with a us residence and how would i receive any statements,notifications,etc.?also same question for singapore banks if anyone has accounts in singapore but no residence there.

In BKK, it shouldn't be a problem. Walk in, fill in the papers, and wait for your debit card. For safety box, i'm not sure.

As for Singapore... Here is my personal experience.

They ask for work permit or proof of residence, or a letter of introduction from another customer.

But, if you push a "little", they confess with a big smile : "of course if you invest with us, then we open the account".

"How much ?"

"10 000 singapore dollars in unit trusts".

[thai1on]

i'm a us citizen and would like to open a bank account and safety deposit box with a thai bank but reside in the us and won't have a thai residence address.plan to visit thailand once or twice a year but live in the us for now.can i open an account and have a safety deposit box in thailand with a us residence and how would i receive any statements,notifications,etc.?also same question for singapore banks if anyone has accounts in singapore but no residence there.

In BKK, it shouldn't be a problem. Walk in, fill in the papers, and wait for your debit card. For safety box, i'm not sure.

As for Singapore... Here is my personal experience.

They ask for work permit or proof of residence, or a letter of introduction from another customer.

But, if you push a "little", they confess with a big smile : "of course if you invest with us, then we open the account".

"How much ?"

"10 000 singapore dollars in unit trusts".

unit trusts?not familiar with the term but if it is a type of savings account or time-deposit cd-type account,I have us$50,000 I want to deposit in a Singapore account as well as another us$50,000 for a thai account.i know the interest rates are low but want international diversity outside the us bank system.i read that if i keep the amount in foreign banks under us$10000 i wouldn't have to report it to the irs and on my tax forms.can anyone confirm that and if i transfer funds from a us bank under us10,000 would it not be reported or recorded?

[cclub75]

unit trusts?not familiar with the term but if it is a type of savings account or time-deposit cd-type account,I have us$50,000 I want to deposit in a Singapore account as well as another us$50,000 for a thai account.i know the interest rates are low but want international diversity outside the us bank system.i read that if i keep the amount in foreign banks under us$10000 i wouldn't have to report it to the irs and on my tax forms.can anyone confirm that and if i transfer funds from a us bank under us10,000 would it not be reported or recorded?

unit trust = mutual funds.

check :

http://www.ocbc.com.sg

If you go for Singapore, it would make sense to have 2 accounts over there, one in USD and one in THB.

OCBC has time deposit accounts in foreign currency.

You can take 1 month tenure with automatic renew.

[Meerkat]

Instead of Singapore, why not consider HK? HSBC has an account called CombiNations which allows you to manage 10 currencies (including THB and USD) from the same account. You get interest (albeit not much for THB) for each different currency and can freely exchange between them at excellent cross rates.

http://www.hsbc.com.hk/hk/personal/invest/deposit/combi.htm

Not sure about Singapore, but HK is also a USD clearing centre, meaning you can clear USD denominated cheques (including personal ones) in the same manner you can in the US, without waiting for weeks for them to clear.

You'll probably need a mailing address over here though, although I'm sure there are easy ways of getting round it (a friend maybe?).

[astral]

When I enquired about a Safety Deposit Box a few years back they wanted 50,000 baht on deposit, at 0% interest.

I think you will need to be in BKK for a non-resident account.

I am not sure a provincial branch will know how to handle it.