Thai bank refuses to compensate foreigner

[ScubaPhuket]

Thai banks refuse to offer interest to foreigners too. National level.

Well at least one is paying it to me... 'Just a plain vanilla savings account.

Which bank if you don't mind me asking?

You can PM me rather than making it public?

Edited October 16, 2014 by ScubaPhuket

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thai banks refuse to offer interest to foreigners too. National level.

That's just not true.

You may not be getting interest on your particular account. But there's no national policy or all banks policy to not pay bank account interest to farangs.

There have been past threads on this. I believe, sometimes, if the bank codes your account as a tourist, they will not pay interest. But if the bank codes your account as an expat resident, then they will, at least for interest bearing accounts.

You ought to check with your bank branch, and if necessary, look to open a new account elsewhere. There are plenty of Thai banks and bank accounts that pay interest to farang account holders.

[Pib]

Thai banks refuse to offer interest to foreigners too. National level.

That's just not true.

You may not be getting interest on your particular account. But there's no national policy or all banks policy to not pay bank account interest to farangs.

There have been past threads on this. I believe, sometimes, if the bank codes your account as a tourist, they will not pay interest. But if the bank codes your account as an expat resident, then they will, at least for interest bearing accounts.

You ought to check with your bank branch, and if necessary, look to open a new account elsewhere. There are plenty of Thai banks and bank accounts that pay interest to farang account holders.

Yeap, if a person gets coded as a "non-resident" (i.e., tourist, just passing through, etc) you won't earn interest on a regular savings account. Just for example, below is a partial cut and paste from the Bangkok Bank deposit interest rate table....note for a regular savings account an "Individual" (earns 0.5%) but if you get coded as a "Non-Resident" note how it shows you get 0% interest. You see the same thing at other/all Thai banks....driven by Bank of Thailand regulations I expect.

So, if you open your account and the Thai bank gets the impression you are just a tourist, in Thailand for a short period, etc., they could very well code your account as "non-resident." Once again it's going to depend on your branch. Personally I don't think this happens that often but you do see a few posters saying they don't earn interest on their Thai bank accounts so I expect they got coded as "non-residents"...maybe because they gave a hotel as an address when opening the account versus a residential address....hard telling...and maybe some branches just attempt the non-resident/no interest thing on certain farangs routinely especially if they thing they are tourists...I don't know.

But I do remember a couple of posts over they years of apparently folks living here full time not earning interest...they thought it was standard operating procedures...but it wasn't...they went back to the bank and got things straightened out...they had got coded as non-residents. Revisit your branch and straighten things out...get that interest.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Pib

[Cereal]

"He said the bank refused to compensate him for the lost money."

The standard Thai mantra; "Not our fault. Someone else's fault. We never make mistakes. If you didn't want to lose your money, you should not put it in bank."

Imagine how many people would go into shock if they actually admitted that they made a mistake and were willing to compensate the customer. But that would require growing a pair.

Replace "Thai" with South Korea" and the song remains the same.

[lvr181]

Just a quick question - anyone know who the bank is that is "refusing" compensation?

[ukrules]

Just a quick question - anyone know who the bank is that is "refusing" compensation?

All of them.

[Cheesekraft]

no bank in Thailand would offer compensation in such a circumstance. I couldn't get compensated when I took out cash from an ATM, no cash was dispensed, but I was charged for the withdrawl and it was investigated to no apparent end. Banks robbing entire nations through fractional reserve lending and printing money from thin air isn't enough apparently.