Thailand Live Thursday 10 October 2024

[lkn]

14 hours ago, Pib said:

Get their Krungsri No Annual Fee Visa debit card […]

 

This requires an average monthly balance of 15,000 baht or above, has a fee for using another branch’s ATM (from 1st use), and it says “Krungsri SMS Banking service must be applied and used”, it is unclear to me what this would mean wrt. fees, because SMS Banking is a bunch of services, and the various alert services each have a 19 baht/month fee attached to them.

 

[Pib]

Yes, SMS service of Bt19/mo is required for this card and the 15K balance.  I want the SMS service and since this account is for my BIG money (that is, retirement extension money & emergency money) I keep the balance above Bt800K....just my rule in ensuring I have at least Bt800K onhand at a movements notice.   And for the amount "above" Bt800K I use that for an occasional ATM withdrawal intra-region where there is no fee...plenty of Krungsri ATM around and for ibanking transfer out of the account to my other accounts.

 

And due to the high interest rate I'm getting around Bt1,000 interest paid monthly (much more than a regular savings account paying 2 to 3 times less) which more than makes up for the Bt19/mo SMS fee which I'm glad I have.

 

The no fee annual card may not be for everyone....but as mentioned Krungsri has a variety of other debit cards just like all banks...but they come at a higher fee.

 

A Krungsri MTD account and no annual fee card is probably best for someone who keeps more than a Bt15K balance and is more concerned about earning high interest with occasional withdrawals versus using their debit card frequently.    Because as spelled out in the MTD Terms & Conditions only the first two withdrawals per month are free with subsequent withdrawals for that month costing Bt50 each....enter a new month and you are back to two free transaction allowed without fee.   But hey, when earning a much higher interest rate for a Bt100K to Bt50M balance, that higher interest rate paid monthly will probably more than offset  fees you may incur monthly due to SMS, frequent use, etc.   

 

Keeping a low balance....frequent use....etc., yea, don't get a MTD account....go with a standard saving account.  

 

Another good think about Krungsri they have Terms and Conditions in English also versus some banks which is Thai language only.

 

 

[lkn]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

Keeping a low balance....frequent use....etc., yea, don't get a MTD account....go with a standard saving account. 

 

My point was simply that the “free card” is not free, it is at least 228 baht/year (12 months × 19 baht) with one SMS alert service, though I do not know the exact terms, as they have multiple alert services.

 

They have another card which is 480 baht for 3 years (= 160 baht/year) which has no fees for any ATM at all (nationwide). Though it also has the SMS Banking requirement, but otherwise sounds rather attractive.

 

On my way to Krungsri now to open an MTD account and will get them to clarify the mandatory SMS Banking fees. For the MTD account though I would just opt out of an ATM card and have a secondary account where the activity would go (since to avoid fees you can hardly use the MTD card anyway).

[marquis22]

BAAC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_for_Agriculture_and_Agricultural_Co-operatives

[lkn]

Went to Krungsri to open an MTD and regular account with VISA/debit card and internet banking.

It took about an hour and they wanted proof of me owning a condo in Thailand (I am here on a tourist visa). I asked if that meant that foreigners without a condo could not open an account with Krungsri, which they confirmed. I asked what if the foreigner has a work permit, and they said “case by case”.

 

As for identification, I had originally brought passport plus water and electricity bill (as proof of residence), but electricity bill did not have my name, and they did not give much for the water bill, since it was issued by our building manager, not a trusted third party.

 

They told me to bring my deed, I got my deed and returned to another branch, since it was closer to my home, but they rejected the deed because it did not properly identify me as the owner, so they asked about address book, which I do not have, and then asked about purchase document from Land Office, which I do have, so I returned with that.

 

The clerk then spend ten minutes on the phone to get confirmation that she could open an account for me. Her main concern was that my condo purchase document has my name in Thai, so it is not a 1:1 match with my passport, but document does have my passport number.

 

She copied every page of my passport twice, and had me sign each of them, plus two copies of my Land Office document, the two new bank books, and a handful of bank issued contracts. Made me wish I had a stamp with my signature.

 

Everything done with a smile and a bit of small talk. I must confess that even though going to the bank can often take a while, I kind of enjoy the experience, as it’s a good opportunity to exercise some of my more passive vocabulary and pick up a word or phrase, and the staff always seems to do what they can to help.

 

As for internet banking, I received password by SMS (while in the bank) and had to login with my account number when I got back home, which took me through a short setup of username and (real) password. After this, I had to manually add my MTD account using the serial number in the bank book.

 

The bank books nor netbank has any indication that one account is regular and the other is a MTD (interest bearing) account, but I asked in the bank, and they confirmed that the accounts should look identical on the internet. Maybe Pib can confirm this?

 

They also told me that the 15% tax on interests is only withheld if interests are above 20,000 baht.
 

As for ATM card, I took the regular debit card with a 100 baht issuing fee and 200 baht annual fee. I asked if the SMS Banking requirement for their other cards meant it would have the SMS Banking fees, and they confirmed that yes, it would cost me the SMS Banking fees. I did not bother asking if there is a minimum number of services I must subscribe to, as I am not interested in receiving alerts at all, and definitely not at a cost.

[Pib]

1 hour ago, lkn said:

The bank books nor netbank has any indication that one account is regular and the other is a MTD (interest bearing) account, but I asked in the bank, and they confirmed that the accounts should look identical on the internet. Maybe Pib can confirm this?

 

Glad you got the accounts open.  I only have the MTD account so I couldn't say for sure if a second account would look different.  

 

Based on my experience with various Bangkok Bank accounts like Fixed Savings accounts, Direct Deposit Savings accounts, and regular Savings account all of those look the same on ibanking and the passbooks.  Well, the Fixed account did say what the interest was for the fixed period.  That is, there is just the Account Number and then you can give it any Nickname you want to identify what type of account it is.

 

Looking at my Krungsri MTD account on ibanking there was nothing that identified it as a special account....it's just identified with it's account number and type of account.   I entered the Account Nickame of MeeTaiDai (I could have chosen any name)....and for the Account Name and Account No. both of those entries were the account number which I have blackened out.  And it just says Savings for account type and it's a Thai baht account.   As mentioned, I only entered the Account Nickname.

 

Each month I see a debit of Bt19 for the SMS service and the interest paid monthly.  

 

 

[rickudon]

I too tried to open a Krungsri account at a local branch in a mall. I thought it would be easy but first time they said when i said i have marriage visa they said they needed to see my wife and marriage certificate ..... Went back the next week and this time said "No we need to see Yellow book" . If i get one wonder what the next excuse will be ...... Load of Wa*kers.

 

Also, Lopburi claimed you can do low cost transfers from London Bangkok bank to a Thai Bangkok bank account. I would like to know how this ACTUALLY works as on the webpage for London branch they only offer relatively expensive transfers at 20 GBP a time if sending in Sterling. That is more than twice what my current UK bank charge.

 

So looks like i will stay with my current British and Thai banks for now.