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[Shaun78]

Thanks guys for all the good tips,

but does anyone know if statements or any mail correspodence will be sent to the address you provide them.

Thanks,

[pkrv]

Shaun78, on 2009-10-14 15:21:13, said:

Thanks guys for all the good tips,

but does anyone know if statements or any mail correspodence will be sent to the address you provide them.

Thanks,

Hi Shaun78 - It is incredibly important we understand where you are coming from. For example what is your visa type?

For myself and others on this thread, it is the most difficult type, on a tourist visa. Money laundering comes into it.

For OA/O visas i.e. 1 year non resident I believe the matter is completly different, but personally I don't know.

For me it is a passbook savings account - You update your book at a local Thai bank machine no statements. This is like the UK Nationwide cash saver books of the past. Internet access was a challenge to achieve for myself - do you have assets here?

[Shaun78]

pkrv, on 2009-10-14 23:21:04, said:

Shaun78, on 2009-10-14 15:21:13, said:

Thanks guys for all the good tips,

but does anyone know if statements or any mail correspodence will be sent to the address you provide them.

Thanks,

Hi Shaun78 - It is incredibly important we understand where you are coming from. For example what is your visa type?

For myself and others on this thread, it is the most difficult type, on a tourist visa. Money laundering comes into it.

For OA/O visas i.e. 1 year non resident I believe the matter is completly different, but personally I don't know.

For me it is a passbook savings account - You update your book at a local Thai bank machine no statements. This is like the UK Nationwide cash saver books of the past. Internet access was a challenge to achieve for myself - do you have assets here?

Hi pkrv,

no assets in Thailand, and would likely be on a Thai visa, or no visa at all (exempt). Sounds good they keep a passbook and no statements in this case.

Many thanks.

[Lite Beer]

You will just get a passbook and an ATM/Debit Card.  Depending on the bank you should get internet banking.

[pkrv]

Shaun78, on 2009-10-15 16:41:36, said:

Hi pkrv,

no assets in Thailand, and would likely be on a Thai visa, or no visa at all (exempt). Sounds good they keep a passbook and no statements in this case.

Many thanks.

Shawn - I should have asked if you are in Bangkok. If so you don't really stand much of a chance with Bangkok Bank (you need a very good case to open an account) I would go with GungaDin's suggestion this seems to be fairly reliable.

Outside of Bangkok is yet another challenge!

GungaDin, on 2009-04-27 10:10:06, said:

I wish I had $10 every time this question has been answered.


Kasikorn Bank , cnr of Sukh soi 33 & Sukh rd, rt by Phrom Phong BTS Skytrain, that's in Bangkok....

Edited by pkrv, 2009-10-16 14:08:52.

[tangoll]

I was able to get a Siam Comm'l Bank/Sansiri VISA credit card, Thai baht based, auto deduct monthly from baht savings passbook account opened at SCB.  Had to put down a 100,000 baht fixed deposit account as guarantee, with account document held by the bank.  No work permit or tax/salary statement req'd; only showed that I own a condo unit in BKK, by showing title document, tabien baan, or if not yet transferred, a purchase contract would have been sufficient.  SCB branch in Siam Square on soi 1.

For those interested in getting a baht Visa credit card, and only on a 30 day exempt visa status, and with no work permit or salary/tax paid in Thailand, this is first instance I've heard that such a credit card has been allowed.

I'll try to link my PayPal account to this credit card later once I pick up the card at the branch when I next return to BKK.

Edited by tangoll, 2009-10-17 06:25:07.

[pjclark1]

All you need to open a bank account in Thailand is 500bht and ID of some sort (passport or Thai driving licence). They charge 300bht for passbook and debit card, deducted from the 500bht deposit.
Some bank branches (or staff on the desk) make it hard for white people to open accounts no matter what you do. Just visit another branch/bank.

Visa type not important.
Amount of deposit not important.
Letter from account holder at some banks may be required if you have a holiday visa.
(Bangkok Banks rules say letter needed, Siam Commercial rules say not)
Don't expect the bank staff to know, follow or enforce their own rules, it's entirely random.

Patience is important.

Story about opening an account at Bangkok bank.
1) I would like to open an account.
2) I'm sorry sir we don't allow tourists to have accounts here
1) I'm not a tourist, I live here (show non O visa)
2) OK sir you will need a letter from an account holder that has held an account for at least 6 months.
1) May I have the application form please.
2) Yes sir, here it is (Top of form has Application for TOURIST account marked in bold)
1) I'm sorry that appears to be the wrong form, I am not a tourist (show non O Visa again)
Bank Supervisor comes over and furious discussion in Thai ensues.
2) Here is the application for an account (no letter required for non O  Visa says form)
1) Thank you, I will fill this in and open an account now, here is 500bht deposit.
2) Much photocopying later, account opened, passbook issued, debit card handed over.

No explanation why a bank that doesn't "allow tourists to open accounts" has an application form printed for that purpose! The application forms were all printed in English.

Edited by pjclark1, 2009-10-20 08:50:24.

[bauhaus]

Hi everybody.
I have been reading this thread with interest.
I live in the UK but have assets in Thailand as we bought a property in Koh Samui as an investment.
We hope to be able to rent it when completed and would like to have a Bank Account in local currency where to deposit rental money and from which to withdraw money for expenses etc.
Does anybody know if there is any Thai Bank which will allow the opening of an online account for someone in my position?
Thanks!

[GungaDin]

^^^^  I could be wrong, but I think that you have to open the account in person.

Go to K-bank at the address I've written about B4 or BKK Bank on the ground floor of Emporium (outside) opposite K-bank.

[bauhaus]

GungaDin, on 2009-10-21 00:00:21, said:

^^^^  I could be wrong, but I think that you have to open the account in person.

Go to K-bank at the address I've written about B4 or BKK Bank on the ground floor of Emporium (outside) opposite K-bank.

Thanks GungaDin.
I don't plan to come to Thailand until next year and that's why I was hoping to be able to open an account online...

[aurelius]

bauhaus, on 2009-10-22 04:47:37, said:

Thanks GungaDin.
I don't plan to come to Thailand until next year and that's why I was hoping to be able to open an account online...

I don't think you can open online, but you can send funds via SWIFT in advance for account opening and just specify the branch that you will open the account at.  So say, HO Silom Branch for BKK Bank.  Then when you arrive they will have the incoming remittance info and then proceed to the account opening using those pre-sent funds.  Obviously you don't want to send them too much in advance to avoid loss of interest etc.

[GungaDin]

bauhaus

I'll be in my BKK branch in about a week, PM me to say exactly what you want to do.

[OriginalPoster]

I had success today opening a passbook savings account at a tiny Kasikorn branch in central Chaweng (Samui) despite having only a 30 day tourist visa.  I tried the previous day at a Bangkok Bank branch and they turned me away on the grounds that I needed to have a work permit.  It couldn't have been easier at Kasikorn - they required me to deposit 500 baht into the account and to pay a 500 fee to have an ATM card issued.  I never heard of a bank charging for an ATM card before but it seemed an acceptable expense considering that within 10 minutes of walking into the bank I walked out with a savings account, an ATM card, and the ability to access the account via the internet.  Kasikorn did want to see my passport and they wanted a Thai phone number (a cell phone number was acceptable to them), but (to my surprise) they didn't even bother to ask me for my residential address, instead they wrote down the address of the hotel that I'm staying at as being my address.

Edited by OriginalPoster, 2009-10-25 19:15:44.

[alstaxi]

Good old samui, I guess everything is over priced there,  the price for your atm card  at Kasikorn Banks in Patttaya is 100 baht.

[OriginalPoster]

alstaxi, on 2009-10-26 15:31:21, said:

Good old samui, I guess everything is over priced there,  the price for your atm card  at Kasikorn Banks in Patttaya is 100 baht.

I'm surprised that Kasikorn would be charging different amounts for that at different branches.  Now you've got me wondering if the extra 400 baht might have gone straight into someone's pocket.  Still doesn't matter to me though - if I they had told me that I had to pay them a 400 baht "tip" in order to open an account without a work permit I would have paid it.

[alstaxi]

Yes. I agree, 300 baht worth of frustration at siam commercial listening to "cannot", really sucks.

[mahtin]

Me too yesterday afternoon at Gunga Din's  Kasikorn Suk 33 branch. 22 mins from issuing ticket to change of pin no of ATM card.
Passport with 30 day, DTAC mobile no, BKK address (stepson spoke to bank officer on wife's mobile), 500 in savings book and 500 charge.
Happy happy

[GungaDin]

^^^^ Good to get some feedback.

I hadn't been into the branch since August, even though it's a building site at present, service is still good!

[chiang mai]

tangoll, on 2009-10-17 06:21:46, said:

I was able to get a Siam Comm'l Bank/Sansiri VISA credit card, Thai baht based, auto deduct monthly from baht savings passbook account opened at SCB.  Had to put down a 100,000 baht fixed deposit account as guarantee, with account document held by the bank.  No work permit or tax/salary statement req'd; only showed that I own a condo unit in BKK, by showing title document, tabien baan, or if not yet transferred, a purchase contract would have been sufficient.  SCB branch in Siam Square on soi 1.

For those interested in getting a baht Visa credit card, and only on a 30 day exempt visa status, and with no work permit or salary/tax paid in Thailand, this is first instance I've heard that such a credit card has been allowed.

I'll try to link my PayPal account to this credit card later once I pick up the card at the branch when I next return to BKK.

I would guess that any Thai bank will give you a credit card as long as you are prepared to deposit an amount equal to 120% of your credit limit and are prepared to lose access to those funds for as long as you have the card, don't expect interest on the money either. That scenario is the basis of the HSBC Premier program here in Thailand where the 3 million Baht deposit gives you Premier status and a credit card with a credit limit of 2 million, credit limit is set at 2 mill but is reduced to the level of the amount actually on deposit when that falls below the required level.

[tangoll]

chiang mai, on 2009-10-29 16:08:39, said:

I would guess that any Thai bank will give you a credit card as long as you are prepared to deposit an amount equal to 120% of your credit limit and are prepared to lose access to those funds for as long as you have the card, don't expect interest on the money either. That scenario is the basis of the HSBC Premier program here in Thailand where the 3 million Baht deposit gives you Premier status and a credit card with a credit limit of 2 million, credit limit is set at 2 mill but is reduced to the level of the amount actually on deposit when that falls below the required level.

chiang mai, the amount I had to put up at Siam Comm'l Bank is a lot more reasonable, 100,000 baht, than the 3 mil baht that HSBC requires. I think the interest rate on that FD is 0.6%, or 600 baht per year  My main concern is whether that Visa card can be used in Hong Kong, and what exchange rate will be used to convert charges in HK$ to thai baht.  Even though I mention in my previous post about linking the card to my PayPal account, I'm not sure how useful that might be, as I don't use PayPal all that much.    Anyway, I'll pick up the card in mid-Nov when I am back in BKK.

[OriginalPoster]

OriginalPoster, on 2009-10-26 16:45:13, said:

alstaxi, on 2009-10-26 15:31:21, said:

Good old samui, I guess everything is over priced there, the price for your atm card at Kasikorn Banks in Patttaya is 100 baht.

I'm surprised that Kasikorn would be charging different amounts for that at different branches. Now you've got me wondering if the extra 400 baht might have gone straight into someone's pocket. Still doesn't matter to me though - if I they had told me that I had to pay them a 400 baht "tip" in order to open an account without a work permit I would have paid it.

OriginalPoster, on 2009-10-26 16:45:13, said:

alstaxi, on 2009-10-26 15:31:21, said:

Good old  samui, I guess everything is over priced there, the price for your atm  card at Kasikorn Banks in Patttaya is 100 baht.

I'm  surprised that Kasikorn would be charging different amounts for that at  different branches. Now you've got me wondering if the extra 400 baht  might have gone straight into someone's pocket. Still doesn't matter to  me though - if I they had told me that I had to pay them a 400 baht  "tip" in order to open an account without a work permit I would have  paid it.

        I think that  I found out the reason for the discrepancy between the 500 baht that I paid for  an ATM card when opening my Kasikornbank savings account and the 100 baht that  you report as being the norm for the price of a Kasikornbank ATM card in  Pattaya.  

     On  Kasikornbank's website I found a table of account charges it shows that the  cost of a new "K-Max Debit Card" (which is what they gave me) is 100 baht for  card issuance plus a 400 baht annual fee.   When I opened my account, they just said that the cost of the ATM card  was 500 baht and they didn't mention that 400 baht of that was a recurrent  annual fee.  It seems a bit odd to me for  a bank to charge an annual fee for an ATM card, but I suppose that in the grand  scheme of things it's not really a significant expense.   The table of fees can be found here.

Edited by OriginalPoster, 2009-11-01 00:31:30.

[johnbutt]

Regarding on-line banking:

I live in Europe with my Thai wife and we visit Thailand each year in the summer. I have a savings account with Bangkok Bank into which we transfer funds ahead of our annual visit. When I was in BKK last July I went to HQ of Bangkok Bank in Silom, where my account is held, to ask for online banking.

All that happened was they wanted to see my visa. As it was a single entry non-immigrant O they said, fine, and filled out forms for me. The confirmation and password were sent to my Thai address by mail within about a week and everything works fine.

JohnB

[pkrv]

A releated thread on setting up repeating standing orders or direct debits (automatic payments). IMO very usefull banking in Thailand information.

http://www.thaivisa....nd-t312834.html

[tangoll]

Just to update anyone who's interested in my being able to obtain a Siam Comm'l Bank/Sansiri VISA credit card:  I picked up my card, had it activated, and have used it once at King Power duty free.  No problems.  Credit limit 50,000 baht.

I was also able to set up a new PayPal account with this card.  To do this, I had to use a separate email address showing a Thailand address.  It was not possible to have a single PayPal account with one credit card having a HK address and an added card with an address not in HK.  

So I set up a separate email address with a Thailand address and then added this VISA card.  No problems setting up the PayPal account.

So theoretically I can transfer funds from my HK based PayPal account to my Thailand based PayPal account and vice versa.  This might come in handy in the future, but just not needed for my use right now.

Edited by tangoll, 2009-11-21 22:06:13.

[pkrv]

Two threads with interesting information on Bangkok Bank.

Information pack available

http://www.thaivisa....st-t319482.html

and Bangkok Bank FAQ's

http://www.thaivisa....nk-t319611.html