With this bank account i want to pay all my bills (electricity, water, phone etc), and also the posiblity to get/have a bank card that i can use in ATM's and for shopping.
I must have the posibility to transfer money form my bank in Norway(NOK) and in to my bank in Hua Hin (Thai Bath).
Please advice me of wich bank would be the "best".
Thanks for your advice.
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look back and smile at what you have learned !
To be honest, there's not too much difference between them for the average man. If you are transferring very large amounts then have a look at the exchange rates and compare but they are fairly near to each other.
Might be worth opening a foreign currency account at one of them and then just send it to that account from Europe. There is a minimum amount that they require to open a foreign currency reserve account, not sure 'off the top of my head' what the amount is though. You would then only have to exchange it into baht when you need it rather than having to convert it all at once. This might be a good idea as the Thai baht is over-valued at the money and is very slowly losing value to western currencies.
If you actually want a name of a bank then I'd probably go for the Bank of Ayudhya, the bright yellow one, but that's just a personal preference. The one Johnnyk mentioned will probably be just as good though.
They all offer a multitude of cards/services that will be able to sort you out. Usually, as a foreigner, you have have to go to the main official bank HQ in a city/town, can't just walk into any branch and open an account. This might well apply in Hua Hin as it does in many places, so find out where the main office is. Remember to take everything with you that you can think of, including photocopies, Thailand moves on a sea of paper and the bank robots will want to see the paperwork.
Hope that is of some help. Others may be able to refine this answer though as the above is just general info.
Agree with Spitfire, never found there's much difference between the big main banks. You hear similar stories of people having problems, and people having good service with them across the board. My only criteria would be to open one that has a branch in Market Village, open 7 days a week until, I think, 9pm at night. Never any queues in there.
It's worth checking the bank you go for here has a 'relationship' (correspondent bank), with your home country bank. Sometimes for example, if 'x' bank back home transfers to K-bank here, the transaction has to go via Bangkok Bank first, their Head Office in Bangkok needs a form signed off by you, but they muck you about and hold onto it for as long as possible before passing it onto K-bank.
But you will not be able to pay your bills directly from the bank account. Most bills you can pay in cash in any 7/11 shop. Here in Sam Roi Yod every month there comes a lady on a motorbike to get the money for electricity, another lady for water and a 3rd one for 30 baht garbage collection. TOT (Internet) I pay with credit card over internet.
pitsch wrote:But you will not be able to pay your bills directly from the bank account. Most bills you can pay in cash in any 7/11 shop. Here in Sam Roi Yod every month there comes a lady on a motorbike to get the money for electricity, another lady for water and a 3rd one for 30 baht garbage collection. TOT (Internet) I pay with credit card over internet.
Don't know about water but you can get a standing debit order for electricity to come out of the account every month.
Water you shut off when going away.
No garbage when you are away.
Electricity still has a charge so mst be paid even when you are away.
It's best to use a currency transfer Company to move large sums of money to a Thai bank account. I use HiFx but this is a UK Company. http://www.hifx.co.uk
I use SCB (Siam Commercial Bank). The online banking is simple (SCB easynet) and you can pay 3rd parties over the internet (people or bills)...even top up your mobile phone on the internet banking.
spitfire wrote:Thailand moves on a sea of paper and the bank robots will want to see the paperwork.
Couldn't have said it better!
Have used internet banking with Ayudhya, SCB and Kasikorn, the latter is about the best. However absolutely everything you'll want to do aside from checking your balance involves ... yep, you got it, filling in paperwork and taking it into the bank first.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
I have used K-Bank for three years now and although one always runs into the Thai way of doing things, they and my Thai wife have always managed to work things out the way I want them.
For instance I DO have internet banking at K-Bank, pay my bills both automatically (TOT) and Manually (UBC), transfer funds both to other K-Bank accounts and other banks within Thailand.
The trick to get internet banking is my wife had to change our main account to her Thai name, get authorized for internet banking, then change the account back to a joint account. Although the is the epitome of the "Thai way" it was the only way to go as a falang isn't allowed to do internet banking.
As a warning to others, I changed my American bank from a local to Wells Fargo and things went swimmingly until I tried to set up wire transfers to Thailand........if I were in the U.S. now there would be one very big scene going on with the branch manager who has to be lucky to find his way home after work.....
So it isn't always the Thai's that aggravate you, sometimes it's your own countrymen!!
I know Bangkok bank also touts some internet banking services but I've never been able to access them successfully (we've had an account there for many years for family reasons).
My experience with Wells fargo TIGR is that you have to sign the repetitive WT request form at the branch, in the presence of a bank employee. I've found no way around this in 20 years so have to wait for a trip back to do things. The out bound WT fee is $26.00 presently. They have an automated phone system now and open for transfers at 0530 hours Pacific time and you have to do the transfer by 1530 Pacific time for it to go that day. To my knowledge you can not do WT's via on-line banking, only account to account transfers between Wells Fargo accounts. Pete
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You are absolutely correct Pete but I found a way out of it. The Wire Transfer form calls for two picture IDs and the Branch Manager is responsible for verifying your identity personally. I used my passport and Thai driver's license. I also included my expired Ca. License but they won't view that as acceptable.....I was just trying to help the "dork" realize it was me and not Osama so he would sign my forms. I haven't met him personally as an old friend who is a broker for WFB had him set my checking account a few months ago.
Basically Virginia, the lady who helped me, called the branch manager for and arranged for him to approve my document and send it on to her. You have to have a U.S. address for them to send you the pin code. My branch manager is a real dork as I pointed out....lets hope yours will be more helpful.
If you need it PM me and I'll give you the direct line for the woman who helped my set mine up.
FYI TIGR, I have a client in Chiang Mai and do periodic transfers from Bank of America to Bangkok Bank. The fees are $40 from B of A.
Washington Mutual, before they were acquired by Chase, offered free international transfers. I asked yesterday and was told the policy is the same.
So for us Yanks who make periodic transfers there could be a savings.
I've had a Bank of America account for 25 years and I tried desperately to transfer money from there to my Thai Bank account once I moved here. I was told that I could only do it if I came to a Bank of America branch in person, and that means both me and my wife (to set up a repetitive transfer) since it is a joint account. Since moving here in 2004, we've each been back only once and not at the same time, so I've never been able to set up a repetitive transfer arrangement with them.
I have to transfer money 20000 baht at a time using ATMs and that is a very expensive way to transfer money from the U.S. to Thailand!
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
