Tried to open Bangkok Bank account in Pattaya - The Saga

[MrPatrickThai]

15 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

A Residence certificate normally comes from Immigration and is 300 baht. Not sure why the BE are involved

This is a free service. if they ask you to pay, make a formal complaint. there is a number to call in every immigration..

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, MrPatrickThai said:

This is a free service. if they ask you to pay, make a formal complaint. there is a number to call in every immigration..

It's a right little money-spinner in Pattaya, even got their own partitioned off area now.

[Greyhat]

I find myself saying "thank god I have a work permit" a lot these days.

[scubascuba3]

This is a free service. if they ask you to pay, make a formal complaint. there is a number to call in every immigration..

oh yes the free and complaints desk myth

[transam]

Did you wear flip-flops.....????

[Sydebolle]

Lets see, if the forecasted 250'000 aliens are leaving the country - the Thais, at least, are keeping up to their part of the deal! 

[khm2412]

I opened a Bangkok Bank account very easily at Bluport Hua Hin last Monday. I supplied pink Thai ID card, yellow house book and passport with O-A extension. Account opened in 10 minutes.

[billd766]

6 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

7 hours ago, BritTim said:

Obviously, you were joking, but there is more than a grain of truth here. Being well groomed and smartly dressed makes a big difference. The only better idea is to visit the bank with one of their existing, respected customers.
 
I have not opened a new account at a bank branch I have not used before for a while, but have never been refused a savings account. I dress up when intending to talk with senior bank staff, and speak with them in Thai unless it becomes clear that they want to show off their English skills (at which point I switch to English, and studiously hide my amusement at their weak grasp of the language).

Old experience of little use. I could bang on about how easy it was for me to open an account a couple years ago, now appears different. The last month or two is the relevant info

I opened an account with the Bangkok bank last month at the BigC branch in Khampaeng Phet.

I was wearing a clean shirt, shorts and sandals and nobody commented on what I was wearing.

I took my passport, yellow house book and Thai driving licence and it took about 1 1/2 hours and several phone calls to their call centre. When the lady at the branch gave me the phone I explained to the call centre what and why I needed it, I passed it back and she talked for a few minutes to the call centre.

 

After that it was easy but time consuming from the paperwork side and I probably signed my name 20 times on various forms.

 

I was fortunate enough to deal with the staff who spoke some English and I had brought my phone and tablet along as well so I could read my Ebook and catch messages as well.

 

I now get an sms every Monday morning giving me a balance.

 

The account is in my name only and I made sure that I had online banking as well. It cost me 1,000 baht deposit but 400 baht was for the account and the remaining 600 baht went into the account.

 

I made 2 TransferWise transactions in January and both the online banking and my bankbook show them as FTT which is an international transfer.

 

I also transferred most of the money to my Kbank account which went smoothly and I got an sms from both banks.

[worrab]

16 hours ago, jesimps said:

Went on the BE website to gen up on the procedure for getting a residency letter from them, found out I can't do it by post, I need to visit the embassy personally AFTER booking an appointment. Ok then, go to the online appointments page, it's fully booked for the whole of 2019!!!

I have reported before on this forum about this supposed anomaly. It is not fully booked at all. Appointments are normally released on Mon or Tue for the next 6 weeks or so. Have found 4th April free but you will have to keep checking.

[scubascuba3]

I opened an account with the Bangkok bank last month at the BigC branch in Khampaeng Phet.
I was wearing a clean shirt, shorts and sandals and nobody commented on what I was wearing.
I took my passport, yellow house book and Thai driving licence and it took about 1 1/2 hours and several phone calls to their call centre. When the lady at the branch gave me the phone I explained to the call centre what and why I needed it, I passed it back and she talked for a few minutes to the call centre.
 
After that it was easy but time consuming from the paperwork side and I probably signed my name 20 times on various forms.
 
I was fortunate enough to deal with the staff who spoke some English and I had brought my phone and tablet along as well so I could read my Ebook and catch messages as well.
 
I now get an sms every Monday morning giving me a balance.
 
The account is in my name only and I made sure that I had online banking as well. It cost me 1,000 baht deposit but 400 baht was for the account and the remaining 600 baht went into the account.
 
I made 2 TransferWise transactions in January and both the online banking and my bankbook show them as FTT which is an international transfer.
 
I also transferred most of the money to my Kbank account which went smoothly and I got an sms from both banks.

BTW Kasikorn charge 200 baht for text alerts which you can cancel, i get everything from their app or online

[LongTimeLurker]

16 hours ago, jesimps said:

I was of course turned away because I didn't have a letter from the British Embassy.

Why would you need a letter from the British Embassy to get a residence letter from Immigration??

 

What did they expect the letter to say?

[sumrit]

17 hours ago, jesimps said:

I was of course turned away because I didn't have a letter from the British Embassy.

Do you still have the letter the BE supplied for your income based extension?

 

The Bangkok Bank will accept that as the Embassy letter they require to open a new account.

 

All I had to supply was my Passport, yellow book and that Embassy letter.

 

This was in their main branch in Si Racha.

[jesimps]

1 hour ago, worrab said:

I have reported before on this forum about this supposed anomaly. It is not fully booked at all. Appointments are normally released on Mon or Tue for the next 6 weeks or so. Have found 4th April free but you will have to keep checking.

Tried yesterday (Tuesday) it was booked for rest of 2019, except as you say for 4 April. Tried to book 4 April got message that it was unavailable!

 

[jesimps]

39 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Why would you need a letter from the British Embassy to get a residence letter from Immigration??

 

What did they expect the letter to say?

I really have no idea, but the lady at Jomtien counter 9 was insistant. They need the British Embassy to verify my address as per my Thai driving license! You couldn't make it up.

[jesimps]

31 minutes ago, sumrit said:

Do you still have the letter the BE supplied for your income based extension?

 

The Bangkok Bank will accept that as the Embassy letter they require to open a new account.

 

All I had to supply was my Passport, yellow book and that Embassy letter.

 

This was in their main branch in Si Racha.

The branch I visited was in Central Plaza Pattaya. They insisted on a letter from TI. TI Jomtien insist on an embassy letter first ????

[sumrit]

1 minute ago, jesimps said:

The branch I visited was in Central Plaza Pattaya. They insisted on a letter from TI. TI Jomtien insist on an embassy letter first ????

The letter from TI you're referring to must be a residence certificate. Don't know why you would need an Embassy letter for that. I use my yellow book for residence. Did you ask the bank if they would accept your Thai driving licence instead?

 

[Lacessit]

16 hours ago, madmen said:

Buy or borrow a thick fake gold neckless and Rolex. Hire a suit and tell the staff you need to transfer 150 million baht for condo purchases and look really annoyed all the time.

 

You will get your account I promise.

 

Just make up a story that suits the bank.

 

Begging as a tourist in flip flops is gonna be hard work!

 

Above was Tongue in cheek but you get the picture

 

 

 

 

When I opened my account with Kasikorn a couple of years ago, I fronted the bank teller with my passport and a 200,000 baht wad of cash. The bank guy had the account opened in about 5 minutes, with a shiny new savings passbook. I agree, money talks.

[watcharacters]

9 hours ago, bojo said:

I went to open a savings account at BKK bank in Chiang Mai a month ago and the bank clerk told me I needed a residence letter from immigration.

When I told him that I wasn't currently resident in the Kingdom, he pondered and asked how much I wanted to transfer. He subsequently went out the back and came back with the answer  'my manager guarantee you'. Result........

It must be discretionary as to whether they can skip the residence bit. Thank goodness for that........

 

From reading some of the posters' comments about preferring not to place a lump sum in a Thai bank to cover the 800K requirement, when they already have the funds elsewhere; I am confused as to why so many seem hesitant. BKK bank offer 1.6%, well they did a month ago, which is not the end of the world and I am sure there must be other deals around....

 

 

 

 

I guess you must be what is called Hiso.    I'm sure a deposit of ฿ 800K would not impress many local  bank branches.     You must have offered a much  much  larger deposit amount.

 

Good luck with your banking.

[worrab]

1 hour ago, jesimps said:

Tried yesterday (Tuesday) it was booked for rest of 2019, except as you say for 4 April. Tried to book 4 April got message that it was unavailable!

 

I can assure you it is not booked all of 2019. As I said, they release dates in tranches so nothing after April will be available anyway as it is too far in the future, Just keep checking and suddenly dates will show being available.

 

[jesimps]

1 hour ago, sumrit said:

The letter from TI you're referring to must be a residence certificate. Don't know why you would need an Embassy letter for that. I use my yellow book for residence. Did you ask the bank if they would accept your Thai driving licence instead?

 

Yes but to recieve a residence cert for opening a bank account Jomtien insist on an embassy letter. I asked the bank if driving license was ok and they said only Ti letter. I intend trying other branches when I have some spare time. If I have success I'll post it on here.

[LongTimeLurker]

2 hours ago, jesimps said:

I really have no idea, but the lady at Jomtien counter 9 was insistant. They need the British Embassy to verify my address as per my Thai driving license! You couldn't make it up.

And to renew the licence you need the residence letter from immigration, who then want the BE to verify that it's correct???

[marcusarelus]

8 hours ago, fred110 said:

The main branch on Second Rd has better staff.

This has probably been mentioned 50 times that I can remember.  Why anyone would not read the threads about opening a bank account in Pattaya before doing so is beyond me.