800k in bank for retirement extension - Pattaya

[fulhamster]

8 hours ago, Jingthing said:

So I guess you got lucky. I assume you used the 800k method, correct?

Yes

[scubascuba3]

3 hours ago, Kerryd said:

Yeah, interest rates suck at the moment. Looking at Bangkok Bank's best rates (Fixed Term of 24+ months) it's only 1.5%. (I've looked at rates of banks in other countries and they are pretty close to the same level for the major banks.

Some small " boutique"  banks may offer slightly higher rates to try and attract more business but those places are also more likely to fail.
(Don't believe it ? Take a wild guess at how many banks in the USA have failed in the last 11 years. Take a really wild guess. Now double that. Double it again. Are you close to 511 ? That's how many banks the FDIC says have failed in that period.)

Some people like to quote RRSP and Mutual Fund "quoted" rates of return and pretend those as the same as a "Savings Account". Note that Funds will often quote an anticipated rate of return to lure investment while the actual rate of return may be substantially lower. I learned that lesson the hard way back in the 90's. Financial Advisers apparently don't like it when you show them the actual rates of return compared to whatever BS they try to feed you about the same funds.)

I keep my money in a Fixed Term account that renews automatically every year. The interest is a little better than a Savings Account and the money is more secure (no one can access that account with an ATM card or through online access). (I think the interest is something like 1.25% per annum. I don't have my bank books handy so I can't confirm it.)

Not sure about other banks but Bangkok Bank also usually has short term Fixed Term offers, usually for periods of 7 or 11 months, that offer slightly better rates but they are a pain in the @55 because when the period ends (and your interest is paid) the interest rate automatically drops to the standard Savings Account rate. But you can't just renew the deposit for another 7/11 month term.

No, that would be too easy. You have to start a new account for whichever offer you want (7 or 11 months), then transfer the money from the old account, then close the old account.
(I have stacks of old bank books that have exactly 3 entries in each. The initial deposit. The interest paid at the end of the period. The transfer of the money to a different account.)

A lot of people don't understand the interest rate drop that happens with those short term accounts, mostly because all they see is "1.75% Interest" and ignore the "7 month term" and the "rate will drop at end of period" parts of the offer (then they come to ThaiVisa and whine about being ripped off).

The interest rate on the annual Fixed Term account isn't great but it is more than enough (after tax) to cover the cost of my annual Extension and Multi Re-entry permit renewals with enough left over to pay the utility bills for the month or have a night out on the town.

And it makes the Extension renewal so easy. The day before I go to Immigration I get my letter from the bank and update the book and that's it. No need to make some paltry deposit or withdrawal to show the account is active or show a year's worth of "deposits".

(I usually leave the interest in the Fixed Term account and let it roll over but you can have it deposited into your Savings Account if you prefer.)


If, for some reason, I needed to change banks, I'd make sure I waited until after the 3 month "bank book check" (regardless if you were given the notice, or forgot to do it or decided that you shouldn't have to do it for whatever reason). 
I'd also make sure I had the account in the new bank open before I closed the old account (for those who decide to take out the funds in cash instead of doing an electronic transfer).

I'd also make sure that I did the transfer at least 2 weeks before the next "seasoning" period starts (so 10 weeks or so before your next Extension). A lot of people, for whatever reason, wait until the last second to put their money in the account and, for whatever reason, take it out again the very second it's been there long enough to meet the requirement.

And then find out that they forgot about things like weekends and holidays and they miss their timings. I recall one year when my 90 Day date fell on a Saturday. Friday was a holiday so I decided I'd go on the Monday. However, Tuesday was also a holiday so Immigration decided to close on the Monday and give their staff a 5 day weekend. (Huge lines on Wednesday morning when they opened again.)

That was just a 90 day report so being a couple days late wasn't an issue but if you needed to get a Residency Certificate to open a new bank account and had to wait 5 days longer than planned, it could result in you missing your "seasoning" period.
(I'm sure you've heard about people who've been denied an Extension for missing their "seasoning" date by as little as a day.)

Lastly, I'd make sure that you take the old and new bankbooks with you, which ideally will show the transfer out and deposit in happening on the same day (as well as the regular photocopies of each bank book of course).
(I can imagine the person checking your paperwork may ask why you changed banks, but as long as all the paperwork is in order they may not care.)

Personally I wouldn't screw around or "assume" anything when it comes to my Extension of Stay. If it's denied for any reason, it would be a major annoyance to get it sorted out and back on track. I'd make sure I had all my "t's" crossed and "i's" dotted well ahead of time for peace of mind if nothing else.
 

I asked Bangkok Bank about the fixed term deposits, they didn't mention the 1.5%, maybe it's changed or maybe it's not applicable for immigration/retirement extension

[Kerryd]

Your extension has nothing to do with what kind of account you can open (unless you are trying to open a Chequing account of course). 
You probably have to ask specifically for the long term Fixed Deposit accounts. On their website they show terms of 3/4/5 years at 1.5%. 2 year terms at 1.25. (It's a .pdf file all in Thai)
The minimum balance seems to be just 2,000 baht.
The rates noted are as of 24 Dec 2020 so they should still be current.

Whenever I've asked (or opened) and account, what kind of visa (or Extension) I'm on has never been a consideration. The only time it matters is if you are trying to open a Chequing Account in which case many banks want to see a Work Permit (to show you are working and not some 30 day Tourist hoping to put 100 baht into an account and getting a book full of blank cheques a week before he flies home).

Also note that the bank branches will try to push certain things (like Gain248 investments). They get told by the main branch/head office to push different things and probably won't mention the long term options as they'd prefer you put your money into something that probably makes more money for the bank.

I have asked them about those 3-4 year terms but decided I wanted to keep my options open for now. It probably wouldn't be an issue but the idea of "locking up" the money for that long (3 or 4 years) didn't appeal to me last time so I kept the lower interest yearly term instead.

DepositRates_24Dec2020.pdf

[scubascuba3]

22 hours ago, Kerryd said:

Your extension has nothing to do with what kind of account you can open (unless you are trying to open a Chequing account of course). 
You probably have to ask specifically for the long term Fixed Deposit accounts. On their website they show terms of 3/4/5 years at 1.5%. 2 year terms at 1.25. (It's a .pdf file all in Thai)
The minimum balance seems to be just 2,000 baht.
The rates noted are as of 24 Dec 2020 so they should still be current.

Whenever I've asked (or opened) and account, what kind of visa (or Extension) I'm on has never been a consideration. The only time it matters is if you are trying to open a Chequing Account in which case many banks want to see a Work Permit (to show you are working and not some 30 day Tourist hoping to put 100 baht into an account and getting a book full of blank cheques a week before he flies home).

Also note that the bank branches will try to push certain things (like Gain248 investments). They get told by the main branch/head office to push different things and probably won't mention the long term options as they'd prefer you put your money into something that probably makes more money for the bank.

I have asked them about those 3-4 year terms but decided I wanted to keep my options open for now. It probably wouldn't be an issue but the idea of "locking up" the money for that long (3 or 4 years) didn't appeal to me last time so I kept the lower interest yearly term instead.

DepositRates_24Dec2020.pdf

I was just in Bangkok Bank so I asked them a third time and as expected the fixed term deposits are 0.5%, she said the higher percentages are just for regular savers  and mentioned 5k a month. So no use for the 800k

[jumbo]

18 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I was just in Bangkok Bank so I asked them a third time and as expected the fixed term deposits are 0.5%, she said the higher percentages are just for regular savers  and mentioned 5k a month. So no use for the 800k

Immigration Ayutthaya, told me that I would need a minimum of 800K (or 400K when married) in the account. So you could do 5,000 per month additional and withdraw in the middle of your period and start over...Or am I missing something

[scubascuba3]

2 hours ago, jumbo said:

Immigration Ayutthaya, told me that I would need a minimum of 800K (or 400K when married) in the account. So you could do 5,000 per month additional and withdraw in the middle of your period and start over...Or am I missing something

Bangkok Bank basically said the 1.25%/1.5% are regular saving type accounts for small amounts, not for big amounts like the 800k. So can't transfer 800k in then do monthly 5k

[The Theory]

On 1/15/2021 at 2:46 PM, scubascuba3 said:

Anyone moved the 800k to another bank mid year and it caused problems with Immigration processing it? 

I had 2 bank books with different acc. # (from same bank, different provinces), 6 months each province. 
Not a problem at CM immigration. Just needed copies of both books.