Thai bank account with internet access

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sirineou
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Thai bank account with internet access

Post by sirineou »

Hi Guys,
My Wife just arived in Thailand Khon Kaen for a 40 day vecation and family visit, unfortunately my job did not allow me to join her, Booohoo :cry: :cry:
While in Khon Kaen I want my wife to open a bank account there, for two reasons,
a) to start transferring funds to Thailand for our soon to happen build (I Hope).
b) to allow access to funds for her family needs ( tired of Moneygram and associated fees)
what I would like to do is, open two counts in a bank , one savings, and one Checking, or both Saving accounts.it does not matter which, I just want them separate, and one must have a debit card.
Deposit about 300,000 on one account and maybe 3,000 bht on the other,and have a debit card for the 3,000 account, that her family can use. When that account runs low, I want to be able to transfer money to replenish it from the larger account, via the internet,but I don't want them to have access to the larger account, for obvious reasons.
Has anyone in this forum tried such arrangement?
I have being told that some banks send an SMS to the account holders Cell Phone, to confirm transactions, of course this is not an option for as, as we are in the US most of the time.
Is that true? and if so, are there any banks that don't have the SMS requirement?
Any advise offered io the subject would be highly appreciated
Thank You
I talk to my self because I am the only one who will listen
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fredlk
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Re: Thai bank account with internet access

Post by fredlk »

I had an account with Kasikorn Bank with internet access and an online credit card, but I closed it as I didn't use it much.
I have an account at the Bangkok Bank as my main account and somehow they only seem to want to open savings accounts.
I have full internet access with the sms-feature - a warning when funds are deducted / transferred - and this works as well in other countries as long as you have roaming enabled with your provider. Receiving an sms costs nothing.
For the build there is a separate account and I have access to that via internet banking. When anything needs paying I move the funds back and forth as required.
When the accounts are opened you need to specify at the same time that you want internet banking. The sms-feature is if I recall switched on by you when you log on for the first time. I'm not sure anymore. This is all with Bangkok Bank.
sirineou wrote:a) to start transferring funds to Thailand for our soon to happen build (I Hope).
What you must get when opening the account is the Swift-Code for the bank. With that you can easily transfer funds from wherever to Thailand. If I transfer in Europe before 12 midday European time, the money arrives in my Thai account by 9 the next morning Bangkok time.
sirineou wrote:one savings, and one Checking, or both Saving accounts.it does not matter which, I just want them separate, and one must have a debit card.
All accounts come with a debit card. 1 for only atm's from that bank or 1 for all atm's which is also Visa Electron, a debit-card. The latter costs 300 Baht per year.
sirineou wrote:I have being told that some banks send an SMS to the account holders Cell Phone, to confirm transactions, of course this is not an option
I think with the Kasikorn you had to get a password via sms, but with the Bangkok Bank it's just information although when you want to enter a new account for your regular transfers you have to enter a one-time password which you receive via sms. So to have roaming is essential if you want to transfer between accounts.
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tothemark
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Re: Thai bank account with internet access

Post by tothemark »

Hi,
We use Kasikorn bank for exactly the same purposes as yourself.
Myself and my wife each have our own account as do our inlaw's, as well as a joint account ( mil and wife).
I dumped a chunk of money in Kasikorn wifes account when the rates were higher and we access it through the internet.
When the builder wants some serious money we transfer it from my wifes account to either of my inlaws individual accounts and they withdraw it.
The on line system sends an sms to my mil's phone(we used this number for setting up my wifes account) with the transactions password. As we are doing the transaction we know that it will send the sms to the mil, so we just ring her up and get the password. Works a treat.
The joint account is useful as mil has an atm card and we have the book (farm account) and we can transfer money between any of the accounts.
Never bothered with a savings account due to low rates, we just have current accounts, less restrictions i would think as well.
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Ians
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Re: Thai bank account with internet access

Post by Ians »

What ever you decide to do, make sure you transfer your money to Thailand in your home country currency, you will normaly pick up a couple of points on exchange rate.
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sirineou
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Re: Thai bank account with internet access

Post by sirineou »

Thank you fredlk and tothemark
I will have my wife look in to the Kasikorn Bank option, I am not sure about Bangkok bank, because they have offices in the US, and as such they must operate under US banking laws. My Tax return is complicated enough with out having to report on Thai bank accounts.I would like to keep things as simple as possible. :wink: :)
I like the MIL account option, my wife talks to her on a daily bases so there would not be a problem getting the SMS codes send to her cell phone.
Once again CTL to the rescue
Now I will have to try to explain all this to the wife :lol:
I talk to my self because I am the only one who will listen
Shastadad
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Re: Thai bank account with internet access

Post by Shastadad »

Here is how I handle payments to my construction consultant and may help you

First of all, forget the checking account option, there appears to be no real advantage to them in Thailand since no one accepts checks, everything is done with cash

Open two Savings accounts with the same bank, and obtain two ATM cards. Designate one savings account as your master account and the second as the spending account. You will only need Internet Banking for the master account. Give the wife's relatives the second ATM card and fund it at will from the master account. You will not be charged any fees for transfers to that account and the transfers will be instantaneous with online banking. You will not need to worry about SMS one time codes or anything like that once it is set up. The only time you would need to change anything via OTP (one time password) is if you want to change the limits for the ATM withdrawals

If you can insure that you don't have more than $10,000 US in the combined accounts for the calendar year then you will not have to report them to the US government. If you do, don't worry about it. It is only a reporting form required once a year to the Treasury Department and is called a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) ( TD F 90-22.1).

See this for information about FRAR reporting here:

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/art ... 49,00.html

Of course you will have to report any interest if over a certain amount on your Federal Income tax but with the lousy interest rates on Savings Accounts here in Thailand I doubt if you will reach the "income tax " threshold

As far as your comment about Bangkok Bank having to follow US law, that only applies to their non commercial branch in New York and has no effect on their operation in Thailand. The only advantage of Bangkok Bank having a US branch is because you can use it to set up funds transfers from a US bank account to BB in NY and then on to BB in Thailand using EFTS, instead of Wire transfers (SWIFT) to funds to your Thai bank account



See this for information on Bangkok Bank:

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok%20Ba ... 20USA.aspx

I find my system to be very efficient in getting funds to my project / constructions manager. Whenever he needs more money he emails me, then I just go online and transfer money from my master account to the "house" spending account and he has access to the money instantly via the ATM card he was given before I left Thailand

Just two things to make sure your wife does before she leaves Thailand. Get the exact address of the main branch of whatever bank you decide to use for the accounts, including the SWIFT number of the bank. You will also need the exact name that is on the account for SWIFT transfer purposes. Expect to pay between $25 to $50 per SWIFT transfer to Thailand from you US bank (fees are dependent upon the US Bank) plus a small, usually around 500 THB for the "correspondent " bank in Thailand (clearing house). All SWIFT transfers to Thailand go through their main branch in Bangkok and then are transferred to your local branch account

Secondly, establish the daily spending limits on the ATM card you are going to give to the relatives before she leaves, that way you will not have to deal with SMS messages for changes

Do some quick math and determine if using the Bangkok Bank international EFTS transfer system is the way to go versus SWIFT transfers.
My Tax return is complicated enough with out having to report on Thai bank accounts.I would like to keep things as simple as possible
You are a US citizen and thus are going to have to report worldwide income on all of your money so unfortunately there is no LEGAL way to make it "simple", all you can do is try to make it more efficient
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sirineou
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Re: Thai bank account with internet access

Post by sirineou »

Hi Shastadad
Thank you for a very comprehensive explanation, I appreciated it.
I Like the name "ShastaDad, every where I go at factions in our community, people always say
ohh Samantha's Dad, ( my daughter from a previous marriage , now 15 and very outgoing.
I am thinking of legally changing my name to " Samantha's Dad. 55555 :lol:
I talk to my self because I am the only one who will listen
Shastadad
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Re: Thai bank account with internet access

Post by Shastadad »

Your welcome

This is Shasta, and I'm her Dad
shastadad.png
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sirineou
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Re: Thai bank account with internet access

Post by sirineou »

Not biological I hope :lol: :lol: unless of course your real name is MR Ed
sorry could not resist the jock
A beautiful horse, where is she located? from the foliage in the background, I would say North America, North east, Picture taken late winter early spring. Am I close? :)
I talk to my self because I am the only one who will listen
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otis-a
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Re: Thai bank account with internet access

Post by otis-a »

vgood post
never use tmb inet bkg is royal pia
where to park dog when in town? A barking lot... :-)))
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