A cautionary bankster tale

[HIDDEN]

Out of interest, are MM2Hers allowed chequebooks?  In Thailand, under the retirement visa, you cannot have a chequebook (unless you previously had one under another visa, work visa, whatever).  It makes paying bills rather cumbersome as you either need to get bundles of cash or queue up for a lifetime at the bank to get a bank cheque 

[HIDDEN]

Depending on your bank Chequebooks are freely available to MM2H'ers.
I have a HSBC and CIMB chequebook.

[HIDDEN]

That's excellent - cheers.

[HIDDEN]

hi,

This is obvious but worth saying. The staff at my local CIMB branch knows me by sight. I got my "lien letter" from them, and sometimes I get cash from the counter inside rather than the machine outside just for visibility.

The staff are always friendly and it's a pleasure to do business with them. I'm sure it's the same with other banks.

The point is that familiarity helps. Usually my banking transactions are very anonymous, in Singapore or the UK, and I got used to that.

Nowadays I'm enjoying the smile to smile basis for just a basic account, and the less hassle that seems to go with it.

[HIDDEN]

With regard to HSBC and others viability, I think it depends on the amount of toxic debt purchased.  The further you get from "western/american" financial centers, the safer the bank.  Thai domestic banks purchased virtually no toxic debt, and were unaffected.  The UK, being a financial center, purchased a lot, and is as a result, recovering slower than elsewhere.  In general, Asia is coming out of it better than the west.

I don't have much complaint against HSBC in general, but their marketing hype is overblown.  They try to give the impression that you can walk into any branch anywhere and can get anything done.  It's not true, and I think it will rebound against them.  Their great asset at the moment is that their rival, Citibank, is in more trouble than they are.

[HIDDEN]

Re the NZ, do you mean applying from outside NZ, presumably at an NZ bank in foreign country, to whom you show the passport?

We were there on site, and the whole thing took less that 30 mins!

[HIDDEN]

May I be nosey and ask if that is an interest bearing account and, if so, do they tax it?  Sounds very interesting (pardon the pun).

Yes it is interest bearing. The tax thing is complicated, and is ordinarily the tax rate applied by NZ (used to be 28%) OR is determined by the 'tax rate' applicable to your country of residence (Malaysia is 15%, I think), and then there is another rate [3%] which we pay, whic is a rate you can elect for, but you can not claim any of the 3% back when you do your annual accounts, for tax purposes.

I said at the beginning it is complicated

[HIDDEN]

I am currently waiting for HSBC Bkk's response, and I will post progress IDC. 

Just to tidy this experience up, the Downing St account is now successfully working.  Also, HSBC Bkk ascertained that the ATM card will stay open for 1 year for activation, which means I shall doubtless be there in time.

[HIDDEN]

I'm surprised to hear that the HSBC ATM stays open for a year for activation. I was informed that it must be done within 1 or 3 months. So we didn't apply for the ATM card but will wait till we get to Penang in Feb whether we get mm2h approval or not

[HIDDEN]

George; how long ago was that?  Perhaps the system has changed?

[HIDDEN]

I transferred 20,000 baht to get things started

Hi Feebee, I'd be very interested to know if you've tried transferring more than 20,000 baht?  We just had a very interesting conversation with the Manager of our local Kasikornbank.  We enquired about latest procedures if we wanted to transfer say a million baht (about 100,000 ringgits), even if we converted it to another currency first and he basically said No Way "unless it was for a very good reason" (  ) and we would need an invoice (not sure if he meant something we were buying or something we had sold in order to produce this million baht).  He said transfers up to 20,000 baht (in other currency) were okay.  In a nutshell, we're seriously thinking about whether we should fly up to Bangkok and try to open an account with HSBC or Standard Chartered.

[HIDDEN]

Maybank stopped passbook accounts a few of years ago in an effort to upgrade. With Maybank you get a withdrawal slip or account print-out. These quickly fade even when kept in the dark which is where the customer is left as your data is continuously disappearing.

We went into Maybank with our copy of conditional approval letter (not the original as we don't have it), asked what account would be possible, and they've given us a passbook - so looks like they've reintroduced them.  Got an ATM card too.

[HIDDEN]

hi,

Hey, that's good news. Some time ago I finally cancelled the account at Maybank because I got fed up with not having the passbook.

Keeping fading slips of paper isn't fun. It's very stressful almost knowing what is there, and trying to read it under different bulbs, and magnifying glasses etc.

Maybank told me that I could always check the account by using the ATM. And that's true if I want to leave the house, get in the car, drive to the nearest Maybank and check away. So I told them it was easier to change banks.

Maybe they have lost out to other banks. Anyway CIMB has a passbook savings account so I opened an account there. And the minimum balance needed to avoid charges is a lot lower than Maybank. Maybank wants RM500. At CIMB it either RM20 or thereabouts. Or it was when I last checked.

If you don't use the Maybank account for 1-year (like go abroad etc.) Maybank will de-activate the account and they charge about RM20 to re-activate it. IMO and limited experience, Maybank has more stealth charges than CIMB. However, they're bigger so there's more branches.

I won't be bothered to go back to Maybank. 

Unless they offer me something free. Something that can be eaten would be nice, like a full English breakfast meal, or a chip & pork sausage butty. I don't want another leatherette business card holder.

Fat chance getting something free from a bank. 

[HIDDEN]

Hi Feebee, I'd be very interested to know if you've tried transferring more than 20,000 baht? 

No, I've done nothing since sending the 20k.  When it is time to send the money for the FD, I will send it from the UK.

[HIDDEN]

No, I've done nothing since sending the 20k.  When it is time to send the money for the FD, I will send it from the UK.

Thanks Feebee.  You seem to have your finances rather more organized than us 

We've got the FD money in place via our cunning ATM plan (I'll post in the other thread if I can find it).  We're currently thinking how to move money out of Thailand (and not necessarily into Malaysia), like sale of my vehicle.  I'm sure it can be done with the right bank and with the appropriate documentation.  Think we are going to approach another of our Thai banks tomorrow and see if we get a more sensible answer.  Such a pity that there are no international banks in Phuket.  I'm sure it would be a lot easier.