Ive planned to open a bank account in LOS for the last few trips. As with all plans in Pattaya this never happened cause i never quite got around to it. Until this trip that is.

 

I went to exchange some travellers cheques and noticed that Kasikornbank (known as K-Bank or in my case "No Ploplem Bank" ) at Royal Garden Plaza (Address - 513 Royal Garden Plaza) was giving slightly better exchange rates than the competition that particular day. I handed over the cheques and passport and got my Baht. As i was putting my money away i realised that I was at a full bank branch (not just an exchange place) and asked the girl if, as a ferang tourist, i could open an account there.

 

"No Ploplem" she said. I went into the branch, walked up to the enquireis counter and told them i wanted to open an account. Once again "No Ploplem" , and i was escorted to the managers desk. I told him that i come to Thailand often and that i wanted to open an account, with an ATM card and internet access so i could transfer money into the account from home. "No Ploplem" . He asked for my passport, and got some forms out from the draw which he asked me to sign in various places. He then proceeded to input various info into his computer. He asked for my address and i just gave him the business card of the hotel i was staying at.

 

I was on a 30 day visa, issued on arrival visa but the guy never even looked through the passport to find the entry stamp. The only page he looked at was the picture page.

 

It took a total of 10 minutes and i was holding an ATM card and a K-BankSavings Deposit Passbook. Total cost was 300bht for the card pl;us i deposited 2000bht into the account. The manager then took me to the ATM outside the bank where he guided me through the process of changing the PIN number to the one of my choice. He also provided me with the swift code for K-Bank which is what i will need when i want to transfer money to Thailand form my Aussie account.

 

In reference the internet banking he got me to type my email address into the computer 3 times to make sure it was correct. 24 hours after opening the account i recieved 2 emails from K-Bank. One with confirmation of my K-Cyber Banking account, and the other with my pin code.

 

The website for K-bank is www.kasikornbank.com . The info on the site is in Thai and English so its reasonably easy to navigate.

 

I contacted my Australian Bank in relation to international transfers and they told me that there was a au$20.00 fee per transcation to an International bank. I believe this fee varies from bank to bank and country to country so i would suggest that you get in touch with your own bank to confirm what its going to cost you.

 

Picture of the branch.

 

THats pretty cool Andy. I am going to look into doing the same.

Good information. Thanks! For those of us who travel several times a year seems like a great idea.

cheers

bolly

Good information Shuggy. My Aussie bank charges me $24 per transaction. The funds are available in my Thai account (Siam Commercial) the day it is transfer from Australia.

 

Always transfer your funds in your own currency and NEVER transfer it in Baht as you will get more Baht for your dollar, Pound, Euro or whatever by letting the Thai bank convert it.

One update here guys. If you do go for the internet banking option, you will have to use your account number as your user ID at your initial login. The Account number comes in the the following format

 

123-4-56789-0 When inputting this into the user ID field USE ONLY THE NUMBERS AND NOT THE DASHES.

 

The above ID would be input as 1234567890. If you get it wrong it wont let you in.

 

If you do have problems the website provides a phone number where you will be put through to English speaking and extremely helpful staff.

 

AFter initial login you will be put through to a page where you can change User ID's and Passwords.

 

They also have a feature that on important financial transactions you have to put in a 2nd password. There is an option that to confirm who you are they will send you the password for that transaction only to your Thai mobile number via SMS. As my Thai number has international roaming, and works here in Australia this could be useful should i want to transfer money to another Thia bank account.

One update here guys. If you do go for the internet banking option, you will have to use your account number as your user ID at your initial login. The Account number comes in the the following format

 

123-4-56789-0 When inputting this into the user ID field USE ONLY THE NUMBERS AND NOT THE DASHES.

 

The above ID would be input as 1234567890. If you get it wrong it wont let you in.

 

If you do have problems the website provides a phone number where you will be put through to English speaking and extremely helpful staff.

 

AFter initial login you will be put through to a page where you can change User ID's and Passwords.

 

They also have a feature that on important financial transactions you have to put in a 2nd password. There is an option that to confirm who you are they will send you the password for that transaction only to your Thai mobile number via SMS. As my Thai number has international roaming, and works here in Australia this could be useful should i want to transfer money to another Thia bank account.

 

 

What kinds of information and transactions can I make using their internet access? Thanks.

What kinds of information and transactions can I make using their internet access? Thanks.

 

You get the standard set of internet banking services. The services offred are similar to that of my Australian bank.

 

Details of the seervices can be found On thier website.

Do we assume you took your pussy snorkel off during the transaction?

The internet banking service they offer is a pain in asse.

Not sure of the benefits of one, why pay for money to be transferred into it when you can draw on your home card free of charge.

 

Unless you had monies going in froma Thai based investment.

 

Do they charge for putting monies in ?

Not sure of the benefits of one, why pay for money to be transferred into it when you can draw on your home card free of charge.

For most people drawing on their home bank is not free of charge. In fact it can be quite expensive. It is certainly the case from an Australian account. In my case I save a lot of money by having a Thai bank account.

 

Do they charge for putting monies in ?

The Siam Commercial bank does not charge for money being deposited from overseas.

nice 1 for the info i didnt realise it was all that easy something i need to be doing in the future

I opened mine over a year ago --

some points which might be handy to know are

there is a 200 btht annual charge for the ATM card which will come out of the account

and if you want to transfer money to another account it is handy to have a Thai sim card

which can get texts abroad as K Bank sent a text if you want to transfer money and you

need to enter the code to confirm transaction. This can also be done by E-mail but I think

there is a time limit on the e-mail option.

 

The transfer to my k bank account from the UK took 1 day . K bank also take a small amount in commission

Make sure you get the money sent in your currency not Thai baht . Cost for me was £19.50

Ive planned to open a bank account in LOS for the last few trips. As with all plans in Pattaya this never happened cause i never quite got around to it. Until this trip that is.

 

 

The manager then took me to the ATM outside the bank where he guided me through the process of changing the PIN number to the one of my choice.

 

 

To be Shure Change pin allone AGAIN..., you never know what the maNAGER has seen of you r pin ..

Nice one for the info!

 

I need to open a account up in thailand.

Its nice to have so i can tranfer money from england then when go on hoilday it,s there waiting instead of spending it in england!

The internet banking service they offer is a pain in asse.

 

 

Have you got some specifics that the BM's should be aware or wary of?

shuggy thank you so much for starting this thread, I will be looking to open and account on my next trip.

 

one question is it possible to have 2 ATM cards, one for the Telac.

 

any other B/Ms that have accounts at other banks please can you give us your experiences as well....

shuggy thank you so much for starting this thread, I will be looking to open and account on my next trip.

 

one question is it possible to have 2 ATM cards, one for the Telac.

 

any other B/Ms that have accounts at other banks please can you give us your experiences as well....

 

My TG opened an account at same time so I transfer to her account and she uss her atm card and withdraws from her account

The Siam Commercial bank does not charge for money being deposited from overseas.

 

The wife just bought some land in Pattaya and the money was sent from Westpac bank in Australia to Siam Commercial bank in Pattaya and they did charge a fee for this transaction. I cannot remember the amount that my Welsh brother-in-law said it cost.

 

By the way this a good topic and you can link your K-bank account to Thai paypal. Someone wrote about this recently but I am not sure if it was on this board.

Edited May 17, 200818 yr by thegrogmonster

So does a thai bank have a routing number like a regular US bank? I wonder if you could have part of your direct deposit go to your thai bank for free?

Great information and something i also did on my last trip after i found out my Australian bank had charged me a foreign currency conversion fee -- and it's not a flat fee but a percentage of my withdrawals. I think i paid about AUD$170 (~5,000 baht) in bank fees to CBA.

 

A fellow BM mentioned it was the cheapest way to transfer $ so i opened my account with Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) on Soi Buakhow -- not far from Pook bar and on the same side of the road. It's a small branch on the corner to a condo/hotel place. I think min deposit to open account was 500 baht and there was a 300 baht fee for the ATM card.

 

All i had to do was bring in my passport and they also wanted an address in Thailand so i gave them my hotel card and they wrote down my hotel address. I think it's just a formality because they told me they won't post me anything. They gave me a passbook with my opening balance. I requested internet banking access and was given login details which i later changed. They also gave me a purple SCB clock as a gift for opening an account

 

What i do now is internet transfer money into the SCB account before i go away.

My Aussie bank (CBA) charges me a flat fee of AUD$22 (640 baht) for the transfer.

Then when i'm in LOS i use my SCB ATM card and take cash out when i need it. There are no bank fees for ATM withdrawals or having cash transferred in. That way you don't have to hold large amounts of cash. I just take out 2,000 baht at a time or more if i need it.

 

As Scumbag mentioned, transfer it in your local currency -- you'll get a better exchange rate through your LOS bank.

Another advantage of having a Thai account is that you can take advantage of good exchange rates and transfer extra $ if you're cashed up.

Be also aware that if you don't use the account for a long period of time (certainly more than a year) then they will close it.

I opened a Kasikornbank account about 6 weeks ago, also it was really easy and took about 10 minutes. I deposited about 30,000 baht, paid the 300 baht or whatever ATM card fee and walked out with my paying in book and ATM card.

 

Having a Thai bank account is very useful when spending alot of time in LOS...

Thanks for the info shuggy and the rest of the guys... i'll be opening an account in a couple of weeks.

 

P.S. Shuggy, you really shouldn't give out your account number online 123-4-56789-0

I opened a account here about a year ago and it took about 10 mins too.