Phones and banks...

[joseph1]

Hi guys,
had my phone stolen on last trip, no big deal, always buy cheap phone anyway. My question for the long term folks. My provider was "SMILE" can anyone tell me who has the better rates as far as Bath per minute, or are all of them pretty much the same. Also, dont want my minutes to expire quickly.


2nd Question:
I am planning on opening a bank account while in pattaya, can anyone recommend a bank that they have had good relations with. I do not want to pay a monthly fee and also want to use a debit card for transactions. Also want to be able to transfer funds from America to the account in Thailand. I understand all I have asked is normal in USA, but not familiar with the Thai banks.

Thanks in advance....and people who comment about this or that, other than giving me positive feedback,..... dont...go get a beer and chill.

[Guest]

The best bank for an American to get an account with is Bangkok Bank as they have an office in NYC and therefore have an ABA routing # - i.e., almost free and immediate transfers.  (1 extra day to make it from ny to thailand). Unfortunately, I don't think you can get an account with only a transit visa.  Probably with a tourist visa ok. If you go bangkok bank, open it in the office on beach road near 13/3 as they are pretty liberal about giving you internet access (which will take a week or so as they mail you the initial pin#). [note there are some issues setting up electronic transfers with bangkok bank as they don't allow automated withdrawals - so it may require some phone calls]

The others are easier to setup and all pretty similar I think - just make sure they have internet access (which all of them seem to and don't make it hard to get like bangkok bank).  Also may want to ensure you can pay for your phone from the internet directly as it's very convenient! Oh yeh, no monthly fees from any I have heard of and the debit card is 300 baht. (I'm unsure of whether these debit cards work outside of thailand but think probably not??).

I know SCB (siam commercial bank) meets all the above requirements.

You should be able to do an international wire transfer to any bank in Thailand


I don't know much about phone providers but use DTAC and its something like 3 baht a minute to make long distance calls. # won't expire for a year from the last time you put baht on it.

[Guest]

I'm with Bangkok Bank and my cell phone is through One 2 Call...I've been like that for many years now and no prob's thus far  

[Stogie]

This and that...

[rxpharm]

Thai banks have been discussed in great detail - here is a post that should answer most of your questions: What is the safest bank in Thailand to open an account?

[Stogie]

Banks and Phones have been discussed at length on this message board.

The reason why this thread wasn't deleted is because the OP has been a member for almost 2 years.

I sometimes wonder if we don't just delete every single post over a week old!

[PigDogg]

(theone22 @ Aug. 08 2009,14:28) The best bank for an American to get an account with is Bangkok Bank as they have an office in NYC and therefore have an ABA routing # - i.e., almost free and immediate transfers.  (1 extra day to make it from ny to thailand). Unfortunately, I don't think you can get an account with only a transit visa.  

For most transfers via Bangkok Bank New York, there's a 10 dollar fee by the New York branch and a 500 baht fee by the Thai branch. Think there is a similar scheme thru the London branch.

Most liberal bank as far as opening accounts is Kasikorn (green bank) where you may be able to open an account with a tourist stamp and I know you can open with a 90 day visa. Not ethat if one branch says no, you might try a different branch and get a yes.

With all the banks you get your debit card the same day if they have one in stock.

As far as phone cards I use 1-2-Call but I don't know about the charges.
I'm particularly interested in knowing if calls/SMS to other 1-2-Call customers are at a lower rate than calls to other providers.

[Guest]

(PigDogg @ Aug. 09 2009,11:34) For most transfers via Bangkok Bank New York, there's a 10 dollar fee by the New York branch and a 500 baht fee by the Thai branch.  Think there is a similar scheme thru the London branch.

Those charges are presumably from here: http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok....ee.aspx which has more precise numbers.

However, that being said, what are the doestic wire fees to bangkok bank and international wire fees for bangkok bank and the others to asses the various options?

[PigDogg]

Most wire transfers are more expensive than an ACH transaction thru Bangkok Bank.

In either case, you're getting the TT rate instead of the less favorable bill rate (or traveler check rate).

The fixed fees of the wire or ACH transfers make it appropriate only for relatively large amounts.

[jadeite]

Service fees can be negligable compared to the exchange rate you get. In my experiences the best to worst exchange rate is:

1. ATM
2. Travelers Cheques (*if* you pay no commission fee to get them)
3. green backs (though $100's are *sometimes* equal to Travelers Cheques)
4. Bank Wire Transfer
5. Western Union

It was no surprise to me that Western Union offers the poorest exchange rate since their focus is speed and ease of use. What did surprise me is the Bank Wire Transfer gets a substationally poorer exchange rate than the ATM. This may depend on your bank. To find out how good a deal you are getting, see how close it is to baht currency exchange rates on financial web sites as you can get razor close to that at the ATM. So for instance Western Union is 4% lower than the ATM and you may think that's not much. Well if you are transferring $25000 that means you just blew $1000 out the window compared to using the ATM and here you thought it was just going to be a $10 wire fee. Moral of the story is CHECK THE EXCHANGE RATE.

[joseph1]

Thanks guys, the info supplied was more than enough for my question. Have a nice day.