Tourism what are they thinking?

[stilljustbrowsing]

fwinbkk. Why can people not open an account with a THai bank unless they have a work permit. (I have a work permit BTW and had to open an account with Krung Thai Bank)
What I am getting at is this. Let's say I want to retire here, have ample funds in a foreign bank account (documentary proof)
but would prefere to be able to transfere some/all funds to a local bank for convenience. Surely the banks are losing out on interest if they will not accept an account to be opened? That way people could transfere money from their original bank to a Thai bank of their choice via an electronic money transfere. I am no expert on this so any information would be considered helpful.

[Git]

That does brin up an intersting question, how are the other countries handling this, is Thailand the only one implementing these new fees?

[Ian]

Let us accept for argument's sake that Thai banks incur a small loss if they do not charge an ATM fee. The Thai government is desperate to boost tourism and increase the inflow of foreign money. It seems to me the best solution is for the government to make good these bank losses. After all they have just sent 200 million down the drain boosting tourist advertising.

[stilljustbrowsing]

Have you seen the scandal of MPs expense claims on England right now It's likely to bring down Gordon's Brown goverment sooner than he expected

Now, was that a typo error, or an intended play on words? Never mind, I think it is brilliant as a description! As I said before, cream rises to the top, and Sh.it floats!
stilljustlaughing!

[stilljustbrowsing]

Frankly I don't give a damn whether you like or do not like banks...I honestly think you are really sad...I am simply sharing with you what went on and you cursed me to be one of the unemployed. Anyway I really don't bother about your unconstructive comment when everyone here is trying to clear the air. Nevertheless you hate banks and bankers alike...but like it or not, banking is part of everyone's daily lifestyle needs....you will need an ATM to make a cash withdrawal. Good luck to your pathetic life, my friend.

never mind, you just don't know our pappy, he hates each & everything (and everyone?)

I sincerely hope one is not being hypocritical and remembers previous posts for the good of the future!

[stilljustbrowsing]

So we end up with-
Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye...
Mary Mary quite contrary.....
Little Jack Horner.....
Little boy blue....
And finally.... Oranges and lemons!
Unless of course we now add "ring a ring of roses!"
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes.....

[Git]

Yuo know one of the reasons we are so ignored is we can not even have a discussion amongst ourselves without Mud Throwing, what purpose does it serve.

Back to the Banks, they have a pretty good deal going wih us expats with annuals, we are required to put 400K or 800K in the bank for immigrations and they pay no (0) interest and have the use of that money as long as we stay here. If I had a choice I certainly wouldn't pu 800K in a bank adn not get paid for the use of my money. So they make money on us in other ways. The closest you come to having a choice is to do they monthly route of 40K or 65K a month and use it to live on.

If you buy Fuel or a lot of different things you contribute to the tax base We employee local labor which goes right back into the community. Personally I think we are doing enough to contribute with taking anything from Thailand. What a carch 22 because I don't take anything from thailand such as a job I will never qaulify for a resident visa.

You know I think that is enough. Basically you are being charged a usury fee to spend your money in Thailand. Anyone that can think of any other reason to use an ATM in Thailand?

This entire approach is begginning to sound like every positive measure has a counterproductive measure being inacted before the stimilous even hits the streets. Mega projects oh by the way we are going add to tax to fuel, to support the Government. Now people cam stop smoking and drinking but using fuel is not a luxury yuo have to get to work. Everything that is transported will have increase costs of the items they sale to cover the increase in transportation costs.

Ok you need taxes cause yuo have a short fall, but wait I until people have jobs to implement them. As far as I can tell not one single job has been created yet.

I would really like to know if these charges have been implemented in the other countries in the region?

They kep telling themselves this has hit bottom exports are moving agian. Yuo would think they would know the only reason car manufactures are reordering is they have ran out of stock and as soon as they have some to work with that is going to drop like a rock. This recession is far from being over. I don't know if we will ever get back to the levels we were four years ago and really probably shouldn't since was all done on debt that is now being defaulted on all over the world. The world is going to be a very different place whne this is over, now is not a time to price yourself out of the market.

Consumer confidence is down here and pretty much around the world, these kind of things make Thailand look less attractive to people who now have to be careful with money. They may not be in such a hurry to swipe that credit card as they were before.

I have yet to see anything in writing that says their fees have been increased. I woudl really like to see that from the card providers not the TBA I'm sorry they make money off the exchange rates they pay and that is enough. They said they were going to review anyone seen any result of a a review yet? Shouldn't be that difficult they must have he s data since that was what was used to make this move or was it. They are using an time proven approach in Thailand let it go until people run out of steam and forget about it. Works well here. Or wait until people get into personal insults and then majority of people won't read it anymore.

I really don't understand their actions.

[Robert]

My first contribution to this fascinating subject and would like to start with:

Once upon a time .....

1. People were getting their salary in real money
2. It was decided that salary should go through banks (because this was more efficient)
3. Banks were paying interest on your account
4. Banks stopped paying interest on " normal" accounts (underestimated efficiency earnings? Introduced special saving accounts)
5. Banks offered special packages so if ATM was used abroad no ATM fee to be charged
6 Thais banks introduced 150 Thb which in my humble opinion should only charged if you use Visa or Mastercard (I have both but use my own Dutch bankcard)
7. As stated in other answers Malaysia does not charge customers using other cards than Visa and Mastercard. How about Laos, Vietnam, Cambodja and Singapore to name some ?

Question: why have Thai banks implemented this fee in spite of dropback in tourist, worldwide financial crises etc? Do they really think everybody accepts everything? I think that this really hurst the expats living here who do not want (as also already stated) to have a large amount of money in a Thai bank without having any rights here.

I know this is TIT but would like to ask the "foreignerworkinbkk" if this hard decision was made by bankers only or was a little bit of research done outside the financial world? To me it looks simple (maybe because I am a simple man?) but are the Thai banks trying to make money over the backs of expats and tourists in order to reduce their losses because of the financial crisis?

[stilljustbrowsing]

1. People were getting their salary in real money
?

Ha Ha Ha! Sorry Robert, but I recall that on every pound note (remember them?) was the statement "I promise to pay the baerer on demand...." Real money my posterior.

[foreignerworkinbkk]

Hi Robert, thanks for your first post on this subject.

There is and will never be a good enough reason for the new ATM fee charged by Thai banks, or any other fee that is to be borne by customers so to speak.

To answer your question, no comparisons were conducted as the fee issue was discussed internally between Thai banks during the regular TBA working meetings. Someone did brought up the concern that once this new fee is charged, how would it affect the perception of Thai banks by foreigners since the fee amount will be the highest ATM fee in the region/the world.

The concern was never addressed and was quietly forgotten as every member was focusing on the more pressing issue of arresting the escalating cost of supporting cross-border card transactions.

I understand that in SIngapore and Malaysia, banks had ever considered charging ATM fees too for overseas card cash withdrawals but was stopped by the respective central bank's intervention. Instead the central bank spoke on all the banks' behalf to pressure MasterCard and VISA to raise the interchange fee income so as to avoid transferring the costs to consumers.

However Bank of Thailand was never involved in this issue and even with TBA requesting for their comments, there was no clear direction from BOT, except that the amount must be reasonably justified for the new fee charging and banks must post the new fee charging announcement to customers at least 30 days before effecting the new fees. The standard protocol accepted by BOT to ensure adequate advanced announcement is made to customers is simply to put up a small notice at the main branch for 30 days (this is a joke if you ask me..).

Honestly this has nothing to do with the financial crisis or drop in tourist numbers to Thailand. Banks have recognised that whatever that has happened, Thailand will always be an attractive tourist destinations for regional and international travellers, who are willing to spend on their holidays here in the Land of Smiles. So with or without fees, foreigners will use the ATMs to withdraw cash during their holidays. Unfortunately the impact of this new ATM fee is felt more for foreigners like us who are not here on short-duration holidays but need to withdraw cash from overseas accounts during our long-term stay in Thailand.

We will just have to get used to the constant fee hikes in Thailand.