Bank of America sucks. Any recommendations for banks?

Post by **jason** » June 3, 2006, 7:38 pm

Hey everyone,
I have completely had it with Bank of America. Every single
thing I need to do (transfer funds, use ATM, check my balance)
costs an unreasonable amount of money. The last straw was
my last statement - $120 of service fees! (No, I didn't bounce
any checks or overdraw my account in any way.) Good God,
those guys are weasels.

So, I have a banking question for American expats who live in
Thailand. If you use an American bank from Thailand, which
one do you use? Do you like it? Do they kill you with banking
fees?

Any recommendations? Any other banks to avoid? I've heard
Washington Mutual is pretty good. Specifically, here's what I
want:

- good online banking system
- low ATM fees
- no monthly fee/very low monthly fee
- minimum balance is okay
- ability to transfer money to other banks without too much
trouble

Thanks in advance for any help.
Cheers,
- Steamed Farang in Thailand

Post by **Dakoda** » June 3, 2006, 8:27 pm

Sounds pretty bad and I thought thai banks were bad on fees, never liked them and I once work for them.

I use HSBC internet banking, no atm fee, pays around 4.5% interest, can transfer money free from other us banks to them. Do not know charge for transfer to here.

So if you have a USA mailing address and a USA Phone # you can do everything from this link.

HSBC

happy banking

Post by **Bump** » June 3, 2006, 9:15 pm

I've got Gaurantee Federal now, but had Washington Mutual for several years, the problem is I never used them here. Can you qaulify for Pentagon Federal I suggest checking thier web site and seein if you fall into any of thier catogories, I hear thay are pretty good and if you qaulify you can set it up on the interenet.

I know what your talking about they had my accounts so screwed up I had no idea what my balance was 90% of the time. Shouldn't be to hard to beat them.

Post by **fatbas***d** » June 4, 2006, 5:52 am

Dakoda wrote:Sounds pretty bad and I thought thai banks were bad on fees, never liked them and I once work for them.

I thought the Thai banks were quite good, when it comes to fees, Compare them with Australian banks, these jerks charge you to keep money in an account. They charge for everything. I am sure soon there will be a "walking past our bank" charge.

Post by **AussieBoy** » June 4, 2006, 8:49 am

BANKS! These two bob arseholes ---- for brains tunnel cun*ed mole Aussie banks have the most expensive fees in the world.

A report in the last weeks compared worlds banks and the Aussie one had the highest fees..
Kally

Post by **shortimer** » June 4, 2006, 9:25 am

Jason, not a expat just yet but, as I travel every 2 months to LOS I do quite a bit of bank activity there, I use Citibank which is one of the largest in the world I understand ( behind a German bank ) and I get charged virtualy no fee's at all. There is a small charge for conversion on a atm withdrawl , maybe $1.50 on a 10,000 atm function but that is the only charge. In addition they have a 24 hr. main branch in Bangkok which can handle any problems you run into. I have had them for 6 years now and except for the day I walked into the branch to open the account I have never had to return to any bank branch. NO problems whatsoever, and best no charges for anything, checks, atm activities, savings, ect. Hope this can be of some use to you.

Post by **Bump** » June 4, 2006, 10:30 am

Citibank sound intersting do you know what tier fee for international wire transfer is?

Post by **Dakoda** » June 4, 2006, 10:42 am

Citibank

think same as Bank of America Use their credit card over here and they charge me a foreign use charge,

and it ain't cheap

others no charge and a good exchange rate

The bigger the bank, the bigger the charge

Post by **shortimer** » June 4, 2006, 11:08 pm

Dakota, I don't think so. I use my Citibank card in Thailand all the time and if I remember right the last charge I had for using it for for about a 10,000 baht purchase was about 1.38 usd. Of course I could be wrong, hell I usually am but when I get home this evening I'll check my bill and verify what I said.

Post by **shortimer** » June 5, 2006, 2:29 am

I told you I was probably wrong, I was, kind of--

The $1.38 charge was for a atm 10,000 baht transaction, not credit card

For 6 Thai charges of approx 18,000 baht they charged me $13.00, I called a citibank rep I have used before and asked about this as I know I never paid this much before. He told me that Citibank had previously built the charges into the exchange rate like most banks do but had recently decided to make the charges visible and to give the customers the rate they are charged for the conversion. Could be bull**** but this fellow has always given me the straight poop before so who knows.

Post by **Dakoda** » June 5, 2006, 5:42 am

Citibank had previously built the charges into the exchange rate like most banks do

That could be, but little hard for me to swallow. Seems like I get a better exchange rate with Capital One then at a local Bank here in thailand, and no other charges. Maybe later when I wake up will ck this again. Got a 37k on it this month.

Post by **arjay** » June 5, 2006, 9:28 am

My UK bank get me that way, on the exchange rate. I get about 3 baht less to the pound and they charge me 1.50 pounds for each overseas ATM withdrwawl. What is also frustrating is that I used to be able to get up to 20K baht per withdrawal, but now the most I can get each time seems to be limited to 15K, and so it costs me more that way too.

My Uk bank used to be a good bank, when I used to work for them!

Post by **cnkbud** » June 13, 2006, 12:52 am

Hi Dakoda, need some clarification here, in one reply you stated that you use HSBC and in another you said you get a good exchange rate using Capital One, do you have both or what, and if so, which has the lowest fees. Maybe you have both and use one for a backup which is probably the best way to go. I do have an account with HSBC in preparation of making a move to over there, but don't have much money in it as they keep giving me conflicting info on the overide fee(some say there's a 1% and another will say they is none) for currency conversion, what's your experience please. I did take a look at Citibank and the latest info is that they do charge a 1% fee for currency conversion, and they charge for transfers to-from another back account, plus if you have their high yeild e-savings account you must also have a companion checking acct with them.
Thanks and have a great day. Old Bud

valentine · Post by **valentine** » June 13, 2006, 5:56 am

Bank charges!! Some new ones appeared for me this week. Bangkok bank charged me 30bht a transaction when I paid my utility bills there 3 bils 90bht, previously free. Charge started 1/6/06 apparently.
In Big C at the Western Union counter my American companion withdrew 30,000bht on his Visa card and was charged a massive 10%, yes 10,000bht. I know he could have used an ATM but he had forgotten his pin.

Post by **shortimer** » June 13, 2006, 6:28 am

cnkbud, This could be quite true about citibank though I probably would not notice it as I have both types of accounts with them, As I keep a high balance with them they have a program called everything free as to most types of transactions and I have never been charged for anything with the exception of the atm charges I remarked on before.

I have another bank which I use sometimes but they charge $7.80 for a $250 dollar atm charge in Thailand, really out of the ball park but I know the branch manager who reverses all charges when I bring in my statement. This is nice but if I am over there I really can't be coming in all the time. I think all the banks are getting greedy and there is not much we can do about it except shop around.

Post by **Dakoda** » June 13, 2006, 7:14 am

bud wrote Hi Dakoda, need some clarification here, in one reply you stated that you use HSBC and in another you said you get a good exchange rate using Capital One, do you have both or what, and if so, which has the lowest fees.

have both sorta, HSBC is just an Internet Savings Account with a ATM card. Capital One is just a credit card, as is citi bank. Like I said I see no fees from HSBC for what I do, tranfer $ into, atm B$ out. The only problem I have had with it, seems I can't get 20k baht out because over $500 day limit.

Capital one because I pay in full each month no fee's. I have not checked the exchange rate from any place lately, but when I did in the past found it better then here at Bangkok Bank which charges me for an ATM card, think to get one 300 baht, and then yearly 150 baht.

My SC bank charges me $1 per ATM transaction which also has a $500 limit.

Without the internet I could not live here!

Post by **PopsIcafe** » June 13, 2006, 9:31 am

I use Bank of America, and now transfering funds from the USA to Bangkok Bank Udon Thani Prosi Road. The total charges is $13.00(thru the Bangkok Bank International Branch in New York). BoA is charging me $3.00 for the transfer to BBK in New York and BBK in New York is charging me $10.00 to transfer here in Udon Thani. As long as I have a address in USA, I am able to make these transfer with out costing me $45.00 to $55.00 for each wire transfers.

Pop's