800K Banking Facility.

[fantom]

yes, Tamada, this was the branch at which I obtained letters the previous 2 years for the same account opened in Phuket, and I think the fee was Baht 100 or thereabouts. And Maxeboy, the young lady I spoke to appeared to be the most senior on duty, after initially getting the story from a more junior lady: it is true and I agree it is blackmail and I suspect as you do that they are getting a commission on sales of insurance, and cashing in on their proximity to Udon Immigration. I will speak to the manager of my local branch and keep you posted.

[fantom]

My local branch suggested I take my complaint to the Kasikorn branch on Prajak Rd near Central Plaza, where they told me "we could issue a letter for you confirming your Passbook balance, no need to buy insurance, any branch will do this", and invited me to phone my complaint to their Call Centre: I declined, saying I wanted to talk face-to-face with management. They phoned the Phosi Rd branch and arranged for me to talk to that branch manager in person. At Phosi Rd he apologized for the "mistake" by the 2 ladies who had told me to go to Phuket or buy insurance, cancelled the policy and arranged refund of the Baht 2500 premium. I hope this puts an end to this scam at that branch.

[semperfiguy]

My local branch suggested I take my complaint to the Kasikorn branch on Prajak Rd near Central Plaza, where they told me "we could issue a letter for you confirming your Passbook balance, no need to buy insurance, any branch will do this", and invited me to phone my complaint to their Call Centre: I declined, saying I wanted to talk face-to-face with management. They phoned the Phosi Rd branch and arranged for me to talk to that branch manager in person. At Phosi Rd he apologized for the "mistake" by the 2 ladies who had told me to go to Phuket or buy insurance, cancelled the policy and arranged refund of the Baht 2500 premium. I hope this puts an end to this scam at that branch.

Fantom, my wife just informed me that their was a recent Thai TV news story about these sorts of shenanigans at local banks. Seems that some big shot in BKK had been overwhelmed with complaints and has insisted that all local bank managers come to a meeting in BKK to be scolded for this type of behavior at their banks. The managers threw their employees under the bus saying that they had no knowledge of the offenses and their employees had concocted these schemes on their own in order to make extra commission on insurance policies. IMO it's highly unlikely that a Thai employee would attempt to pull off a scheme like that in such blatantly open circumstances without the full knowledge of management.

The same sort of thing happened to me last year at the Bangkok Bank near the second circle. I wanted to rent a safety deposit box and was told that they were only available to VIP customers who had purchased a 2 million baht insurance policy, and then two employees ganged up on me and tried to put a sales pitch on me. I quickly exited the bank and went to SCBank next door and got the box for only the normal yearly fee.

[fantom]

thanks, SFG, I had no idea these bank scams were so widespread. Like you, I believe that these practices must be initiated my management at some level, rather than collusion between more junior staff at numerous branches. Come to think of it, the Kasikorn manager I spoke to didn't seem particularly surprised when I told him what his staff had been up to.

[parrot]

I searched google to see if Thais are complaining about such things (ธนาคาร ขาย ประกัน ลูกค้า โกรธ). There's a recent piece at http://board.postjung.com/678321.html that discusses the problem.........and at the bottom of the article says, if you know of such problems, call Kasikorn or SCB Banks at the following numbers:
ธนาคารกสิกรไทย โทร. 0-2888-8888 และ www.kasikornbank.com

ธนาคารไทยพาณิชย์ โทร. 0-2777-7777 และ www.scb.co.th


My hat's off to fantom for elevating and resolving the issue.

[Somchai499]

Hi Marshbag,

I consider opening the 'Happy Seniors Account', mentioned by you.

Of course there is this nagging doubt whether Udon immigration will accept the 800,000 k in this account type for the annual extension of the visa.

What is your experience? Have you successfully used this account?

Many thanks for your help

[marshbags]

Hi Marshbag,

I consider opening the 'Happy Seniors Account', mentioned by you.

Of course there is this nagging doubt whether Udon immigration will accept the 800,000 k in this account type for the annual extension of the visa.

What is your experience? Have you successfully used this account?

Many thanks for your help

Hi Somchai, apologies for the delay in responding to your post.

I never had any problems with them and although I used another area for my last renewal ( Sriracha ) It was accepted there also with no problem.

The beauty with the Senior acc. is that they pay you interest every three months, it is automatically transfered to your current acc. and at the same time entered onto your 800k investment banking details.

This enables you to time your visits for renewal just after your latest entry.

In my case I get them on the 25th of every third month and as we have a month to renew BEFORE expiry of the current visa, it is easy to time it as and when you like within this period.

I usually go within a week of the 25th and no problems.

Previously some investors had a problem because on other fixed accounts, they usually remain static and never had any movements to update in the bank book.

A friendly non insulting bit of info on what I do, for those who may find it useful

Due to a small editing problem follows in a P.S. re checking if it,s acceptable and

as with all official business always get the name of the the person you talk to for reference purposes and note the date.

Good luck Somchai

P.S. I never did as I always went to Immigration 3 months prior to the renewal to get assurances from the main Imm. officer / OC to confirm it was ok.