Yellow book BS or true to open bank acct?

[tonymaroni]

Just went to the Siam Comm. Bank in the shopping mall. Was denied ability to open a savings acct. She said I need a 'Yellow Book'.

I have been in Thailand for 8 years. Retirement Visa. I have 2 bank accts. in Thailand. I have never been asked for a Yellow book. I had my passport with me and 30,000 Baht I wanted to deposit.

My last acct was Pattaya, never a mention of the big Yellow. I gather it is some type of house book. I rent an apt. No yellow book here.

Sounds like BS to me I don't want to work today.

What type of guarantee do they need to hold my money? I should be asking them for one.

What do you think?

Doc

[Norseman]

I have bank accounts in Bank of Ayudhya,Siam Commersial and Kasikorn but have never been asked to show my yellow book. All the three banks wanted to see was my passport.
Try one of them instead.

[tonymaroni]

I have bank accounts in Bank of Ayudhya,Siam Commersial and Kasikorn but have never been asked to show my yellow book. All the three banks wanted to see was my passport.
Try one of them instead.

Siam Commercial is the bank I was trying. You probably missed that.

This is what I suspected. Just a ruse not to work. After all it is Sunday, WTF am I doing asking them to work on Sunday. Stupid farang. She even asked another customer to explain this Yellow book procedure to me. To which I replied in Thai, I want to see the manager. Oh manager holiday today she replied. Well who is in charge you slug. They are only open on Sunday to make the appearance that they are 'serving' customers on Sunday. Ah service with a Thai smile. Makes you wonder.

Doc

[pitsch]

I tried to open an account at Siam Commercial Bank in Chiang Rai 2 years ago. They wanted to see a work permit. I said I was retired. "No work permit, no account". So I opened it with Bangkok Bank, but only after a Thai citizen of Chiang Rai signed a paper of guarantee or so.
But I had no problems to open an account only with my passport at Kasikorn Bank and Bangkok Bank in Hua Hin.

[Norseman]

The laws in Thailand was changed under the rule of Mr T. I believe.
Foreigners are now allowed to open a bank account in their own name.
In 1996 I tried to open a bank account in Lamnarai (Chai Badan), but the bank manager, after a call to the main office in Bangkok very politely told me, farang can not have.
Don't remember the banks name but I believe it was Kasikorn Bank.
(Who else wants to open a branch in the middle of nowhere)?
No problems with it in Hua Hin in 2004.

[B6PTW]

I opened an account 2 years ago at the SCB in Market Village, no Yellow Book was required just passport but I seem to remember having my Blue Book with me but do not recall whether I had to show it or not but definitely no Yellow as I do not possess one as yet.

[stgrhe]

Siam Commercial is the bank I was trying. You probably missed that.

This is what I suspected. Just a ruse not to work. After all it is Sunday, WTF am I doing asking them to work on Sunday. Stupid farang. She even asked another customer to explain this Yellow book procedure to me. To which I replied in Thai, I want to see the manager. Oh manager holiday today she replied. Well who is in charge you slug. They are only open on Sunday to make the appearance that they are 'serving' customers on Sunday. Ah service with a Thai smile. Makes you wonder.

Doc

I appears the bank branches located in the Market Village are less service minded than the corresponding main branches. I have an account at the Bangkok Bank's sub-branch outside the Market Village and I find the staff rather arrogant and with a poor service mind. The other family accounts we have since opened at Bangkok Bank's main branch and there they are ever so pleased to service you.

Had it not been for my pensions being transferred to the sub-branch's account, which are complicated to change, I would close my account there right away.

[barrys]

Since 2001, I've opend accounts with the Ayudhya Bank in Pattaya, Khon Kaen and Hua Hin by producing my passport only.
A couple of months ago, I also opened one at K-Bank (Kasikorn), again merely by producing my passport.

[crazy88]

Unless they have changed policy and now require proof of address, which would not be unreasonable, the lady got it wrong. If they have changed policy it could perhaps be a step up in security. I have never needed more than a passport.

Crazy 88

[BaaBaa.]

I opened an account in the SCB in Market Village about 2-3 years ago, I was only asked for my Passport.

[sandman67]

The Ayudyah???... Yellow Bank... opens deposit and foreign currency accounts with only a passport.

[Korkenzieher]

I had no problem passport only at K-Bank sub-branch in Market Village in 2007. I was asked for an address but no proof of it, and in fact pointed out to them that I had no fixed address because my intent was to investigate buying in Hua Hin. It didn't cause any problems. It has been more hassle since then to get them to change it to the real address, as the change has to be made in about a half dozen places. If you sign up for internet banking they never post anything anyway. As it turned out, when I gave them an address I got it so badly wrong, it would have failed even a cursory attempt to verify it.

K-Bank internet banking is the equal of, and superior to many banking services I have in Europe, UK or USA and have no hesitation in recommending them.

[PeteC]

After all these years I don't have one, and I may never have one with a Thai owned bank. There's just something in my head after seeing time and time again all the nonsense that goes on here, that a Thai bank could one morning simply say, we're not here (for you) anymore. No guarantees, no insurance etc. I trust Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore in this part of the world but not Thailand.

It may boil down to all the other pains they put us through concerning being a farang. I think I need a more hassle free and gracious welcome as a resident before I trust them with my money. Pete

[Korkenzieher]

The only compelling reason I have to have a Thai bank account is to pay rent and utilities. The one-time-password-to-your-mobile approach that K-Bank use is quick and convenient, and I can transfer the desired amount to my landlord instantly and with an appropriate paper trail in the event of dispute. I never have more than a few thousand baht in there. In my experience, disputes over whether payments were actually made or not are common enough in Thailand to make it worth the effort.

[Roel]

Second that. I am very happy with K-cyberbanking. You can also send an SMS-message to the beneficiary (in Thai or English) without extra charges.