I didnt really do a blog entry for yesterday as I was trying to remain positive but it has become increasingly difficult because of my main bank.
Because they dont have any branches abroad, they are only open normal office hours UK time, they wont transfer money from a credit card and they have wiped my online details for "security reasons" I have been severly financially handicapped and limited on what I can still do.
I have been phoning them up trying to sort it out, but being kept on hold while paying premium rate from overseas has racked up a huge phone bill that is paid by direct debit from the same account and as they wont refund the charges from their error things are just getting from bad to worse.
Thus, in an effort to try and step the flow of cash from my main account and stop anything else from bouncing I called up my phone people to pay the bill by my credit card directly and then withdrawing money from the ATM also from my credit card to then bank into my HSBC account and then transfer funds over to my main account.
I thought this was a good idea and would solve the problem, at least until I get back to the UK, but I was unexpecting the hassle from the Thai banking rules and staff.
The first problem was finding a HSBC branch as although I have seen one I have not seen many and in the end I had to get a bus into the centre of the banking district and then get directions, and after being misled into trying the big shopping malls and complexes I finally spotted the one I had seen days before and so that is where I headed.
The next hurdle was that as my account is not a Thai account and HSBC is not a Thai bank in order to comply with strict regulation I have to prove where I got the thai funds from in the first place as in, proof of a letter of employment or wage slip. Of course, neither of these I had, having been withdrawing it from the ATM machines all over town in an irregular pattern so at to not seem a mark fro anyone watching but all in all I had collected over 50,000 baht and this was way too much for a single ATM transaction.
So, despite having a HSBC debit card, a HSBC credit card, my passport and going into a HSBC branch I was unable to put Thai bahts into my account. They suggested that the only way that it could be done was to change it into pound sterling at a money changers ( and pay the relevant commission charge ! ) but this was not possible from any of the other banks because none of them kept nearly £1,000 of pounds sterling in their branches.
Barely able to keep from strangling the bank clerk, but failing to prevent the anger from creeping into my voice and manner, I said that I had already been walking all over the bloody city and I need to put the money in my bank today. Their convoluted system was to send off from pound sterling from their holding branch, give it to me, convert it and then let me pay that into my account.
After almost two hours of waiting the money arrived, however I never actually got to hold it, they just had to have it on the premises long enough for me to buy it with the Thai baht's I had on me, then fill in the form saying that it was going into my bank account and then they sent the money back again.
Such insane time wasting and financial red tape is one of the very reasons that I hated being an accountant in the first place, as it is full of meaningless grud like that and if my bank cards and passport are not enough to put my own money into my own account in a branch of my own bank then what is the world coming to?
After trapsing all around the city centre, following red herrings, trying to find first a HSBC bank and then some other banks with pound sterling by the time I gave up, went back to the branch and waited the two hours for them to send for my money I had wasted all of the daytime and it was almot dark by the time I got out.
So I bought a fe dvd's from the mall nearby, went for a massage at a parour nearby before jumping back on a bus back to my hotel where I then bought some drink and sweets to quench my sugar craving and reduce my stress level even further before watching the dvd I had bought.
I was temped to using the internet but sadly the system wetn down both here and the surrounding neighbourhood so I gave up that idea also and just watched movies before crashing and going to sleep.
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