News Forum - Bank of Scotland brands Thai wife ‘criminal’

[Thaiger]

A Bank of Scotland apology to a Scotsman has come after the bank labelled his Thai wife a “criminal.” Ashby McGowan, from Glasgow and Thanaporn Sonkew, received £150 (US$180, 6,000 baht) for the “distress and inconvenience” they had been caused, according to The Nation. McGowan and Thanaporn find themselves trapped in a “hostile environment” with …

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[Donald]

Yes, yes. The Royal Bank of Scotland. They should know, being a criminal organisation themselves. Masters of the universe the investment bankers used to call themselves getting obscene bonuses for their reckless betting with other peoples money. And when the shit finally hit the fan the boss "sir" Fred Goodwin got himself a fat pension and as far as I know went to the South of France enjoying the good life while the taxpayers had to pick up the tap for his criminal mismanagement.

[Marc26]

My radar went up when it says "The couple were married in a Buddhist ceremony in Thailand"

 

 

Well get married properly.

I also wonder if she took his last name...........I never understand the logic of some Thai ladies keeping their maiden name if they are going to live and travel overseas...........

 

It just makes things so much easier if they have a Western name.

Now that may be for prejudiced reasons, but it is very much the case.........

[Rookiescot]

Start an account with the TSB.

It's a far better bank.

[Chaimai]

17 hours ago, Donald said:

Yes, yes. The Royal Bank of Scotland. They should know, being a criminal organisation themselves. Masters of the universe the investment bankers used to call themselves getting obscene bonuses for their reckless betting with other peoples money. And when the shit finally hit the fan the boss "sir" Fred Goodwin got himself a fat pension and as far as I know went to the South of France enjoying the good life while the taxpayers had to pick up the tap for his criminal mismanagement.

 

This is Bank Of Scotland.

 

NOT Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS, part of Nat West))

[Chaimai]

10 hours ago, Marc26 said:

My radar went up when it says "The couple were married in a Buddhist ceremony in Thailand"

Well get married properly.

I also wonder if she took his last name...........I never understand the logic of some Thai ladies keeping their maiden name if they are going to live and travel overseas...........

It just makes things so much easier if they have a Western name.

Now that may be for prejudiced reasons, but it is very much the case.........

 

Marc, your radar need not have gone up if you read all the story.........they were legally married in Glasgow.

 

I am guessing the wife was granted a Fiancee Visa.

[Marc26]

25 minutes ago, Chaimai said:

Marc, your radar need not have gone up if you read all the story.........they were legally married in Glasgow.

I am guessing the wife was granted a Fiancee Visa.

I read that part

But there is no reason to not get officially married in Thailand if you are going to get married 

[Grumpish]

18 hours ago, Donald said:

Yes, yes. The Royal Bank of Scotland. They should know, being a criminal organisation themselves. Masters of the universe the investment bankers used to call themselves getting obscene bonuses for their reckless betting with other peoples money. And when the shit finally hit the fan the boss "sir" Fred Goodwin got himself a fat pension and as far as I know went to the South of France enjoying the good life while the taxpayers had to pick up the tap for his criminal mismanagement.

Same as most people, and in my case from personal experience, I was doing IT support for the wholesale investment arm of RBS at the time, I don't spell banker with a "B"

[Chaimai]

2 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I read that part

But there is no reason to not get officially married in Thailand if you are going to get married 

 

I agree, but they chose not to (probably to with his travel circumstances) and I suspect he took her to the UK on a Fiancee visa and they married in Glasgow as part of that Settlement process. 

[Chaimai]

1 hour ago, Grumpish said:

Same as most people, and in my case from personal experience, I was doing IT support for the wholesale investment arm of RBS at the time, I don't spell banker with a "B"

 

 

I always used lower case 'b' when I was one!   

[Grumpish]

3 minutes ago, Chaimai said:

I always used lower case 'b' when I was one!   

I don't think it is case sensitive (and it definitely wasn't a "b" or a "B").

[MekongMan]

14 hours ago, Marc26 said:

NotMy radar went up when it says "The couple were married in a Buddhist ceremony in Thailand"

Well get married properly.

I also wonder if she took his last name...........I never understand the logic of some Thai ladies keeping their maiden name if they are going to live and travel overseas...........

It just makes things so much easier if they have a Western name.

Now that may be for prejudiced reasons, but it is very much the case.........

Thailand has proper legal marriage certificates just upto the couple to get it done. Also my fiance was on tourist visa in aus. Had to get married quickly to apply for permanent residency visa. The law didn't allow name change until in country one year so her name stayed the same. Still haven't changed it as it would have created many hassles on on thai side passports ID banks and Umper plus changing details in Aus again as well and for kids paperwork in getting Thai citizenship etc. Znyone who has done all these things would understand.

[SomtamMcSporran]

On 2/6/2023 at 3:47 PM, Donald said:

Yes, yes. The Royal Bank of Scotland. They should know, being a criminal organisation themselves. Masters of the universe the investment bankers used to call themselves getting obscene bonuses for their reckless betting with other peoples money. And when the shit finally hit the fan the boss "sir" Fred Goodwin got himself a fat pension and as far as I know went to the South of France enjoying the good life while the taxpayers had to pick up the tap for his criminal mismanagement.

Its not the Royal Bank of Scotland 

[Marc26]

6 hours ago, MekongMan said:

Thailand has proper legal marriage certificates just upto the couple to get it done. Also my fiance was on tourist visa in aus. Had to get married quickly to apply for permanent residency visa. The law didn't allow name change until in country one year so her name stayed the same. Still haven't changed it as it would have created many hassles on on thai side passports ID banks and Umper plus changing details in Aus again as well and for kids paperwork in getting Thai citizenship etc. Znyone who has done all these things would understand.

I don't think there would be many issues on the Thai side...........my wife never had any involving her son and she has had my last name for 12 years now.

We got married in Thailand and she changed her name the next day

 

But I realize you were in a different circumstance

 

 

On another note...........I think a fiancee visa is the dumbest thing countries do!

It promotes quick marriages to people who may not be ready to marriage each other(not saying in your case)

[robert1960]

I càn understand the problems which may arise as i am married to a thai,  but they not make things easy for themselves,  i also got married the Buddhist was which is not recognised by immigration,  why not go to laksi in Bangkok and register your marriage , get it translated and apply for a visa with the British embassy bangkok , then when in uk apply for indefinite leave to remain. 

I also don't understand why he is sending money by the bank with high transfer rates , open a transfer wise account it will go from your bank to thiers in 5 seconds with better exchange rate and lower transfer fee 

[FarangandEarnest]

On 2/6/2023 at 10:23 PM, Marc26 said:

My radar went up when it says "The couple were married in a Buddhist ceremony in Thailand"

Well get married properly.

I also wonder if she took his last name...........I never understand the logic of some Thai ladies keeping their maiden name if they are going to live and travel overseas...........

It just makes things so much easier if they have a Western name.

Now that may be for prejudiced reasons, but it is very much the case.........

I'll be getting married towards the end of this year. My partner has a beautiful Thai name and I honestly think it would be ruined with my Yorkshire surname so she will be keeping hers. However if we suffered what amounts to institutional racism from a national bank I wouldn't be accepting £150 in compensation.

I don't know what they did in their original thai marriage. From what I can see from the UK government website and advice from immigration lawyers it is not difficult to get married in Thailand in a way that is legally recognised by UK government. Unless they got married hastily and without much evidence of their relationship.

 

[Marc26]

16 minutes ago, FarangandEarnest said:

I'll be getting married towards the end of this year. My partner has a beautiful Thai name and I honestly think it would be ruined with my Yorkshire surname so she will be keeping hers. However if we suffered what amounts to institutional racism from a national bank I wouldn't be accepting £150 in compensation.

I don't know what they did in their original thai marriage. From what I can see from the UK government website and advice from immigration lawyers it is not difficult to get married in Thailand in a way that is legally recognised by UK government. Unless they got married hastily and without much evidence of their relationship.

It is obviously a personal choice

 

But the fact of the matter is the world is prejudiced and can be old fashioned 

 

If I were married to an American or Canadian and she wanted to keep her last name it wouldn't bother me

 

I just think if you are marrying a Thai and moving her to your country her having a Western last name is so beneficial 

 

It shouldn't have to be, but it is

 

By the way

My wife thinks she gets treated better in Thailand with a western last name as well!

 

It's obviously to each's own

I am just giving my perspective of being with my wife for 6 years dating and then 12 years married

[Donald]

On 2/7/2023 at 1:33 PM, SomtamMcSporran said:

Its not the Royal Bank of Scotland 

Okay, seems like I attacked the wrong bank. But are they really all that different ? I think the general despise of banking institutions has a very solid foundation.

[palooka]

On 2/6/2023 at 10:23 PM, Marc26 said:

.I never understand the logic of some Thai ladies keeping their maiden name

Can cause massive problems for them if they change their name to Farlung name, basically it isn't worth the problems it creates for her or her family short term or long term.

If property etc is in her Thai name and she passes away OS then it can be years in sorting for her family and sometimes the family misses out totally. Too hard, so officials can the case.

TIT- try to imagine a minor Thai official trying to follow a marriage to a Farlung , change of surname (Farlung name so totally lost, ((has no english at all)), cross relating that back to a Thai name for property transfer, of which he probably has no idea what he is doing anyway, he was given the job as his boss is dumber than him.

KISS method prevails. Keep It Simple for Stupid.

[Chaimai]

No idea why you are getting hung up on a Farang marriage and change of name. It would be the same with a legal Thai to Thai marriage.

 

 

The marriage certificate is the piece of the jigsaw that links it all together.

[SomtamMcSporran]

On 2/8/2023 at 7:36 PM, palooka said:

TIT- try to imagine a minor Thai official trying to follow a marriage to a Farlung , change of surname (Farlung name so totally lost, ((has no english at all)), cross relating that back to a Thai name for property transfer, of which he probably has no idea what he is doing anyway, he was given the job as his boss is dumber than him.

What do you mean? Any name a Thai woman uses is her real name and written in Thai on all official documents. Thais change their names more than people in other countries. 

My wife has my farang surname. Actually I am Thai and use my farang name and there is no problem at all changing land deeds.

[palooka]

20 hours ago, SomtamMcSporran said:

Actually I am Thai and use my farang name and there is no problem at all changing land deeds.

Wait till someone dies. If the Thai deeds etc do not match the current ID ????