@Mark *******

things were different 5 years ago. You have a long term visa now and lots of evidence to ensure a bank will open another account.

I opened an account 2 years ago without using an agent and have subsequently opened extra accounts recently too.

@John ******

bless you 🤣

With both the situations you described, I presume you pay the agent on the day (certainly opening a bank account), so asking online for recommendations seems the obvious method as there's little risk. I did it on my own, but that's what I would do now. If they asked for money in advance I would walk away.

@Mark *******

how recently?

CDs and DVDs 🤔.

Do people still own such things, i got rid of mine 20 years ago.

Do yourself a favour ang go digital, surely you will have enough things to transport without these antiques.

@Gary ******

i think that is a good method, I do something similar with a Starling bank card and use it to pay for things anywhere that will accept a card. I am retired here, so I need a Thai bank account to deposit money (for the visa) and use that for cash.

@Michael *******

not sure, I tend to transfer larger sums less frequently, but someone on here will tell you.

I'm not saying it's a cheaper option than your method, simply that it works.

@Michael *******

you were told incorrectly. There's a lot of wrong information given by people. I used Wise for my bank transfers to Bkk bank and my non o retirement visa and subsequent yearly extensions were approved with no problems.

If you use Wise don't forget to use the correct reason, which is something like "long term stay in Thailand" (someone will correct me with the correct wording), it was the last one on the list when I used it a while ago.

I don't know if it has changed in the 2 years since I did mine, but the site is very "clunky". The questions are badly worded and the format to upload documents was unclear. I managed it with a lot of perseverance and provided the same evidence several times. I remember a question about the ID of the person that invited me? I invited me, so I used my passport page again and it was approved, so don't be scared of attaching the same information several times.

The problem with your request is that a visa agent in Thailand cannot help you with it. If changing file formats is what you need help with, I would ask a friend or relative that is more computer literate to help instead of risking sharing your information with a stranger and wasting money.