Down Payment

I am building a house and seen the bank who promised they'd give me a mortgage.
I paid a 40,000 bht 'booking fee' for the house. Now, the builder is asking for a down payment, which I'll get back in May. This all sounds very weird to me. Surely all payment are made to the bank? Does anyone here know what's going on?
I'm going to go and see him later today without my wife as she really complicates things being there as the builder talks to her all the time.

Any thoughts welcome.

As Dr Andy pointed out in your Building thread there is normally 3 main payments at different stages of the build with 1 retaining payment at the end.
You did say your could read Thai...have you read your contract.??

The bank will pay you stage payments which you can then pay the builder with

The bank has a contract with you, you have a contract with the builder

Tell the builder what the bank's stages are, then pay him at those times

unless.... you made a different agreement with the builder

I know what you mean, about being blanked out when taking the wife along. It's even worse when the fukkers can speak English too and you end up with a game of Chinese whispers.

I'd go see the bank manager, alone :-)

If you have managed to negotiate a mortgage when your wife is not very helpful it begs the question what and what sort of mortgage you have negotiated --getting a mortgage when you are a farrang is not straightforward and I would want a lot more detail which of course you may already have
Building and buying houses is a very stressful experience for all couples and already you do not have confidence in your wife which bodes ill for the result

chalky listen to people who know, such as Andy don't listen to any who put doubts in your head

Thanks for the replies - I went to see one of the builders, who is also a bank vice-president. He said the bank wants 10% down. I told him I couldn't do that and he said not to worry, they'll come to some agreement. Got to wait until the house is finished and the bank look at it. At least I have a guarantee that I get my 40,000 back if the bank says no, but I doubt they'll say no.