Results 1 to 21 of 21
  1. #1
    Member
    Bettyboo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Last Online
    Today @ 05:36 PM
    Location
    Bangkok
    Posts
    34,271

    Opening a new bank account...

    It seems that my old SCB account is now dead. I asked the wife to check out how to open a new account, and after her visit to the bank I'm none the wiser...

    Hence, you folks, the oracle.

    So, I'll be back in LoS in about a month, probably with a tourist visa. I want to open a bank account, so I can put some money in it then apply for a marriage visa a few months later. Thus, I'm wondering, if I take my passport and marriage certificate (recently certified by the Thai Minisitry of Foreign Affairs), and the wife's property documents (which might have me named on it, I can't remember...) - would that be enough?

    Many thanks, kind folk.
    Cycling should be banned!!!

  2. #2
    Custom Title Changer
    Topper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Last Online
    Today @ 09:04 AM
    Location
    Bangkok
    Posts
    12,119
    I think most banks require you to be a permanent resident of some sort before you can open a bank account. Your wife however should be able to open one easily.

  3. #3
    Thailand Expat
    reinvented's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Last Online
    Today @ 07:48 AM
    Location
    top of soi 2
    Posts
    2,557
    i left an SCB account dormant for 5+ years
    suggest just pop your head in when you are here and remind them you are alive
    if youve cash in it i dont see how they could close it

    they generally try to steer you to your original branch however

  4. #4
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Last Online
    Today @ 12:45 PM
    Location
    Roiet
    Posts
    34,895

  5. #5
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    11,260
    Not difficult

  6. #6
    Thailand Expat
    Mendip's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Last Online
    Today @ 05:34 PM
    Location
    Korat
    Posts
    10,769
    I opened a bank account with SCB just a couple of years ago when I started doing the visa extensions and needed to leave money in to season.

    I went to the same branch where the wife has an account and I think all I needed was my passport with visa (Non O) and marriage certificate. I'm not on the house book or anything but that didn't seem to matter and I didn't need anything from immigration.

  7. #7
    Custom Title Changer
    Topper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Last Online
    Today @ 09:04 AM
    Location
    Bangkok
    Posts
    12,119
    Quote Originally Posted by reinvented View Post
    suggest just pop your head in when you are here and remind them you are alive
    if youve cash in it i dont see how they could close it
    I've got my bank book with krungsri, maybe that will be a fun thing to see if it can be reopened so we can do all of the online payment stuff

  8. #8
    Member
    Bob Mason's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2022
    Last Online
    Yesterday @ 07:23 AM
    Posts
    128
    Bank managers can bend rules in Thailand and the promise of future large deposits ensures that an account will be opened. The trick is to make sure that money is paid into the account regularly. It doesn't have to be large amounts and family members can pay a few hundred baht every so often to keep it alive.

  9. #9
    Thailand Expat
    aging one's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    22,632
    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Mason View Post
    Bank managers can bend rules in Thailand and the promise of future large deposits ensures that an account will be opened. The trick is to make sure that money is paid into the account regularly. It doesn't have to be large amounts and family members can pay a few hundred baht every so often to keep it alive.

    So you should go in and say " I want to open an account, later I will put in a lot of money".

    Just who will put the few hundred baht a month into the account?

    Explain a bit more if you could.

  10. #10
    Thailand Expat
    Iceman123's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Last Online
    Today @ 04:24 AM
    Location
    South Australia
    Posts
    5,526
    I opened an account with Bangkok Bank a few years back. Was on vacation and only showed passport

  11. #11
    Member
    Bob Mason's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2022
    Last Online
    Yesterday @ 07:23 AM
    Posts
    128
    Quote Originally Posted by aging one View Post
    So you should go in and say " I want to open an account, later I will put in a lot of money".

    Just who will put the few hundred baht a month into the account?

    Explain a bit more if you could.
    Certainly. Talk nicely to the lady in the bank. Deposit 5000 baht and say there will be lots more to come in the future. I have accounts with three banks in Thailand but mostly use my Bangkok Bank for day to day living. Anybody can pay money into my accounts but now I do it myself. When I opened my first account I did so when I was on holiday and then family members topped it up with small amounts to keep it alive until I took up residency. I had foolishly not asked for Internet banking initially so I could not pay money into it myself. Having one account makes it very easy to open accounts in rival banks. Show your existing bank book at the new bank and the clerk opens an account in quick time. Very easy, really.

  12. #12
    Member
    Bob Mason's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2022
    Last Online
    Yesterday @ 07:23 AM
    Posts
    128
    Quote Originally Posted by Iceman123 View Post
    I opened an account with Bangkok Bank a few years back. Was on vacation and only showed passport
    Yes, it is really very easy if one is polite and does not make too much fuss about it. Treat the whole thing casually and do not baffle the clerk by showing piles of documents. The more you show, the more she will question the opening of the account. Just give her what she asks for if and when she asks for anything.

  13. #13
    Member
    Bettyboo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Last Online
    Today @ 05:36 PM
    Location
    Bangkok
    Posts
    34,271
    Thanks for your replies.

    MY SCB account has been closed.

    I'll try to open another account with a short term visa when I get to Thailand (Norton's link explains a way similar to what I'd hoped was possible). It used to be very easy to open an account, but it is now "supposed" to be more difficult - we will see. I'll update the thread once I've gone through the motions.

  14. #14
    Thailand Expat
    Headworx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Jomtien
    Posts
    7,981
    The question of opening a local account comes up often in the local social media pages here, for whatever it's worth here's a recent response:

    Opening a new bank account...-screenshot_20230222-213416_chrome-jpg

    I do know from reading the experiences of others that Bangkok Bank and Kasikorn seem to be the easiest in the Pattaya area but that can vary from branch to branch and from day to day, who knows what the situation might be wherever you apply!

  15. #15
    Thailand Expat
    Reg Dingle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2021
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    4,225
    ^ That's how easy I remember it, 5 minute job...I had 2 Bangkok Bank accounts, because the thieving fokkers charge you 100 baht or so for atm withdrawals in Pattaya from a Bangkok account.The branch HW mentioned above in Central Patts was as mentioned no bother, as was the other on Sukhumvit Road in Asoke.

  16. #16
    Member

    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Last Online
    04-11-2023 @ 10:02 AM
    Posts
    584
    they do close bank accounts if its not used for a period of time it was 12 months years ago
    but it was easy to re activate it by just making a deposit into the account

  17. #17
    last farang standing
    Hugh Cow's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Last Online
    15-03-2024 @ 01:44 PM
    Location
    Qld/Bangkok
    Posts
    4,110
    I think it has tightened up since then. A friend has just returned to Thailand after 3 years and has had god awful trouble reactivating his account. He had renewed his passport and they wanted to see his old passport which he didnt have and they wanted his new passpot validated by the embassy. His thai wife was unable to reopen her account because her Thai ID card had expired the previous month despite her valid passport.

  18. #18
    Thailand Expat
    Shutree's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Last Online
    Yesterday @ 06:14 PM
    Location
    One heartbeat away from eternity
    Posts
    4,658
    Quote Originally Posted by Hugh Cow View Post
    they wanted to see his old passport which he didnt have
    I last opened a new account a couple of years ago. I already had a KrungThai account that I opened when I had a work permit. Now I am on a retirement visa living in a different province I tried to open an account at KrungThai locally and met a flat refusal. Also they will not transfer my existing account to this branch, so I am stuck with that 'out of province' fine if I withdraw cash. Then my passbook ran out of pages and I found out I had to travel back to the province where it was issued to get a new one. Pain in the backside but I keep it because I can pay the electricity bill easily on KrungThai.

    So I went to Bangkok Bank and it was no problem. However, they wanted to see my old passport, the one I had used to open an account at Silom Road in 1986. That passport was later stolen in Don Mueang. It took a while to clear this hurdle, they promised to sort it out, I was really surprised on my next visit to the branch to be given a copy of my old passport from their records. Was that really me, nearly 40 years ago? Signed my name and all was fine.

  19. #19
    Thailand Expat
    Reg Dingle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2021
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    4,225
    Quote Originally Posted by Shutree View Post
    Was that really me, nearly 40 years ago?
    Show us your 80's hairdo then

  20. #20
    Thailand Expat
    malmomike77's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2021
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    13,672
    Quote Originally Posted by Shutree View Post
    I tried to open an account at KrungThai locally and met a flat refusal. Also they will not transfer my existing account to this branch, so I am stuck with that 'out of province' fine if I withdraw cash.
    fuk em off and get an account with another bank locally, if you can, i know you're a bit busy with gardening and the wolf pack

  21. #21
    Thailand Expat
    Shutree's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Last Online
    Yesterday @ 06:14 PM
    Location
    One heartbeat away from eternity
    Posts
    4,658
    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    fuk em off and get an account with another bank locally, if you can, i know you're a bit busy with gardening and the wolf pack
    I did, I went to Bangkok Bank.
    Then Bangkok Bank shut the branch at Lotutheth, so now I have to go into the only other branch in town with no parking and no weekend service. Not often, it just happens I need my letter for visa renewal this week. Of course, because 2 branches became one the place is always heaving.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •