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.

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.

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

^Would try that first but this link is good.

How To Open a Thai Bank Account (The Ultimate Guide for Expats) - The Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce (AustCham)

Not difficult

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.

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Originally Posted by reinvented

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

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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

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.

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Originally Posted by Bob Mason

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.

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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.

I opened an account with Bangkok Bank a few years back. Was on vacation and only showed passport

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Originally Posted by aging one

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.

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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.

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Originally Posted by Iceman123

I opened an account with Bangkok Bank a few years back. Was on vacation and only showed passport

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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.

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.

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:

Attachment 98799

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!

^ 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.

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

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.

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Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

they wanted to see his old passport which he didnt have

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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.

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Originally Posted by Shutree

Was that really me, nearly 40 years ago?

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Show us your 80's hairdo then:)

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Originally Posted by Shutree

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.

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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 :)

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Originally Posted by malmomike77

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 :)

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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.