Opening A Thai Bank A/c For Condo Purchase

[dreamweaver]

Would it be possible for a foreigner who's not residing in Thailand to open a bank account in the country for the purpose of remitting funds from abroad for the purchase of a condo even though I haven't decided which property i want to buy?

[Peterpan]

yes you can and remember to get the bank to put on the transaction, money is to buy condo

Peterpan

[andy1308]

It might not be as easy as you would imagine to actually open an account from outside the country. As far as I am aware there's no means of opening an account online - yet. Even from within Thailand it's getting harder without the necessary visa/work permit, etc, but you will have the advantage of money to put straight into an account.

If you're in the UK then I know Bangkok Bank has a London branch or you might want to try HSBC, although they only have one branch in Bangkok. You might be better posting this particular point in the Money/Business forum. Good luck.

[asebastian]

We were in BKK in Dec looking to open an a/c for the same purposes, but got turned down at the HSBC branch due to no work permit. HSBC also wants a min of THB50K for a Thai currency a/c or THB3M for a USD currency a/c, plus a referral from your home bank plus a letter of intro from a local Thai preferably with an a/c in HSBC!

Literally next door we walked into the Bangkok Bank branch and opened a savings a/c with an ATM card and passbook and THB1000 depost. We had all the paperwork completed by our friend (local Thai). Only minor inconvenience is that you don't get a cheque a/c or internet access. and they will ask for a local Thai address for all correspodence. Therefore you may need the assistance of someone you trust to get your mail etc from the bank.

BTW you need your passport for the paperwork. Hope this helps.