Bank Account Frozen.

[ArranP]

It has happened to me twice now, my bank account has been frozen, for a period of time. 

 

Does Thai Law permit, people, anyone, to dip into ones bank account whenever they feel you owe them money ?

[robblok]

Probably with a court order, otherwise I don't see how a bank account can be frozen. I could be totally wrong and Thailand could work totally different.

[ukrules]

What happened ?

[jenny2017]

I'd think that a court order will do (did) the trick. 

[mogandave]

 
Does Thai Law permit, people, anyone, to dip into ones bank account whenever they feel you owe them money ?

No, not anyone, only the people you owe money to...

[Berkshire]

I've never had my Thai bank account frozen.  So OP, do you owe people money?  Late on the payments?

[colinneil]

13 hours ago, robblok said:

Probably with a court order, otherwise I don't see how a bank account can be frozen. I could be totally wrong and Thailand could work totally different.

About 2 years ago,my wife came home and said my account has been frozen.

I said get onto Krung Thai straight away, she went into the branch and she was told, you stood guarantor for Mr =======, he has defaulted on his repayments, so your account is frozen until he pays up or we will take the monies owed from you, then unfreeze your account.

My wife went to see the man ( a teacher) told him get it sorted now, he fixed it about 3 weeks later, bank reinstated my wifes account.

[robblok]

Just now, colinneil said:

About 2 years ago,my wife came home and said my account has been frozen.

I said get onto Krung Thai straight away, she went into the branch and she was told, you stood guarantor for Mr =======, he has defaulted on his repayments, so your account is frozen until he pays up or we will take the monies owed from you, then unfreeze your account.

My wife went to see the man ( a teacher) told him get it sorted now, he fixed it about 3 weeks later, bank reinstated my wifes account.

Seems legal too me.. unless your wife did not guarantee that loan. 

[smutcakes]

3 minutes ago, colinneil said:

About 2 years ago,my wife came home and said my account has been frozen.

I said get onto Krung Thai straight away, she went into the branch and she was told, you stood guarantor for Mr =======, he has defaulted on his repayments, so your account is frozen until he pays up or we will take the monies owed from you, then unfreeze your account.

My wife went to see the man ( a teacher) told him get it sorted now, he fixed it about 3 weeks later, bank reinstated my wifes account.

Should they not only block the amount owed rather than freeze the whole account?

[colinneil]

2 minutes ago, robblok said:

Seems legal too me.. unless your wife did not guarantee that loan. 

Yes she guaranteed the loan ( silly sod )

I told her never ever guarantee a loan again for anybody.

[robblok]

1 minute ago, smutcakes said:

Should they not only block the amount owed rather than freeze the whole account?

I agree that would be far more sensible.. maybe by defaulting the guy had to pay up full loan and it was more than the balance. But what you are saying sounds right that is how its done in The Netherlands, i seen it happen to clients. 

[colinneil]

9 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

Should they not only block the amount owed rather than freeze the whole account?

The monies outstanding on the teachers loan was more than the monies in the wifes account at the time.

The bank didnt just freeze the money for the 2 missed payments, but for the total loan.

[jerry921]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

The monies outstanding on the teachers loan was more than the monies in the wifes account at the time.

The bank didnt just freeze the money for the 2 missed payments, but for the total loan.

I think that's probably what the terms say should happen. Here's an excerpt from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_(finance)

 

With most debt (including corporate debt, mortgages and bank loans) a covenant is included in the debt contract which states that the total amount owed becomes immediately payable on the first instance of a default of payment.

 

Missing a single payment, or being 30 days or less late on a single payment shouldn't trigger a default. But missing two payments in a row obviously was enough to trigger the default. Once the default trigger occurred it probably made the whole loan balance become due immediately, and so the guarantor was on the hook for the whole remaining principle and unpaid interest. Since that was more than the guarantor's balance, they froze the guarantor's whole account. It all seems legit to me.

 

Never guarantee a loan for anyone you wouldn't just give the money to in the first place.

[davemos]

Change banks freeze your wife account for debt owed to you ..move on 

 

[watcharacters]

 

 

DO IT NOW!!

 

[mstevens]

Issues with the tax department, perhaps? Accused of or mixed up in some sort of financial crime?  Those are two things that immediately spring to mind when someone's bank account is frozen.

 

Go in and ask the manager of the bank branch where the account is held - Thais are often remarkably candid in situations like this and will tell you what they know.

[Baerboxer]

4 hours ago, smutcakes said:

Should they not only block the amount owed rather than freeze the whole account?

 

Yes. But they really want you to either pressurize the loanee into paying what's owed or pay yourself.

 

Freezing the whole account rather than just a portion is likely to make that happen more quickly. 

 

Be careful about acting as anyone's guarantor. Circumstances can change very quickly.

[rwill]

If you want to be friends with someone don't loan them money or guarantee a loan for them.

[osandpo]

Freezing an account normally happens because of one of 4 main reasons:

1. You owe the bank (or someone else) money which should have been repaid (or you guaranteed a loan for someone else who hasn’t paid on time). Note: unless you’ve formally pledged your account as collateral for the debt, the bank/creditor can only legally freeze your account with a court order

2. You owe money to a government department like Thai Revenue etc

3. The police or another government department thinks the account contains funds from criminal activity - either by you or deposited to the account by the suspected criminal

4. You’ve pledged your account for a permanent or temporary credit card limit or overdraft etc (in this case the bank should normally only freeze the amount stated in the pledge document - but not all banks have a system that allows a partial pledge amount)

 

You do have the legal right to be told why your account has been frozen. Go and ask them. Also ask for a copy of the court order, loan agreement, guarantee or other documents instructing them or allowing them to freeze your funds

[steve73]

There was a post on here a few weeks ago by someone whose account had been frozen after he'd sold some bitcoin, with the funds coming from an account that was "under investigation"... 

 

Covered by point 3 in the above post by "osandpo".

[Media1]

2 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 

 

DO IT NOW!!

 

Yes

[david555]

That is why big strong safes are good for....never put your money on only 1 horse... sure not in Thailand...!

[observer90210]

I volunteer to be the stupid-question poster of the day,  but does the account also get froozen if you plainly do not operate it say for a year ?

[jenny2017]

7 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

I volunteer to be the stupid-question poster of the day,  but does the account also get froozen if you plainly do not operate it say for a year ?

That's also possible, but the OP mentioned that he owes the bank money. 

 

  From his post: to dip into ones bank account whenever they feel you owe them money?

[NoshowJones]

10 hours ago, mogandave said:

 

No, not anyone, only the people you owe money to...

 

or who say you owe money to.

[jenny2017]

Next question. Can they freeze in the OP? Hasn't even answered yet. 

[Wake Up]

4 hours ago, davemos said:

Change banks freeze your wife account for debt owed to you ..move on 

 

Maybe you should refrain from marriage advice. ?

[mogandave]

or who say you owe money to.

If banks froze accounts based on someone merely saying they were owed money, a lot more people would have their accounts frozen.

[ThaiWai]

My wife sent a deposit on a motorbike she saw second hand and they guy just ripped her off. She got a police report and went to her bank KTB to get her money back. They said go to the thiefs bank SCB. SCB said there was nothing they could do. I advised them at that point they were complicit in a criminal conspiracy and that the fraudster was still posting online bikes for future frauds and wanted to speak direct SCB fraud investative staff to at the very least stop the larcenies from continuing. Their heads all spun around for a while then popped off and rolled around on the floor. Moral of the story bank logic is not like real logic. 

[jacko45k]

18 hours ago, colinneil said:

The monies outstanding on the teachers loan was more than the monies in the wifes account at the time.

The bank didnt just freeze the money for the 2 missed payments, but for the total loan.

And that seems prudent if the guy appeared to be defaulting.

I watched a UK program only last night where an elderly woman had 2 burly bailiffs at her home because her son had defaulted on a loan she had signed guarantor for. She hardly realised what she had done. And lo-and-behold next is an advert for guarantor loans with an APR of about 50%!

Sneaky stuff.