How secure are Thai bank accounts?

[wildwildbill]

Leaving Thailand soon and want to keep my Bangkok Bank account open. They said I need to keep at least 2000b in it and make a deposit every six months. Is it worth keeping open bearing mind it will only get used every year or so for a holiday? How secure will my money be is my main concern, even though it will be a rather small balance kept. Cheers!

[simoh1490]

Your account is covered by deposit insurance protection so you're secure on that front, I suppose your only other risks are internal fraud and inactivity payments which could erode the balance. Why not return your ATM card to the bank and have them note that has been done and that your only means of accessing the account is via the passbook, that will eliminate the potential for fraud. As for inactivity payments: you'll just need to keep up some activity on the account to avoid them.

[marcusarelus]

Get SMS with any activity.  How much more secure could you want? 

[simoh1490]

1 hour ago, marcusarelus said:

Get SMS with any activity.  How much more secure could you want? 

He would need to keep up his Thai mobile number which would be expensive considering roaming would be needed, the banks won't SMS to an overseas number.

[CharlieH]

17 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

He would need to keep up his Thai mobile number which would be expensive considering roaming would be needed, the banks won't SMS to an overseas number.

Roaming costs nothing if you dont use it to make calls./data. Leaving it on to receive sms etc costs nothing.

[Chivas]

My view is that the main thai banks are "secure" as regards collapsing and deposit coverage applies but what doesnt apply is random amounts disappearing from accounts (invariably ATM theft) and the highly likely not interested response from the bank concerned

As such I would never keep more than 50,000 in any thai bank no matter what the circumstances. I certainly would never in a million years keep 800,000 in one for visa purposes either. You gotta be certified if you do that

[marcusarelus]

49 minutes ago, Chivas said:

My view is that the main thai banks are "secure" as regards collapsing and deposit coverage applies but what doesnt apply is random amounts disappearing from accounts (invariably ATM theft) and the highly likely not interested response from the bank concerned

As such I would never keep more than 50,000 in any thai bank no matter what the circumstances. I certainly would never in a million years keep 800,000 in one for visa purposes either. You gotta be certified if you do that

I have SMS notification and a 24 hour banking line 

Bualuang Phone Exclusive
Tel. XXXXXX

 

I haven't had any problems for the last 20 years.  I have accounts in 3 Thai banks and the wife has a home loan in a different bank.

[Chivas]

2 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

I have SMS notification and a 24 hour banking line 

Bualuang Phone Exclusive
Tel. XXXXXX

 

I haven't had any problems for the last 20 years.  I have accounts in 3 Thai banks and the wife has a home loan in a different bank.

Nor have I out of interest and certainly a longer period than that, however I know of many that have had problems let alone media posts about it

You can have as many sms notifications as you want by the way. They come as the account is debited not an hour before !!

[marcusarelus]

7 minutes ago, Chivas said:

Nor have I out of interest and certainly a longer period than that, however I know of many that have had problems let alone media posts about it

You can have as many sms notifications as you want by the way. They come as the account is debited not an hour before !!

I don't know anyone who has had a problem and I doubt the veracity of many I read about.  I have withdrawal limits of 50,000 on all my accounts so that is the extent of my risk.  What are you going to do about the lack of BE cooperation for income certification?

Edited October 20, 2018 by marcusarelus

[trd]

You going to lose sleep over 2,000 baht?

[trd]

My view is that the main thai banks are "secure" as regards collapsing and deposit coverage applies but what doesnt apply is random amounts disappearing from accounts (invariably ATM theft) and the highly likely not interested response from the bank concerned
As such I would never keep more than 50,000 in any thai bank no matter what the circumstances. I certainly would never in a million years keep 800,000 in one for visa purposes either. You gotta be certified if you do that

You don't know what you're talking about.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1059064-swedish-man-and-thai-wife-go-to-chaiyaphum-police-after-half-a-million-missing-from-bank-account/?tab=comments#comment-13404064

•  

 

 

Quote

 

Swedish man and Thai wife go to Chaiyaphum police after half a million missing from bank account

 

A Swedish man and his Thai wife have got fed up with being fobbed off by their bank after 480,000 baht went missing from their account. 

 

So yesterday they went to Muang Chaiyaphum police to make a complaint. 

 

Nonthaphat Sennontat, 47, and her husband, who was not named in the Daily News story, have been working in Sweden for six or seven years. 

 

While there they noticed that their account had been emptied - all that was left was 680 baht. 

 

 

The key phrase there is... "fed up with being fobbed off by their bank."

 

Certainly not the first, nor the last, time you'll ever hear that here.

 

[marcusarelus]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1059064-swedish-man-and-thai-wife-go-to-chaiyaphum-police-after-half-a-million-missing-from-bank-account/?tab=comments#comment-13404064

• The key phrase there is... "fed up with being fobbed off by their bank."

 

Certainly not the first, nor the last, time you'll ever hear that here.

 

If the guy has disappeared and previously offered the cops a million baht bribe for drug related offenses would say that whoever reported this story got fobbed off by the Swede?

[how241]

7 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Roaming costs nothing if you dont use it to make calls./data. Leaving it on to receive sms etc costs nothing.

Very good points.  Thank you

[peterb17]

4 hours ago, Chivas said:

My view is that the main thai banks are "secure" as regards collapsing and deposit coverage applies but what doesnt apply is random amounts disappearing from accounts (invariably ATM theft) and the highly likely not interested response from the bank concerned

As such I would never keep more than 50,000 in any thai bank no matter what the circumstances. I certainly would never in a million years keep 800,000 in one for visa purposes either. You gotta be certified if you do that

Gosh 

Do you have shares in the tin foil hat companies? 

What a load of nonsense 

 

Thai banks are safer that most - and just who exactly caused the world wide crash with toxic debt -oh the lovely Americans - God Bless Them 

[scorecard]

8 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Roaming costs nothing if you dont use it to make calls./data. Leaving it on to receive sms etc costs nothing.

But would that not mean, if it's a monthly account, the user would need to pay the monthly fees?

[simoh1490]

2 minutes ago, scorecard said:

But would that not mean, if it's a monthly account, the user would need to pay the monthly fees?

Yes, the OP would need to maintain a Thai mobile number but it could be a PAYG account with 20 baht monthly top ups in advance....I did similar earlier this year in order to keep my Thai mobile number whilst on an extended stay in the UK.

[marcusarelus]

24 minutes ago, peterb17 said:

Gosh 

Do you have shares in the tin foil hat companies? 

What a load of nonsense 

 

Thai banks are safer that most - and just who exactly caused the world wide crash with toxic debt -oh the lovely Americans - God Bless Them 

Don't give us all the credit.  Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. Merrill Lynch, AIG, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bradford & Bingley, Fortis, Hypo and Alliance & Leicester all came within a whisker of doing so and had to be rescued.

[guest879]

2 hours ago, trd said:

You going to lose sleep over 2,000 baht?

beat me to it. I left my 2 main accounts open with a bit of cash in them a couple years ago. they were still open when I checked them a couple months ago. I don't plan to live in Thailand more than a couple months and plan to just use cash with draw on a foreign ATM. I would not leave any money in a thai bank long term. have read quite a few stories about funds going missing from bank accounts and banks refusing to accept any liability.

[marcusarelus]

2 minutes ago, guest879 said:

beat me to it. I left my 2 main accounts open with a bit of cash in them a couple years ago. they were still open when I checked them a couple months ago. I don't plan to live in Thailand more than a couple months and plan to just use cash with draw on a foreign ATM. I would not leave any money in a thai bank long term. have read quite a few stories about funds going missing from bank accounts and banks refusing to accept any liability.

Then you post the one about the Swede losing a bunch of money and then I post a link to him being a drug dealer and trying to bribe Thai police with a million baht and has now gone missing. 

[guest879]

2 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Then you post the one about the Swede losing a bunch of money and then I post a link to him being a drug dealer and trying to bribe Thai police with a million baht and has now gone missing. 

not sure I heard about that one but there are plenty of cases of money going missing from thai accounts. I spoke to one guy who lost quite a wad after leaving it in an interest bearing account long term (did not end up being in as long as he had hoped for of course)

[trd]

beat me to it. I left my 2 main accounts open with a bit of cash in them a couple years ago. they were still open when I checked them a couple months ago. I don't plan to live in Thailand more than a couple months and plan to just use cash with draw on a foreign ATM. I would not leave any money in a thai bank long term. have read quite a few stories about funds going missing from bank accounts and banks refusing to accept any liability.

Do you think the banks in your own country are more secure? I've been here for 20 years and did business in the property market dealing with many clients who brought in huge sums of money into the Thai banking system. I've never heard of a single problem and that includes my own personal experience. if you are going to quote a newspaper report about someone who lost funds you need to investigate fully exactly how those funds disappeared and whose signature appeared on the withdrawal slip. Banks don't just steal money out of accounts. That's laughable.

[moogradod]

5 minutes ago, guest879 said:

not sure I heard about that one but there are plenty of cases of money going missing from thai accounts. I spoke to one guy who lost quite a wad after leaving it in an interest bearing account long term (did not end up being in as long as he had hoped for of course)

But in this case the bank could hardly deny any responsibility I suppose and he got the money back. Correct ?

[guest879]

7 minutes ago, moogradod said:

But in this case the bank could hardly deny any responsibility I suppose and he got the money back. Correct ?

nope. he put it in a 5 year deposit and the bank employee gave him  a fake receipt, pocketed the money and did a runner. I have read quite a few stories about people loosing money but I don't recall any of them getting their money reimbursed by the bank. I have moved quite a bit of money through Thailand without problems but I would not risk it again.

[moogradod]

He must have paid in in cash obviously, otherwise it would be all traceable. I am interested about these stories and especially which banking institutes were involved. But I guess there is little chance that this has been published.

[PerkinsCuthbert]

As secure as a ladyboy's bottom.

[VBF]

I leave about 10,000 Baht in my SCB account from year to year so that:

a) my account doesn't incur charges (SCB told me I need to leave 5000 in it to avoid charges if i don't use the account for a year.)

b) I can top up my Thai phone from it.  (Got the phone company set up as a payee on SCB)

 

I have internet banking and so far so good. (Been doing this for the last 5 years, btw)

Edited October 20, 2018 by VBF

[simoh1490]

FWIW I keep in excess of THB 5 mill. in banks in Thailand and have done so for the past ten years or more and I sleep very well at night. 

[pgrahmm]

4 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

FWIW I keep in excess of THB 5 mill. in banks in Thailand and have done so for the past ten years or more and I sleep very well at night. 

Earning anything worthwhile or just as a reservoir?

[Rod the Sod]

7 hours ago, Chivas said:

My view is that the main thai banks are "secure" as regards collapsing and deposit coverage applies but what doesnt apply is random amounts disappearing from accounts (invariably ATM theft) and the highly likely not interested response from the bank concerned

As such I would never keep more than 50,000 in any thai bank no matter what the circumstances. I certainly would never in a million years keep 800,000 in one for visa purposes either. You gotta be certified if you do that

<deleted>. Safe as houses!