TFB account no-use period before going dormant

[Drew345]

I haven’t been to Thailand for 17 months and no plans to go for immediate future obviously. I just got a message from an old friend that they got a paper-mail from Kasikornbank (TFB) that my account was about to go dormant. So they transferred 100 Bt to my account. That was really nice. TFB emails me about other things like planned service outages, strange they wouldn’t email about this issue, but whatever.

Does anyone know:

- What is the period of no-use before a bank (TFB) goes dormant?

- What happens if it does go dormant?

- Do they let you change the address to a foreign address? (I don’t plan on living in Thailand again, but will still visit once a year.)

[Pib]

Policy for most Thai banks is when the acct balance drops below Bt2000 and no acct owner activity for 12 months (must meet both conditions) the bank will begin charging a Bt50 monthly maintenance fee until the balance reaches zero then the acct is closed.

[Drew345]

Thank you. I will make a note to do an online transfer within 12 month. Hmmm, I have 70,000 Bt in the account now. I wonder why I got the notice (It's in Thai Language). Anyway, that is great information. Thank you.

 

[DaRoadrunner]

TFB are known for this and closed my account. Even if you have sufficient balance, inactivity causes them to close it. Had to apply some pressure to get my funds back.

Edited June 21, 2020 by DaRoadrunner

[Bob A Kneale]

14 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

TFB are known for this and closed my account. Even if you have sufficient balance, inactivity causes them to close it. Had to apply some pressure to get my funds back.

It was widely publicised a few months ago by the the Bank of Thailand that funds held in closed, dormant accounts, at any Thai bank, are held by BoT and can be reclaimed at any time on request.

Edited June 21, 2020 by Bob A Kneale

[Bob A Kneale]

3 hours ago, Drew345 said:

I just got a message from an old friend that they got a paper-mail from Kasikornbank (TFB) that my account was about to go dormant.

That's an odd arrangement, why would Kasikornbank give your old friend any information about your account, a third party account?

[DaRoadrunner]

Typical Thailand.... Visit two different branches of the same bank and you can get two different answers. While at a third branch, the staff may just stare at you blankly as they have not got a clue.

 

Usually results in a phone call to head office along the lines of....I've got a Farang, what do I do?

 

Edited June 21, 2020 by DaRoadrunner

[Pib]

2 hours ago, Bob A Kneale said:

It was widely publicised a few months ago by the the Bank of Thailand that funds held in closed, dormant accounts, at any Thai bank, are held by BoT and can be reclaimed at any time on request.

That new law deals with money in bank accts which have been dormant for at least 10.  Such accts will be suspended to Finance Ministry accts not to the BOT.  A person can reclaim the funds.  This law is aimed a managing dormant accounts with "more" than 2,000 baht.   

 

The Thai banks general policy to deduct a Bt50 maintenance fee for accts under Bt2000 with no user activity over the last 12 months is still in effect.

 

And there is nothing that prevents a bank from having other dormant acct policies.