Bangkok Bank - Joint Bank Account

[FarangRimPing]

My wife and I opened a joint account about 2 months ago. I was assured that it is an 'or' account, where either of the signatories have full control. Either person can deposit, withdraw, etc.

 

Yesterday, my wife and I tried to deposit a cashier's check (drawn on Bangkok Bank) where she was the sole payee. The bank branch (Central Chiang Rai) refused to deposit it because it was in her name only, not both of our names. So she had to open another bank account in her name only and then she deposited the check in that account. Then she immediately transferred the amount of the check into our joint account. This seems absurd but my questioning this was not fruitful, to say the least.

 

Of course my wife did not question the bank as to why it had to be done that way.

 

Has anyone else run into this issue?

[Tom H]

No ploplem. Lady fixed alleady, khaaaaab.

[Thailand]

Same thing, but as we both have individual accounts also it was no problem.

[JimGant]

The Thai banking system has shown misunderstandings about joint accounts, from several directions. The most ominous, in my opinion, is that upon death of one owner, the other owner (in an "or" type account) is not allowed access to the account -- and it is frozen. This is contrary to Thai law, which treats joint accounts like the West. But, individual bank managers often march to their own drum (ah, that feeling of superiority).

 

Thus, as I don't want my joint account frozen upon my death -- and have it tied up in probate for 6 months and high fees -- wife has been instructed to go online and transfer all but a few thousand baht into her individual account. This instruction precedes the instruction about arranging my barbecue.

[khaepmu]

On 12/25/2022 at 1:30 PM, JimGant said:

The Thai banking system has shown misunderstandings about joint accounts, from several directions. The most ominous, in my opinion, is that upon death of one owner, the other owner (in an "or" type account) is not allowed access to the account -- and it is frozen. This is contrary to Thai law, which treats joint accounts like the West. But, individual bank managers often march to their own drum (ah, that feeling of superiority).

 

Thus, as I don't want my joint account frozen upon my death -- and have it tied up in probate for 6 months and high fees -- wife has been instructed to go online and transfer all but a few thousand baht into her individual account. This instruction precedes the instruction about arranging my barbecue.

 

Are you able to go online with your Bangkok Bank joint account and make transactions. Our bank said we can't go online and make transactions with our joint account. I advised my wife to transfer funds to one of her individual accounts without informing the bank about my exit. I suspect I would pretty much do the same in the event of my wife's death. Next month I am going to ask the bank manager what our options are and if it is possible to avoid the courts despite having a will. 

[wasabi]

11 minutes ago, khaepmu said:

 

Are you able to go online with your Bangkok Bank joint account and make transactions. Our bank said we can't go online and make transactions with our joint account. I advised my wife to transfer funds to one of her individual accounts without informing the bank about my exit. I suspect I would pretty much do the same in the event of my wife's death. Next month I am going to ask the bank manager what our options are and if it is possible to avoid the courts despite having a will. 

I have a joint Bangkok Bank account with my wife and we individually make transfers all the time.

[cnx1204]

Joint account for umpty ump years, either of us deposit/withdraw/transfers unilaterally.  I do most of our banking on-line.

[FarangRimPing]

49 minutes ago, khaepmu said:

 

Are you able to go online with your Bangkok Bank joint account and make transactions. Our bank said we can't go online and make transactions with our joint account. I advised my wife to transfer funds to one of her individual accounts without informing the bank about my exit. I suspect I would pretty much do the same in the event of my wife's death. Next month I am going to ask the bank manager what our options are and if it is possible to avoid the courts despite having a will. 

That brings us to a different problem.... when we created the account we applied for Internet banking. Had to fill out multiple forms. They said that the Head Office would send me an SMS with the userid and later an initial password.

 

A few weeks later I get a text message with the userdid and the SMS aslso said that I'll get a password via mail. 2 months later, still no password so we return to the bank Branch. The manager says,OK,no problem, we fill out ALL of the paperwork and start the process all over again. I ask if there's another way, such as calling Head Office to reissue another password, and response was no. I then said we would come back another day.

 

I then call BBL's Customer Service line, wait 30 minutes for a human, explain situation to human, he's really pleasant and didn't know what to do. An hour later, he calls back and says that the branch manager will call me within 3 days and take care of it. 2 hours later, she calls and is very apologetic, saying she will take care of everything but we must come back to the branch.

 

So a couple of days later we do, and the solution is to redo all of the paperwork. UGH! 

 

That was last week. As of today, I still don't have internet banking. 

[kokesaat]

I have a retirement account with 800k.  My wife and I have a joint account with several xxxk at the same bank.  I am not allowed an ATM card with my retirement account, but have one for the joint account.  I applied for online banking.....assuming it'd just be for our joint account.  I set it up and have access to both accounts.  I can transfer between accounts online.........obviously, not as the system intended, but it's the way it works for me.  A classic case of t.i.t.

  

[khaepmu]

On 1/1/2023 at 9:14 AM, wasabi said:

I have a joint Bangkok Bank account with my wife and we individually make transfers all the time.

Thanks for getting back to me. What I mean is that you are able to do online banking using your joint account? We have a joint account with Krungsri Bank, either or can withdraw. No problem .One debit card. But when I asked the bank if we could do online banking with our joint account they said no. 

[wasabi]

2 hours ago, khaepmu said:

Thanks for getting back to me. What I mean is that you are able to do online banking using your joint account? We have a joint account with Krungsri Bank, either or can withdraw. No problem .One debit card. But when I asked the bank if we could do online banking with our joint account they said no. 

Yes we are both able to do online banking. Either through the website or phone app. However we both have to use the same login. The bank themselves told us to do this however it's not the kind of thing I want to draw too much attention to. It has worked fine for years though.