How to open an account online without going to the branch ?

[ExpatO]

Hello,

 

I'm outside of Thailand and I can't access my KTB account as they removed online banking and to activate the app it can only be done at the branch.

I would like to open a new account online, is it possible ?

 

Thanks.

[sirineou]

I would think it's impossible unless you are a Thai citizen, given all the documents that they require for foreigners to open one here. 

But I don't know for sure. 

Call your branch , explain the situation, and see if there is anything they can do to help you,.

[ExpatO]

Just now, sirineou said:

I would think it's impossible unless you are a Thai citizen, given all the documents that they require for foreigners to open one here. 

But I don't know for sure. 

Call your branch , explain the situation, and see if there is anything they can do to help you,.

They can not help... they want me to come to thailand to activate the app. I have nothing to do there, I don't feel like traveling to Thailand to activate an app. But I need an account to be able to do instant transfer for my son. He has an account but his mum steals his money so I need to send him small amounts everyday.

[Liverpool Lou]

19 minutes ago, ExpatO said:

I would like to open a new account online, is it possible ?

 

Absolutely, not.  Wise may be an option for you, I'm not sure, but it's not a bank.

 

Presuming that you have bank account in your own country, why not SWIFT transfer to him?

Edited November 14, 2023 by Liverpool Lou

[sirineou]

2 minutes ago, ExpatO said:

They can not help... they want me to come to thailand to activate the app. I have nothing to do there, I don't feel like traveling to Thailand to activate an app. But I need an account to be able to do instant transfer for my son. He has an account but his mum steals his money so I need to send him small amounts everyday.

I hear you and feel for your situation. Traveling to Thailand is not an easy thing. We are going to the US for christmas and the best ticket I could find was 25 hrs each way.

perhaps your son can open another account that his mom does not know about, assuming of course that he is old enough, 

Have you considered, western Union? to send funds to your son until you are able to come over and fix this thing? 

[ExpatO]

1 minute ago, sirineou said:

I hear you and feel for your situation. Traveling to Thailand is not an easy thing. We are going to the US for christmas and the best ticket I could find was 25 hrs each way.

perhaps your son can open another account that his mom does not know about, assuming of course that he is old enough, 

Have you considered, western Union? to send funds to your son until you are able to come over and fix this thing? 

I don't think that doing 200 thb daily western union makes any sense.

[Shop mak]

8 minutes ago, ExpatO said:

they want me to come to thailand to activate the app. I have nothing to do there, I don't feel like traveling to Thailand to activate an app.

 

You got your answer, from the Bank. That's it, I'm afraid.

 

Transfer to a adult that you / your son trust, by other ways than bank.

WU

Wise.

Zoom. 

[Liverpool Lou]

3 minutes ago, ExpatO said:

I don't think that doing 200 thb daily western union makes any sense.

Detailing that in your OP would have "made sense" rather than not mentioning it.

Edited November 14, 2023 by Liverpool Lou

[sirineou]

4 minutes ago, ExpatO said:

I don't think that doing 200 thb daily western union makes any sense.

Absolutely not. 

Where are you if you don't mind saying. 

How about you open an account with a debit card  where you are. link it to your personal account and transfer 200 bht in it  every day. Send the debit card to your son.  Keep the balance in such account low enough so that you would not be concerned about you ex cleaning it out

[Red Phoenix]

As several posters already indicated, the easiest way would be to open a WISE account, which allows to transfer money abroad to any bank-account (it's fast, fully transparent and almost always the cheapest compared with other options).   

 

[ExpatO]

2 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Absolutely not. 

Where are you if you don't mind saying. 

How about you open an account with a debit card  where you are. link it to your personal account and transfer 200 bht in it  every day. Send the debit card to your son.  Keep the balance in such account low enough so that you would not be concerned about you ex cleaning it out

I'm in UAE. If you use a foreign card in Thailand the ATM will charge 300 THB per transaction.

[ExpatO]

Just now, Red Phoenix said:

As several posters already indicated, the easiest way would be to open a WISE account, which allows to transfer money abroad to any bank-account (it's fast, fully transparent and almost always the cheapest compared with other options).   

 

I have WISE but it doesn't work in my country as the gov has banned it.

[sirineou]

Just now, ExpatO said:

I'm in UAE. If you use a foreign card in Thailand the ATM will charge 300 THB per transaction.

I asked where you are because some banks do not charge  fees for international transactions. I am not sure if that is only true for credit cards.

But I can't think of a better solution. Are there any banks that do business both in the UAE?  perhaps such bank would eliminate or reduce the fees. 

[Red Phoenix]

2 minutes ago, ExpatO said:

I have WISE but it doesn't work in my country as the gov has banned it.

Wow, are you not allowed in EUA to transfer money from your local account to WISE (which would then simply pay-out the funds to the local bank-account of the recipient)? 

[ExpatO]

1 minute ago, Red Phoenix said:

Wow, are you not allowed in EUA to transfer money from your local account to WISE (which would then simply pay-out the funds to the local bank-account of the recipient)? 

In UAE you can not send funds to transferwise. It's banned.

[Dan O]

32 minutes ago, ExpatO said:

They can not help... they want me to come to thailand to activate the app. I have nothing to do there, I don't feel like traveling to Thailand to activate an app. But I need an account to be able to do instant transfer for my son. He has an account but his mum steals his money so I need to send him small amounts everyday.

Send it via western union and he can pick it up at many locations without any need for a bank account.  Send him a weeks worth at a time 

Edited November 14, 2023 by Dan O
Spellinh

[Gottfrid]

32 minutes ago, ExpatO said:

They can not help... they want me to come to thailand to activate the app. I have nothing to do there, I don't feel like traveling to Thailand to activate an app. But I need an account to be able to do instant transfer for my son. He has an account but his mum steals his money so I need to send him small amounts everyday.

No, you don´t. Your son, must have a friend or a family he knows, can explain to him and trust. They can receive money and give him. Or your son, can open a new bank account that the mother is unaware of.

[Red Phoenix]

7 minutes ago, ExpatO said:

In UAE you can not send funds to transferwise. It's banned.

Do you have a bank-account in another country than UAE?  If so you could use that one to transfer funds via WISE to a Thai bank-account.

[brianthainess]

21 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Absolutely not. 

Where are you if you don't mind saying. 

How about you open an account with a debit card  where you are. link it to your personal account and transfer 200 bht in it  every day. Send the debit card to your son.  Keep the balance in such account low enough so that you would not be concerned about you ex cleaning it out

Agree and just make sure you keep it above 2k baht otherwise bank charges will incur.

[Red Phoenix]

If you have a passport from the EU, you could open a bank-account at N26, a Germany based Internet bank voted last year best bank in the world.  I opened an account with them while in Thailand, so it is possible to do it from abroad and since it is an Internet bank you will never be bothered with having to present yourself in person at a branche.

Note that if you are a UK citizen, you could probably do the same with Revolut.

[ExpatO]

9 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

Do you have a bank-account in another country than UAE?  If so you could use that one to transfer funds via WISE to a Thai bank-account.

Singapore

[ExpatO]

3 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

If you have a passport from the EU, you could open a bank-account at N26, a Germany based Internet bank voted last year best bank in the world.  I opened an account with them while in Thailand, so it is possible to do it from abroad and since it is an Internet bank you will never be bothered with having to present yourself in person at a branche.

Note that if you are a UK citizen, you could probably do the same with Revolut.

I just tried and they say I need to be a tax resident of a country in EU.

[sirineou]

So I checked and City bank has branches in both the UAE and Thailand. 

Perhaps you could look into that . Also Chase has branches both in UAE and Thailand. 

perhaps an account in one of those might have reduced  ATM charges. 

Not sure what country you are from, but there might be other banks from where you are that also have branches both in the UAE and in Thailand. 

[Red Phoenix]

15 minutes ago, ExpatO said:

Singapore

~

Think you have your answer there.  Use your Singapore account to transfer funds via WISE to your son's Thai bank-account.

[KannikaP]

52 minutes ago, ExpatO said:

I have WISE but it doesn't work in my country as the gov has banned it.

I send regularly to my sons in Dubai via Wise. To do it the other way ie Dubai to Thailand, get a VPN.

[ExpatO]

11 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

~

Think you have your answer there.  Use your Singapore account to transfer funds via WISE to your son's Thai bank-account.

I've checked with Wise and as I'm a tax resident in UAE I'm not allowed to fund my account at all, even with a Singapore bank account.

[ExpatO]

Just now, KannikaP said:

I send regularly to my sons in Dubai via Wise. To do it the other way ie Dubai to Thailand, get a VPN.

You can send to Dubai but Dubai can not send to anywhere. It's not about the VPN, the account is simply locked until you move to another country and submit proof of new residence.

[KannikaP]

1 minute ago, ExpatO said:

You can send to Dubai but Dubai can not send to anywhere. It's not about the VPN, the account is simply locked until you move to another country and submit proof of new residence.

OK, try Revolut. I know people who use it to send from Dubai to UK & Thailand.

[ExpatO]

6 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

OK, try Revolut. I know people who use it to send from Dubai to UK & Thailand.

Just tried to register and it's not available in UAE

[ExpatO]

22 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

OK, try Revolut. I know people who use it to send from Dubai to UK & Thailand.

Tried again lying about my residence but they asked for a tax id number from France and I don't have one as I left before doing my first tax return.