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Open a bank account on a tourist visa for the purpose of buying a condo (Not Bangkok Bank)

JoseThailand
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JoseThailand Gold Member

JoseThailand

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Has anyone managed to open a bank account on a tourist visa for the purpose of buying a condo?

I know, I know, Bangkok Bank opens accounts for tourists, but I'm talking about other banks.

I tried to do this at Kasikorn and SCB, but they gave me the usual WP cr*p, ignoring the fact that I'm buying a condo.

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soi3eddie Platinum Member

soi3eddie

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Although I can't answer the question, I suspect you will definitely need a 1 year visa/extension of stay. Of course, agents can get you a Bangkok Bank account on a tourist visa but it appears that you don't want that.

 

You do NOT have to have a Thai Bank account to purchase a condo. You will need to remit funds from overseas and these can go to your lawyer's client account (this is what I did, twice, despite having two Kbank accounts). Be sure to send at least the cost of the condo and it must be sent in foreign currency and the purpose of funds transfer must be stated to satisfy the Land Department for title transfer.

 

You can then try to obtain an account at another bank once you have your condo chanote in your name and a long term visa.  

 

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bkk6060 Ruby Member

bkk6060

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Doubtful.  But,  I look forward to the folks who say it is easy they did it. Just wear a suit and tie, shine your shoes, comb your hair, use mouth wash to get the booze off your breath, smile and flash 100,000 b to the teller.  

Edited by bkk6060
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Liverpool Lou Star Member

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12 hours ago, JoseThailand said:

I tried to do this at Kasikorn and SCB, but they gave me the usual WP cr*p, ignoring the fact that I'm buying a condo.

"...they gave me the usual WP cr*p".

Your being a non-customer, they are under no obligation to facilitate your alleged condo purchase by providing you with an account and it is not work permit crap when you do not meet their requirements to open an account.   It could be just as easily justified to say that you gave the banks the usual "Russian-tourist-buying-a-condo-crap" to try to get around their account-opening rules that they likely hear frequently.

Edited by Liverpool Lou
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torturedsole Gold Member

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11 minutes ago, Upnotover said:

As it is clearly not easy to do elsewhere I am wondering what is wrong with Bangkok Bank?

Yes, it would be interesting to understand the OP's reluctance to open a BB account as I can't see they do anything different from the rest of the banks.

 

How times change! I'm fortunate to have opened a BB account a day or two after I got married fourteen years ago on a 30 day visa exempt and merely pushed my wife towards the counter of her local BB and let her do the talking. Half hour later, I was proud owner of ATM card and bank book (btw, BB are obsessed with that bloody bank book. Without it, you'd be forgiven for thinking the four horsemen of the apocalypse had suddenly appeared).  

 

Anyway, out of interest, how much does the agent route cost roughly? I doubt there'd be much change from 4/5k baht.

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Everyman Advanced Member

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On 5/5/2024 at 5:40 AM, bkk6060 said:

Doubtful.  But,  I look forward to the folks who say it is easy they did it. Just wear a suit and tie, shine your shoes, comb your hair, use mouth wash to get the booze off your breath, smile and flash 100,000 b to the teller.  

 

I love when they say to “bring a Thai,”’ as if that will change the rules.

 

Why people don’t get is the rules have been standardized now, it doesn’t vary branch to branch anymore. 

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lkn Silver Member

lkn

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On 5/4/2024 at 6:22 PM, JoseThailand said:

Has anyone managed to open a bank account on a tourist visa for the purpose of buying a condo?

I went to a bank with a friend and told them that my friend wanted to buy a condo and therefore needed a bank account.

 

The bank told us (I forget which bank it was) that for this, we had to go to Krungthai, as they will open accounts for this purpose, though we had to bring statement from embassy about home address, and possibly some other document which I forget.

 

We didn’t go to Krungthai, as my friend already has an account there, and doesn’t actually want to buy a condo, I just figured that maybe this reason could be used to open a new account today (without long-term visa nor work permit).

 

Don’t ask why my friend wants a second bank account, I don’t get it either…

Edited by lkn
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JoseThailand Gold Member

JoseThailand

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41 minutes ago, lkn said:

I went to a bank with a friend and told them that my friend wanted to buy a condo and therefore needed a bank account.

 

The bank told us (I forget which bank it was) that for this, we had to go to Krungthai, as they will open accounts for this purpose, though we had to bring statement from embassy about home address, and possibly some other document which I forget.

 

We didn’t go to Krungthai, as my friend already has an account there, and doesn’t actually want to buy a condo, I just figured that maybe this reason could be used to open a new account today (without long-term visa nor work permit).

 

Don’t ask why my friend wants a second bank account, I don’t get it either…

 

How long ago was that?

 

Maybe that's their usual trick to send people to other banks to get rid of them quickly?

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JoseThailand Gold Member

JoseThailand

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42 minutes ago, lkn said:

I went to a bank with a friend and told them that my friend wanted to buy a condo and therefore needed a bank account.

 

The bank told us (I forget which bank it was) that for this, we had to go to Krungthai, as they will open accounts for this purpose, though we had to bring statement from embassy about home address, and possibly some other document which I forget.

 

We didn’t go to Krungthai, as my friend already has an account there, and doesn’t actually want to buy a condo, I just figured that maybe this reason could be used to open a new account today (without long-term visa nor work permit).

 

Don’t ask why my friend wants a second bank account, I don’t get it either…

 

Btw, how did your friend manage to open a Krungthai account without a long-term visa? 

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Everyman Advanced Member

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4 hours ago, JoseThailand said:

 

Btw, how did your friend manage to open a Krungthai account without a long-term visa? 

 

sorry to speak for the other poster but until about 3 years ago it was much easier to open an account 

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JoseThailand Gold Member

JoseThailand

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3 hours ago, Everyman said:

sorry to speak for the other poster but until about 3 years ago it was much easier to open an account 

 

If you read older topics, they already said it was hard to open accounts for tourists (excluding Bangkok Bank of course). Here's a topic from 2017:

 

 

 

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lkn Silver Member

lkn

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8 hours ago, JoseThailand said:

 

How long ago was that?

 

Maybe that's their usual trick to send people to other banks to get rid of them quickly?

 

It was last month. I don’t think it was a “get rid of us” trick, as she seemed to have actual knowledge about the process, and with Krungthai Bank being government-owned, it sort of makes sense that this would be the designated bank for tracking money from abroad for company purchases.

 

 

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lkn Silver Member

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8 hours ago, JoseThailand said:

Btw, how did your friend manage to open a Krungthai account without a long-term visa? 

I’ve helped two people open accounts with Krungthai, the trick was to ask for an account without interests, then they did not need a work permit.

 

But rules were tightened further during the last year or so. After having spoken with a handful of banks, I believe it is now pretty much impossible to open an account without connections/agent, unless of course you have the right visa.

 

Though speaking with these banks, I did ask one bank what would be required to open an account, he mentioned a few options, so I asked to please get a copy of their rules, but was then told that they are not allowed to give them to customers.

 

That made me think that there might still be some flexibility.

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AustinRacing Gold Member

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Does it matter which bank to have an account with for this purpose? Why exclude one?  
Tourists should really not be allowed to buy property easily. Tourist visa is for touristy purposes not for business, long term plans etc purposes, so it’s fair that many limitations are imposed on tourists whose intend to enter Thailand is for non-touristy reasons. 

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Sydebolle Platinum Member

Sydebolle

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Never understood this mania ........ in the past, tourists would arrive, open a bank account at the airport and park their cash. Over their stay all over the country they would withdraw their money from those ATMs (remember, when they had two ATM networks and 23h00-06h00 it was not possible to get any money - back in the day?).

As you cannot go into overdraft, all this carp about work permit and one-year visa makes as much sense as quite a few other things in the glory land ......... 

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AgMech Cowboy Gold Member

AgMech Cowboy

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On 5/5/2024 at 4:40 AM, bkk6060 said:

Doubtful.  But,  I look forward to the folks who say it is easy they did it. Just wear a suit and tie, shine your shoes, comb your hair, use mouth wash to get the booze off your breath, smile and flash 100,000 b to the teller.  

If you think going to the "teller" is the place to start, you're already behind the 8 ball. Good luck with that.  I suggest if you want to open an account at SCB, I suggest going to their main office in Bangkok (SCB Complex) ask for the Bank Manager and you'll be directed to a facilitator who will (should) speak good English. You can discuss your plans with them and most likely will be told the straight up requirements. Indeed, you may need an agent, though.

Edited by AgMech Cowboy
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JoseThailand Gold Member

JoseThailand

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6 hours ago, AustinRacing said:

Tourists should really not be allowed to buy property easily.

 

In fact, tourists are encouraged to buy condos in Thailand. So many condos are advertised specifically to target tourists.

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Everyman Advanced Member

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34 minutes ago, JayBird said:

Give UOB a try.  They didn't care about anything except initial deposit. 

 

 

I am skeptical of that, but would love to know how it goes in that case and hope the best. 

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