JoseThailand Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 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. 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soi3eddie Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 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. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubascuba3 Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 You need to use an agent on a tourist visa 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bkk6060 Posted May 4 Popular Post Share Posted May 4 (edited) 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 May 4 by bkk6060 1 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoseThailand Posted May 4 Author Share Posted May 4 1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said: You need to use an agent on a tourist visa They help only with Bangkok Bank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubascuba3 Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 5 hours ago, JoseThailand said: They help only with Bangkok Bank all the agents? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Liverpool Lou Posted May 5 Popular Post Share Posted May 5 (edited) 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 May 5 by Liverpool Lou 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Liverpool Lou Posted May 5 Popular Post Share Posted May 5 7 hours ago, scubascuba3 said: You need to use an agent on a tourist visa Which agents are on a tourist visa!? 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upnotover Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 As it is clearly not easy to do elsewhere I am wondering what is wrong with Bangkok Bank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torturedsole Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoseThailand Posted May 5 Author Share Posted May 5 3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said: all the agents? I don't know of any agent that can open an account for a tourist in a bank other than BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubascuba3 Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 44 minutes ago, JoseThailand said: I don't know of any agent that can open an account for a tourist in a bank other than BB Depends how many you tried, try a few Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everyman Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lkn Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 (edited) 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 May 6 by lkn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoseThailand Posted May 6 Author Share Posted May 6 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? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoseThailand Posted May 6 Author Share Posted May 6 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everyman Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoseThailand Posted May 6 Author Share Posted May 6 (edited) 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: Edited May 6 by JoseThailand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lkn Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lkn Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonniePeverley Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 Do not risk this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinRacing Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 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. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydebolle Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 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 ......... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgMech Cowboy Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 (edited) 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 May 7 by AgMech Cowboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoseThailand Posted May 7 Author Share Posted May 7 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john donson Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 embassy letter that you live here... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubascuba3 Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 6 hours ago, AustinRacing said: Tourists should really not be allowed to buy property easily. Don't be silly, that's the idea of the foreign quota limit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayBird Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Give UOB a try. They didn't care about anything except initial deposit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everyman Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoseThailand Posted May 7 Author Share Posted May 7 41 minutes ago, JayBird said: Give UOB a try. They didn't care about anything except initial deposit. I tried UOB in Pattaya. Same work permit crap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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