Finance Foreign Nationals Face Account Bans in Bangkok Bank Crackdown

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, norsurin said:

They force tourists to use their foreign ATM cards and punished them with this idiotic high 220 baht in ATM.What a country this is!!!

 

Just like in many other countries.

[cjinchiangrai]

6 minutes ago, Magictoad said:

Does this apply to "European farang" only or Chinese & Malaysians & the other foreign Asian people here?

Can we have a more precise explanation please? Some people are sounding very bitter and paranoid.

All foreigners are subject to the rules. The bank has some discretion though.

[K2938]

2 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

All foreigners are subject to the rules. The bank has some discretion though.

Some Brit on Fb just reported that his account was blocked 2 days ago so indeed seems not be limited to Russians

[norsurin]

2 minutes ago, K2938 said:

Some Brit on Fb just reported that his account was blocked 2 days ago so indeed seems not be limited to Russians

There u go.Not surprised at all.

[FritsSikkink]

16 hours ago, connda said:

I personally realize that Thailand hates all non-Thais.  Every last one of us.

Absolute nonsense

[kiwikeith]

6 hours ago, kaneko86 said:

And if you marry a Thai national and want to apply for a spouse visa you need the Thai bank account first with 400.000 baht seasoned for 3 months in it. How are you supposed to open this account if you need the spouse visa first? Amazing Thailand... 

 

I may be wrong but I think you can open an account if you are married to a Thai at BK Bank, this is one of the conditions to open an account now, you would probably need a letter from Thai immigration and your marriage certificate in Thai  and take the Thai wife with you, BK bank are always nice to us and very understanding, otherwise how will people get money into an account, surely immigration would help with this. ???

[kiwikeith]

12 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Absolute nonsense

 

12 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Absolute nonsense

Young Thai men hate falung ATMs who take their Thai GF back to their homeland to marry.

[mangkut70]

1 hour ago, daejung said:

I have a Wise card but never use it in Thailand, only for transfers : Wise card is a foreign card and many places in Thailand charge a fee up to 3% if you pay with a foreign card

Hi! You referred to my post. I use Wise a lot while traveling around SEA. The good thing: it’s transparent about fees. You pay the fees when you exchange money within your Wise account into a THB, SGD, MYR, etc., balance. Including the fees, the exchange rate is usually better than any money changer.

Later, when you use the card for purchases, only the exact amount of the bill is charged in the respective currency. I can’t recall ever having to pay extra in a shop for using the card or Apple Pay.

As I mentioned before, ATMs are different. There’s an extra fee when you withdraw cash.

I do have a Bangkok Bank account but rarely use it for small daily transactions. I’ve used QR codes a couple of times, mainly to test if they work. The Wise card (directly or via Apple Pay) and cash work best for me. countryside cash is king!

[scubascuba3]

1 minute ago, kiwikeith said:

 

Young Thai men hate falung ATMs who take their Thai GF back to their homeland to marry.

Problem is those Thai women can find someone better back in farangland

[Magictoad]

2 hours ago, Red Phoenix said:

I recently visited Australia for 5 weeks, and in many shops they do not accept cash.  So during my first week there I opened a Bank-account at ANZ - one of the larger banks in Australia - and I received the debit-card by mail within 3 days. Apart from being able now to also pay at 'no cash' shops, it also had the advantage that I could transfer funds to that account at the best currency exchange rate using WISE.  

Cash not accepted! Is that legal? I am member of a campaigning group to keep cash in circulation and campaign against credit card and phone payments. I notice that St@rf^!ks does not accept cash which I think is a disgrace.

[Magictoad]

3 minutes ago, kiwikeith said:

 

Young Thai men hate falung ATMs who take their Thai GF back to their homeland to marry.

Who told you that?! Anyway I think it's farang not falung. LOL

[K2938]

 

15 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Problem is those Thai women can find someone better back in farangland

 

They are not stupid😊

 

[new2here]

17 hours ago, CHdiver said:

So at the moment it is just Bangkok Bank. That was the favorite Bank for all Agents to open Accounts. Looks like they have a lot of dodgy accounts. My account is with SCB, opened many years ago with a WP. Now just a tourist. However no funny numbers of money going in or out. So I guess I may be safe there. Passport up to date with the bank and my phone number is registerd with bank and phone company. So lets see if they widen the restriction to other Banks or not.

 

Good question… I’d wonder not only will this spread to other banks (my own GUESS only is that it will as there’s really only upside for the bank and little downside by going this route) AND id wonder if at any point in time, banks will ask/require account holders to verify/update their status?

 

For example you opened it back in 201X and at that time held a Non-B and WP.. but now in 2025 you don’t .. I’d wonder if they will want to see if the then-status still holds true today?

[Red Phoenix]

9 minutes ago, Magictoad said:

Cash not accepted! Is that legal? I am member of a campaigning group to keep cash in circulation and campaign against credit card and phone payments. I notice that St@rf^!ks does not accept cash which I think is a disgrace.

I disagree with you on the vax-issue, but on this issue I wholeheartedly support you. 

People do not realize (yet) that only relying on card- or phone payments (or worse: supporting CBDC) opens the door for banks (and governments) to dictate how you spend your money.  This because money on your bank-account is not your money anymore, you are a debtor of the bank and the bank can apply rules on how you spend 'their' money.  We are all familiar with redrawal limits, but some banks are already experimenting with putting limits on bying certain products/services using woke arguments.  

Other recent examples are the bank-accounts of the Canadian truckers that were frozen and not accessible anymore (or some GoFundMe accounts) simply because  the truckers were not agreeing with Canada's covid-policy.  Or the very recent - in some areas - +24 hour electricity blackout in Spain with people not carrying cash unable to use ATMs or pay for the groceries with their bankcards.  

[johng]

1 minute ago, Red Phoenix said:

to dictate how you spend your money.

They could also dictate vaccination as a requirement to spend "your “ central bank digital money.🤬

[Maestro]

Removed an abusive post and the replies to it.

[Puccini]

7 hours ago, iaminwa said:

...I knew something was happening when Thai Baht was banned from P2P Trading on Bybit.

 

P2P means 

https://www.acronymfinder.com/P2P.html

 

[K2938]

4 minutes ago, Puccini said:

 

P2P means 

https://www.acronymfinder.com/P2P.html

 

P2P (peer-to-peer) crypto trading allows individuals to buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly with each other, bypassing a centralized exchange. Instead of using an exchange to match buyers and sellers, P2P platforms connect users directly.

[Russel]

I hold this account at Bangkok Bank for many years I marry with my Thai wife but currently we are living in UK 

My app still working and my account is still on. So do I need to contact my bank and if yes how? Or do I need to wait  bank contact me trough the app?

Thanks

[Puccini]

7 hours ago, Dart12 said:

yes, foreigners can open bank accounts in both USA and UK .  Not an issue to do.

 

Does that include ordinary tourists?

 

I am asking because the post to which you replied was about "ordinary tourists"

[Kinok Farang]

9 hours ago, arick said:

Bangkok Bank do I need to say anything more

 

9 hours ago, arick said:

Bangkok Bank do I need to say anything more

Yes please.

[GanDoonToonPet]

What's needed for tourists, in the increasingly cashless LOS, is access to one of the mobile payment apps. Perhaps they could upload money onto it using a service like Wise. Even China (yes, even the backwards China) has managed to do this with Alipay.

[WHansen]

1 hour ago, K2938 said:

Some Brit on Fb just reported that his account was blocked 2 days ago so indeed seems not be limited to Russians

After seeing this i got a little worried so just logged in to my account online, not via the app and successfully made my monthly 8,500 transfer to my girlfriend for my house rent.

My account was opened 8 years ago with help from an agent/lawyer when i did not have an address.

I had a message from BB on my account to verify my phone number etc but it only mentioned the mobile banking app so i ignored it, i had left Thailand by then anyway. The message said my account would be restricted by the 29th of April if i did not verify the details.

I am hoping i do not get my account blocked at some point soon but as there is only 70,000 in my BB it is not a big problem, i would just transfer 6 months rent directly from my UK bank to my GF's BB account and sort my account out on my return in December.

If my BB account did get completely shut down, in my situation of only using the ATM to withdraw 20,000 at a time, i would not loose any sleep of being charged B220/£5 to use my UK bank card for the 3 months i am in Thailand. 20,000/£450 a week, £5 a week in charges, it would only cost me approx an extra £65 for my 3 month holiday. It would be higher for the big spenders admittedly but it is peanuts in the overall scheme of things.

 

 

[K2938]

47 minutes ago, Russel said:

I hold this account at Bangkok Bank for many years I marry with my Thai wife but currently we are living in UK 

My app still working and my account is still on. So do I need to contact my bank and if yes how? Or do I need to wait  bank contact me trough the app?

Thanks

To check I just topped up my mobile phone from the bank account.  This still worked, so I guess all is still working.  Maybe you want to do the same....

[Lorry]

7 hours ago, sandyf said:

Apologies. For those that choose to ignotre context I will amend.

 

How many of tha advanced economies allow tourists to open bank accounts and how many allow people to arrive through normal channels without a visa and stay for years on end.

 

Referring to illegal migration is an unnecessary distraction.

In Europe, it is absolutely legal to walk across the border and claim asylum because of persecution.

And if you unfortunately lost your passport,  they don't know which country to send you back to.

[Gottfrid]

Not an issue. people that visit Thailand as a tourist, does not need a Thai bank account

[wozza]

I have had my phone number registered on  my wife's prepaid bill for 10 years and I haven't received any notifications from the bank to update the phone details. Does it only affect phone or bank accounts created since 2022?

 

 

[Red Phoenix]

8 minutes ago, WHansen said:

After seeing this i got a little worried so just logged in to my account online, not via the app and successfully made my monthly 8,500 transfer to my girlfriend for my house rent.

My account was opened 8 years ago with help from an agent/lawyer when i did not have an address.

I had a message from BB on my account to verify my phone number etc but it only mentioned the mobile banking app so i ignored it, i had left Thailand by then anyway. The message said my account would be restricted by the 29th of April if i did not verify the details.

I am hoping i do not get my account blocked at some point soon but as there is only 70,000 in my BB it is not a big problem, i would just transfer 6 months rent directly from my UK bank to my GF's BB account and sort my account out on my return in December.

If my BB account did get completely shut down, in my situation of only using the ATM to withdraw 20,000 at a time, i would not loose any sleep of being charged B220/£5 to use my UK bank card for the 3 months i am in Thailand. 20,000/£450 a week, £5 a week in charges, it would only cost me approx an extra £65 for my 3 month holiday. It would be higher for the big spenders admittedly but it is peanuts in the overall scheme of things.

Transferring money from your UK Bank-account directly to your Thai bank-account is a slow, expensive and non-transparent method. Obviously, using your UK bank-card to withdraw money from a Thai ATM is even worse.  But when transferring money directly from UK to your Thai bank-account the exchange-rate used by your bank for providing that service is more often than not very bad, and sometimes also the receiving Thai bank charges a fee. 

Several posters in this thread already mentioned WISE.   And the reason that people use WISE as 'intermediary' to transfer money to Thailand, is simple > WISE uses the mid-market rate (=the actual exchange rate, the middle of the buyer-sale rate and which changes every minute) and WISE charges a very modest fee for transferring your money to any foreign bank-account, and you will know beforehand exactly how much THB the recipient will receive.  Cheap, fast and totally transparent. 

Do check it out, https://www.wise.com , as it will easily save your hundreds of  £ making use of their excellent service. 

 

[thailand49]

9 hours ago, TigerandDog said:

It's not a restriction. It's reverting to the rules/requirements that have been in place for the 12 years that I've been in Thailand. BKK bank took it upon themselves to relax/expand on those restrictions and now it's coming back to bite them and everyone impacted in the bum.  My bank has never wavered from and still strictly adheres to the rules/restrictions, with one exception, that are referred to in the article. That exception being they will not open accounts for Americans because of the mandatory reporting back to the IRS.

Funny, I've not had any problems although it has been years with BB or my other bank joint with wife Krungsiri. I gave them my pasport, retirement extension, residential letter, US. Tax reporting form sign account opened.

[Lorry]

There are no "rules".

 

A foreign friend of mine has been locked out of her account without notice. 

She has now been to the branch that opened the account,  two times.

They refuse to give back her money.

They told her to go to immigration first... and come back in 3 days (which is a holiday in Thailand). 

 

So I called Bangkok Bank and asked, what the rules are. I was told,  there are no official rules. They close or freeze accounts on a case-by-case basis. There are no internal guidelines.

 

I also asked Kbank and was told, "we cannot and do not just close or block an account". Only 2 exceptions: police legal action, or less than the minimum balance of 2000B for a long time.

 

So, whoever still has a Bangkok Bank account should keep the balance low.