On 8/6/2025 at 5:56 PM, MarkBR said:

Looks like Bangkok Bank are trying to drive most people away from Bangkok Bank -  utterly stupid.

 

And we're clearly talking about a 2-pronged attack on Bangkok Bank's part as well. In addition to the particular stunt highlighted on this thread, they're also now hell-bent on ramming their poxy app down our throats through withdrawing their online service for new applicants (how long before they do the same for existing users?). And, then to add insult to injury, they are, in effect, making it to all intents and purposes impossible to register for and subsequently use said poxy app in any event through a nonsensical facial recognition procedure which requires you to blink 3 times, turn your head slowly to the left and slowly to the right and then smile with bare teeth exposed, all to be accomplished within a time span of a handful of seconds!🤬

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1369003-bangkok-bank-app-face-scan-problems/

 

What if you need a bank certificate balance letter for another reason? Not immigration? Will they also freeze it? Like just go to the bank and ask for a balance statement.

Because for family visas (Thai children) there's no 3 months in the bank requirement. The money can be in the account for 1 day before. So it wouldn't make any sense to freeze it right?

5 hours ago, patrickl said:

What if you need a bank certificate balance letter for another reason? Not immigration? Will they also freeze it? Like just go to the bank and ask for a balance statement.

The signing of a BBL statement advising funds will be "frozen" for eg 4 months is to do with request for Bank Letter. 

That letter simply confirms you as owner of the account in your name only and  balance at time of issue. 

 

Not to be confused with Bank Statement which is print out of all the transactions for a given period. 

eg 3-12 months etc. 

That can be used to prove financial compliance. 

I have read through the previous 10 pages and have not seen this question, maybe someone has tried this scenario already?

 

I am about 4 weeks out from applying for my third retirement extension.  My BKK Bank account has been topped back up to the 800K and has 2 more weeks before the 2 month seasoning is complete.

 

If I were to go to my branch next week, could I sign the "freeze document" now and start the 4 month freeze 4 weeks before I approach them for my Bank Letter?

 

 

1 hour ago, Papa Panda said:

If I were to go to my branch next week, could I sign the "freeze document" now and start the 4 month freeze 4 weeks before I approach them for my Bank Letter?

Good question. I doubt it very much. 

Thinking the bogus "freeze doc" Would go hand in hand with the Bank Letter. 

The Bank letter is only valid for 7 days. 

I usually get a Bangkok Bank letter verifying monthly deposits from the U.S. Treasury to a Foreign t they are no longer issuing the letters.  They aren't.  The best they could do was "stamp" a multi-page, one year statement from the account.  Neither Immigration nor my Agent would take the alternative and insisted on the previously issued Bank Letter.  

 

Their advice?  Switch Banks.

On 7/1/2025 at 10:34 AM, Equatorial said:

 

It is completely irrelevant what they have to say on this topic. It's the IO that enforces the immigration rules, not the bank. 

Bangkok bank,

No 400k frozen = no immigration letter = no visa extension.

Got my 400k frozen earlier this week for marriage extension.

It's extortion, plain and simple!

@BritManToo  (and anyone else) 

I suggest moving your money to a friendlier bank

as soon as you can.

I would also leave a nominal amount in the frozen account..just in case it might be useful again in the future...cos you never know.

Just now, johng said:

@BritManToo  (and anyone else) 

I suggest moving your money to a friendlier bank

as soon as you can.

I would also leave a nominal amount in the frozen account..just in case it might be useful again in the future...cos you never know.

I have no choice but to leave 400k in the bank for the next 4 months.

It's frozen!

23 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I have no choice but to leave 400k in the bank for the next 4 months.

It's frozen!

So the 4 months rogue freeze starts from when bank letter was provided or from when the balance was at least 400k.

 

Was this BBL bank in Pattaya or elsewhere

 

23 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I have no choice but to leave 400k in the bank for the next 4 months.

As soon as you can....  as in after it is not frozen.

34 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

So the 4 months rogue freeze starts from when bank letter was provided or from when the balance was at least 400k.

 

Was this BBL bank in Pattaya or elsewhere

 

Starts from the day you get the letter.

This was in Chiang Mai.

Obviously the money had been in the bank for the required 2 months before extension application.

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Starts from the day you get the letter.

Ridiculous behavior from bank 

4 hours ago, Edheres said:

I usually get a Bangkok Bank letter verifying monthly deposits from the U.S. Treasury to a Foreign t they are no longer issuing the letters.  They aren't.  The best they could do was "stamp" a multi-page, one year statement from the account.  Neither Immigration nor my Agent would take the alternative and insisted on the previously issued Bank Letter.  

 

Their advice?  Switch Banks.

Go to a different branch.  Keep trying different branches until you get one that will issue the letter.  That's how many other people who posted about this problem resolved it.

And then in the meantime switch banks.

To calm some members fears who have their BBK accounts in Phuket.

 

I can verify from personal experience that BBK is not freezing funds or making you sign any additional paperwork in at least two branches on the island.  I addition, no posters as seen in other members posts are displayed.

 

This information is accurate within the past two weeks.

On 10/3/2025 at 4:47 PM, Edheres said:

I usually get a Bangkok Bank letter verifying monthly deposits from the U.S. Treasury to a Foreign t they are no longer issuing the letters.  They aren't.  The best they could do was "stamp" a multi-page, one year statement from the account.  Neither Immigration nor my Agent would take the alternative and insisted on the previously issued Bank Letter.  

 

Their advice?  Switch Banks.

Obviously, changing banks now, would not help you get a 1-year history of previously-transferred funds, to support your current extension, so their advise is the typical bad-attitude (expletive) we have come to expect from Immigration.

 

But, to clarify - was the issue that they demanded a summary-statement, showing ONLY the foreign-transfers?  Or, was the issue that your 12-mo statement did not identify the deposits as "foreign" in origin - with a code like "FTT" (foreign telegraphic-transfer), or similar on every foreign-transfer?

If it is the 2nd case, a 12-month statement in Thai Language has been reported to solve the problem. 

If it is "I don't want to have to look for the transfers in the full-statement" laziness, I recall a report where an applicant arranged a phone-call between IO and bank (who told the IO to just do their job) - but no guarantee. 

 

4 minutes ago, Rob Browder said:

Obviously, changing banks now, would not help you get a 1-year history of previously-transferred funds, to support your current extension, so their advise is the typical bad-attitude (expletive) we have come to expect from Immigration.

 

 

 

 

 

There is no issue presenting 2 (or more) separate bank statements to evidence monthly income.

2 hours ago, hotandsticky said:

There is no issue presenting 2 (or more) separate bank statements to evidence monthly income.

Yes - but if the bank with the last year's worth of transfers wont cooperate with this IO's request for a "special summary" of "just the transfers"**, an applicant is out of a visa, this year - or move to another province - or do agent-van runs, etc.

 

4 minutes ago, Rob Browder said:

Yes - but if the bank with the last year's worth of transfers wont cooperate with this IO's request for a "special summary" of "just the transfers"**, an applicant is out of a visa, this year - or move to another province - or do agent-van runs, etc.

 

 

 

Sorry, I might have missed something, but why would anyone want "special summary" of "just the transfers"

Just now, hotandsticky said:

 

 

Sorry, I might have missed something, but why would anyone want "special summary" of "just the transfers"

 

 

OK, I think this may refer to the certified transfers obtained from the international department (of K Bank in my case for Jomtien immigration).

3 hours ago, Rob Browder said:

Obviously, changing banks now, would not help you get a 1-year history of previously-transferred funds, to support your current extension, so their advise is the typical bad-attitude (expletive) we have come to expect from Immigration.

 

But, to clarify - was the issue that they demanded a summary-statement, showing ONLY the foreign-transfers?  Or, was the issue that your 12-mo statement did not identify the deposits as "foreign" in origin - with a code like "FTT" (foreign telegraphic-transfer), or similar on every foreign-transfer?

If it is the 2nd case, a 12-month statement in Thai Language has been reported to solve the problem. 

If it is "I don't want to have to look for the transfers in the full-statement" laziness, I recall a report where an applicant arranged a phone-call between IO and bank (who told the IO to just do their job) - but no guarantee. 

 

The Bangkok Bank statements and the letter listing all the foreign deposits that they issued until this year clearly marked the source as a US Government Agency. It was directly deposited to the Bangkok Bank New York Branch for a fee of course and then the New York Branch did an internal transfer to my local branch in Pattaya.  Immigration wants the same letter, not a stamped copy of my bank statement for one year (with the deposits also clearly marked as coming from the US Government).  Seems it's solely a Bangkok Bank change of policy.  The cost for the fix, including switching to another bank is going to be about 30K Baht.

On 10/3/2025 at 9:43 PM, BrandonJT said:

Go to a different branch.  Keep trying different branches until you get one that will issue the letter.  That's how many other people who posted about this problem resolved it.

And then in the meantime switch banks.

Different Branch isn't working according to the Banks and the branches at Central (in Pattaya), and in Jomtien.  Seems it's a new policy from the hed office and others are seeing it at Bangkok Bank everywhere. I think early on, like in July when the policy first changed, some folks were able to find uninformed branches and were able to beat the system.  Alas, switching banks won't help this cycle.

1 hour ago, hotandsticky said:

Sorry, I might have missed something, but why would anyone want "special summary" of "just the transfers"

 

Some Bangkok Bank branches issued them and some immigration offices accepted them and they were one of the most simple ways to prove the monthly incoming requirements for an extension.

 

An example is shown here:

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1371981-bangkok-bank-letter-for-extension-of-stay-65000-thb/#findComment-20072277

 

 

1 hour ago, hotandsticky said:

OK, I think this may refer to the certified transfers obtained from the international department (of K Bank in my case for Jomtien immigration).

 

Sounds similar, but previously issued at branches for BBL.

3 hours ago, Edheres said:

Seems it's solely a Bangkok Bank change of policy. 

It was Immigration that started requesting these detailed monthly income letters to save them going through passbooks and statements transactions. Just the overseas monthly deposits nicely typed out in order.

When Immigration first requested such a letter from my branch of Bangkok Bank the manger told them her staff were far too busy to do their job for them.

It's not the bank's policy, or an Immigration order, it's the whim of some Immigration officials to make their life easier.

8 hours ago, Edheres said:

Different Branch isn't working according to the Banks and the branches at Central (in Pattaya), and in Jomtien.  Seems it's a new policy from the hed office and others are seeing it at Bangkok Bank everywhere. I think early on, like in July when the policy first changed, some folks were able to find uninformed branches and were able to beat the system.  Alas, switching banks won't help this cycle.

Get out of Pattaya.  Every branch of Bangkok Bank is tainted there and they're all useless.

Does anyone know if once the 4 month freeze expires do they automatically unblock your account or do you have to contact the bank ??

3 hours ago, 1948wjm said:

Does anyone know if once the 4 month freeze expires do they automatically unblock your account or do you have to contact the bank ??

The policy only started about a month ago, so no one would be able to answer that.  But based on what the bank staff have indicated, it should just be set for 4 months and end on its own. We won't have firsthand reports for some time now.

Thanks Brandon

On 8/15/2025 at 5:10 AM, jeffandgop said:

Folks (marriage) that are affected are those that do not have the necessary 400K in an account 4 months prior to requesting from the bank the letter.  If you do have the necessary 400K in an account 4 months prior to requesting from the bank the letter there will be no freeze, per the bank manager I met with a few weeks ago.  She took one look at my FD passbook which was opened 6 years ago and said don't worry about it....

 

I used to keep the 400,000 in the bank most of the year.  Then I asked the bank if my wife would have access to my account if I were to die.

The answer was no. It would have to go through the probate process first which would be time consuming at least and might require the help of a lawyer at worst. So, I then decided to keep a sufficiently large sum in our own safe at home for easy access.

 

The worst thing about the new regulation is that it was dropped like a bombshell without much warning , not allowing time for people to get their ducks in a row. We have just returned from a 1 month holiday in the UK and so I am only now getting up to speed with all this. So , with my extension being due at the end of the month I am faced with the option of having my 400,000 frozen for another 4 months ( almost 7 months in total ) or just leaving the country, getting another Non Imm single entry and then applying for an extension in the new year . But before leaving I would just clean out my BB account of all but a couple of thousand baht and put it into my Kasikorn account. Convoluted but at least I would retain access to my funds.

Talk about Hobsons choice. Hmmm.

14 minutes ago, trucking said:

 

I used to keep the 400,000 in the bank most of the year.  Then I asked the bank if my wife would have access to my account if I were to die.

The answer was no. It would have to go through the probate process first which would be time consuming at least and might require the help of a lawyer at worst. So, I then decided to keep a sufficiently large sum in our own safe at home for easy access.

 

Just leave your wife your ATM card and PIN. She'll have those funds spent long before the bank figures out you're dead.

 

Paul Laew