Here's a new one

[happydreamer]

Went into BBK Bank Saturday to update phone number and do face scan.  Asked about opening a second account so that I could use one as my spouse visa holding account and one as a personal usage account.

Was told that unless I had a work permit I couldn't open any bank accounts anymore.  This was a new policy by all the banks

 

As with anything told at any of these banks Im taking it as a half-truth until otherwise told its actual truth.

 

Just curious how banks can tell you they won't open an account for you but to get the visa you need a bank account. I went thru this sh!t back in 2022 and had to hire a legal entity to open the account for me.  I get the feeling that this is what they are pushing, but the banks just can't say it.

 

Anyone have any experience with it?  Not super important.  Money stuck in a personal safe in my house does the same as money in a Thai bank.  Thought it was worth mentioning

[asiaexpat]

Have the BKK Bank call BKK Bank head office and they will be told that a long term visa (extension) OR work permit is needed. Most branches also require a letter from your embassy stating passport is real and address.

I used my Yellow House book rather than embassy letter and that was accepted. 

[DrJack54]

22 minutes ago, happydreamer said:

Was told that unless I had a work permit I couldn't open any bank accounts anymore.  This was a new policy by all the banks

Seems a dramatic new requirement.

The OP in this thread attached having huge issues despite having a Non O 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1365961-opening-bank-account-rules-catch-22-1-year-extension/

[CallumWK]

26 minutes ago, happydreamer said:

Was told that unless I had a work permit I couldn't open any bank accounts anymore.  This was a new policy by all the banks

 

I experienced the same with TTB, where I had been a customer for many years. I was a customer with Tannachart before they merged with Thai military bank.

 

When earlier this year I want to open an additional account I was told the same. Only work permit holders. I'm on a retirement extension for 17 years, have yellow book, pink ID card and TIN.

 

I tried other branches but got the same answer, have spoken to head office twice on the issue, to no avail.

 

Somewhere on this forum is a thread of mine that I started in that regard at that time.

 

Looks like other banks now also follow suit, which indeed is worrying

[CallumWK]

35 minutes ago, happydreamer said:

 Money stuck in a personal safe in my house does the same as money in a Thai bank.

 

Yes money in a personal safe will pay as much interest as Thai banks these days, and you don't risk the bank going tits up.

The only difference is that you can't use it for your extension at immigration.

[happydreamer]

Fortunately I have the one bank account already that was opened in Jan 2022...but even that was a hassle and I had to use a legal entity to do it.  

Not happy to see so many others struggling.  Only can hope this is a temp thing while they clean up the riff-raff.  But something tells me that this is a push to have these "agents" who work with the officials doing a money grab.

[pdebuck456]

Yeah, seems to be impossible to get a bankaccount now, unless non immigrant B with workpermit (the WP only having been mentioned a few times, but the non B is an absolute requirement).

Will have a go tomorrow in Buriram, but not much hope as all the banks seem to refer to guidelines recently received from their respective head offices.

 

At the moment for longer stays in my case I seem to be limited to non O, followed by 60 day extension on visiting wife, and then a new non O visa. 

Rather costly with the needed travels and just the non O also coming in at 80€.

Along with uncertainty and having to rely on the missus bank account for living expenses, rent payments and whatnot.

 

So basically prospective longstayers either married or retired who do not yet have local bankaccount are <deleted> out of luck.

Retirees do have the option of the non OA visa, but after will get stuck if wanting an in-country extension...

[pdebuck456]

1 hour ago, asiaexpat said:

Have the BKK Bank call BKK Bank head office and they will be told that a long term visa (extension) OR work permit is needed. Most branches also require a letter from your embassy stating passport is real and address.

I used my Yellow House book rather than embassy letter and that was accepted. 

Long term extension requirement is a bit moot, because when you have one of those you already have a bank account with either 400K or 800K THB in it.

 

So far non immigrant O (marriage) plus lease contract plus certificate of residence issued by CW immigration has not yet resulted in successfully opening a bankaccount, on as of now 8 attempts at 6 different banks.

 

So simply not way in getting a 1 year extension based on marriage....

[DrJack54]

20 minutes ago, pdebuck456 said:

Will have a go tomorrow in Buriram, but not much hope as all the banks seem to refer to guidelines recently received from their respective head offices.

Let's hope the carrier pigeons have not reach Isan.

Please report back.

 

[pdebuck456]

Just now, DrJack54 said:

Let's hope the carrier pigeons have not reach Isan.

Please report back.

 

Will do!

[Jabatron]

Just checked Krungsri at EmQuartier for curiosity today. Went with my wife. They said they can open a bank account for me when I have non-o. They told me that the requirements didn't change. They will just have to send my documents to the head office. 

Requested documents:
Non-o visa
Certificate of marriage 
Lease
Passport 

Didn't even ask me for COR. I am still on DTV so who knows if they will really open it for me on non-o but the girl didn't give any indications that it will be a problem. 

[DrJack54]

6 minutes ago, Jabatron said:

Requested documents:
Non-o visa
Certificate of marriage 
Lease
Passport 

Don't follow.

Yes that should be sufficient however you then state you have a DTV.

In any event to open the bank account should be accepted or rejected on the spot. 

[Jabatron]

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

Don't follow.

Yes that should be sufficient however you then state you have a DTV.

In any event to open the bank account should be accepted or rejected on the spot. 

Yeah we told her that for now I have DTV but after it expires we will be switching to non-o marriage visa and that we've heard there are new requirements. 

She said that there are no new requirements and told me that these are all the documents she needs from us. And that these will be send to the head office for approval. We were not turned back or told that we will need non-b.  

[pdebuck456]

12 minutes ago, Jabatron said:

Just checked Krungsri at EmQuartier for curiosity today. Went with my wife. They said they can open a bank account for me when I have non-o. They told me that the requirements didn't change. They will just have to send my documents to the head office. 

Requested documents:
Non-o visa
Certificate of marriage 
Lease
Passport 

Didn't even ask me for COR. I am still on DTV so who knows if they will really open it for me on non-o but the girl didn't give any indications that it will be a problem. 

First thing I hear of having to send documents to head office and waiting for approval before opening account.

It's either on the spot or not at all.

Maybe just covering so she can claim it's a head office decision so she doesn't have to take the loss of face!

[pdebuck456]

Or it might be some confusion, as apparently once holding a marriage non immigrant O 1 year extension, you "might" be able to open an account.

 

Only to get that 1 year extension you need to have an account already 🙃

 

[pdebuck456]

Nevertheless, when back from Buriram I'll definitely drop by that Emquartier branch!

[Jabatron]

Yeah you may be right. Who knows if they'd actually open it. But I hope you have a luck with it! Definitely bring your wife! Mine did all the talking. 

Sent emails to 3 law firms too btw. All 3 responded to me that they can definitely assist me with opening an account on non-o visa. Siam asked me if I have a lease on my name first. I said yes. Then they told me they can assist me opening an account. 

[problemfarang]

i think banks are after people who used agency for opening acc. also i heard/read many things about banks are after scammers too. foreigner scammers. mostly from china. maybe this is also effecting things. 

i dont know about retirement non-o if they can open bank acc or not but yes banks ask for work permit like many many years for now. 

when i first arrived to thailand 20ish years ago the only bank accepted to open an acc for me was the bangkok bank (personal opinion: i hate bangkok bank for many reasons and i think its the worst bank in thailand) but they told me i cannot have ATM card and i have to come to the main HQ in bangkok if i want to withdraw money. i had bank book. i had tourist visa when this happened in my first 5-6 months before start working with thai army. 

i had acc & credit card with HSBC and they had a HQ at that time (dont know if they still have) they told me i can still use my acc here but i must do money movement 500K every month.. obviously it was only for business acc.

my opinion again.. i think its normal that banks open acc for and immigrant visa. the rest.. no need

 

 

[Lorry]

1 hour ago, problemfarang said:

I think banks are after people who used agency for opening acc. also i heard/read many things about banks are after scammers too. foreigner scammers.

You mean, the banks want to attract people who use agents to open an account, and they want to attract scammers?  These are the people they want to have as customers?

I completely agree. 

[BrandonJT]

3 hours ago, happydreamer said:

Only can hope this is a temp thing while they clean up the riff-raff.  But something tells me that this is a push to have these "agents" who work with the officials doing a money grab.

 

Has nothing to wo with riff-raff or with agents.  This all stems from the new law that just went into effect. Now banks are responsible for the funds lost in scams and fraud.  The banks are no longer willing to take any chances that could potentially hold them liable for such losses.  So they're making it really difficult for foreigners to get bank accounts.  Same as always happens in Thailand, foreigners are getting the finger pointed at them for things that are majority Thai.  Most of the fraud and scams are from Thai opened accounts.

[bg53]

This new policy hits honest applicants. Scammers will always find a way.

[problemfarang]

31 minutes ago, Lorry said:

You mean, the banks want to attract people who use agents to open an account, and they want to attract scammers?  These are the people they want to have as customers?

I completely agree. 

 

sad fact.

bank are not doing or helping at all when you scammed. 

my friend (thai) got scammed via call center. they knew and had all of his info. obviously working with the government bank or government land deed. he bought a house and after a year call center scam called him and said he has to pay tax for the new house. well the thing is there is no such tax for new house. they told him he must accept the app they will send via line. he clicked it and magic happened. lost all of the money from his bank acc and 100k from his credit card. immediately he called the bank because he got a text massage from the bank about this. he said it was not him and he scammed. bank did nothing. didnt even give the name where the money transfer to. i cannot understand why they cannot give the name.  All they said was the money transferred to UOB. when he said it was not him and asked for get the money back or take any action bank said they cannot do anything.. UOB was another joke. they didnt even listen to him. as you said they were with the scammer at all. went to police and police asked if he has any evidence. he cannot show anything because the app deleted and all chat deleted right after he clicked the app to install. so banki told him to change all of his passwords thats all. 

 

so i think banks are just trying to show they are doing something but they are totally with the scammers. i cannot understand

and as usual... its not thai people bu farangs to blame doing scams or something like this

[Lorry]

21 minutes ago, problemfarang said:

didnt even give the name where the money transfer to.

That's normal in Thailand. 

 

Scammers are good business for thre banks,  of course they protect them

[problemfarang]

19 minutes ago, Lorry said:

That's normal in Thailand. 

 

Scammers are good business for thre banks,  of course they protect them

 

yep.. strange indeed. 

[Yagoda]

4 hours ago, Jabatron said:

Just checked Krungsri at EmQuartier for curiosity today. Went with my wife. They said they can open a bank account for me when I have non-o. They told me that the requirements didn't change. They will just have to send my documents to the head office. 

Requested documents:
Non-o visa
Certificate of marriage 
Lease
Passport 

Didn't even ask me for COR. I am still on DTV so who knows if they will really open it for me on non-o but the girl didn't give any indications that it will be a problem. 

Krungsri EmQuartier is an excellent bank for farang my account is there

[Liquorice]

1 hour ago, BrandonJT said:

Most of the fraud and scams are from Thai opened accounts.

I have it on good authority that is not the case.
The Myanmar and Cambodian call centre scammers that used Thai bank account to launder money were foreigners, predominantly Chinese and Cambodians.

[BrandonJT]

1 minute ago, Liquorice said:

I have it on good authority that is not the case.
The Myanmar and Cambodian call centre scammers that used Thai bank account to launder money were foreigners, predominantly Chinese and Cambodians.

Why the media blitz against mule accounts then? Posters all over BTS stations. Etc.  Because most of the accounts are opened by Thai people with a Thai ID card.  Should be more difficult now with the SIM card requirements etc, but they figure out ways around everything.

[Liquorice]

3 minutes ago, BrandonJT said:

Why the media blitz against mule accounts then? Posters all over BTS stations. Etc.  Because most of the accounts are opened by Thai people with a Thai ID card.  Should be more difficult now with the SIM card requirements etc, but they figure out ways around everything.

'Mule' accounts are not predominately owned by Thais, the majority already identified were Chinese and Cambodian account holders.
Thais are being warned not to deposit funds from other sources to their accounts.
The account holder, known as a "money mule", may or may not be aware that their account is being used for illicit purposes

[PHJones]

Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited (SET: BBL) reported a net profit of Baht 11,840 million in the second quarter of 2025 (Q2/25). 

 

Kasikornbank Public Company Limited (SET: KBANK) reported a net profit of Baht 12,488 million for the second quarter ended 30 June 2025.

 

[Lorry]

7 hours ago, Liquorice said:

'Mule' accounts are not predominately owned by Thais, the majority already identified were Chinese and Cambodian account holders.

 

That's the PC way, how the banks say it.

 

Let's phrase it this way:

The overwhelming majority of mule accounts have not been identified.  Only the ones owned by Chinese and Cambodians have been identified. Those of Thais have not been identified. 

Will they be identified? Has any effort been made to identify them?