Bank account frozen

[impulse]

56 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Most people would deal with it by following the banks' rules and avoid the frezing!

 

I had my debit card frozen while overseas when I didn't pay the 200 baht annual card fee.  In any sane system, they'd have taken the 200 baht out of the 200K I had in the account.  Instead, I had to wait until I was in Thailand and do it in person at the branch.

 

Normally, I'm pretty happy with KBank, but not in that instance.  Though I guess they technically didn't "freeze my account", it had the same effect.

 

[riclag]

2 minutes ago, Hellfire said:

Since I haven’t engaged in any illegal activities, I don’t see a reason to be overly worried. My main concern is that reopening the account could take a month—or even longer. 

Up to you! . I'd be there the same day after being told to come in.

780k is a bit much to fluff off. 

Any way 

Good luck

[simon43]

This is a little 'scary' for anyone who has a Bangkok Bank account.  I normally use my BB account for normal everyday expenses, typically keeping a few thousand USD equivalent in that account.  As I'm now in Laos, I think I'll start to send my Wise fund transfers to my Lao bank account instead..... wouldn't want any funds frozen by BB!

[DrJack54]

8 minutes ago, ronnie50 said:

I was advised to first convert my arrival stamp (visa exemption) to an O Visa and then after that converting the O Visa into a retirement extension. Did you go A to C without step B (w/o getting an O Visa for purpose of eventual retirement extension)?

In essence that advice is correct. 

Best cut back on term converting. 

You can obtain a Non O from visa exempt or tourist visa entry using TM87 or TM86 respectfully. 

That provides a 90 day stamp "permission of stay" 

Prior to expiry you can obtain a 12 month extension of that permission of stay. 

Some refer to that  as "retirement extensions" 

They mean extension of permission of stay based on retirement. 

It's actually not even based on retirement. 

The requirement (apart from financials) is age 50+

 

[Hellfire]

I plan to call to BB central office (in Bangkok) tomorrow to complain about their office in Khon Kaen sending me to the Pattaya branch instead of solving my issues locally. I will also inform them that I have only 200 baht left after they restricted access to my money. 

[Caldera]

33 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Which road route is it that takes 15 hours non-stop, Khon Kaen to Pattaya?   Having lived in both places, I can give you a quicker route (than the one that you are exaggerating about for the purpose of dramatising your OP).

 

Can't you just stop sidetracking this thread with inane comments on how far exactly he's away from his branch? Having to go from town A to town B just to visit a specific branch is a major inconvenience for anyone who has other things to do. End of.

[david555]

11 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

I had my debit card frozen while overseas when I didn't pay the 200 baht annual card fee.  In any sane system, they'd have taken the 200 baht out of the 200K I had in the account.  Instead, I had to wait until I was in Thailand and do it in person at the branch.

 

Normally, I'm pretty happy with KBank, but not in that instance.  Though I guess they technically didn't "freeze my account", it had the same effect.

 

i left 1 Sept 2022 Thailand to E.U. home country and  kept my Kasikorn account alive with 15000 Thb, up to now 1Juli 2025 i came back , mean time the bank just took from account  annual fees automatically , all working , only those changes as face scan , and max. 50 000 transfer , of course my debit card had its expiring date reached and needed renewed

[Caldera]

10 minutes ago, simon43 said:

This is a little 'scary' for anyone who has a Bangkok Bank account.  I normally use my BB account for normal everyday expenses, typically keeping a few thousand USD equivalent in that account.  As I'm now in Laos, I think I'll start to send my Wise fund transfers to my Lao bank account instead..... wouldn't want any funds frozen by BB!

 

That's the thing. Reading these reports, you just know that there wouldn't be any way to resolve this kind of issue from abroad, so for anyone who doesn't stay in Thailand year-round, that is definitely something to consider. 

[Caldera]

22 minutes ago, impulse said:

I had my debit card frozen while overseas when I didn't pay the 200 baht annual card fee.  In any sane system, they'd have taken the 200 baht out of the 200K I had in the account.  Instead, I had to wait until I was in Thailand and do it in person at the branch.

 

Normally, I'm pretty happy with KBank, but not in that instance.  Though I guess they technically didn't "freeze my account", it had the same effect.

 

That surprises me. Kasikorn Bank ALWAYS take the annual fee for my debit cards from the account's balance. I've never had to go there (or do anything else) to pay for it myself. 

[impulse]

9 minutes ago, david555 said:

of course my debit card had its expiring date reached and needed renewed

 

My debit card hadn't expired.  When I brought it into the lobby, they had some discussions among themselves and several of them tried the card in the ATMs at the bank before one of them figured out that the issue was the 200 baht fee.

 

Eidt:  It was kind of amusing because they each gave me that look of derision and the "tsk, tsk, you stupid falang"  when they took the card to the machine.  It was the 3rd or 4th one that ran it through another machine that only they had access to.  I couldn't help but smile because they were all cute as the dickens.

 

[Hellfire]

46 minutes ago, Digitalbanana said:

It's a bank, not an immigration office. The bank does not follow your immigration status.

 And somehow the main reason the bank mentions is the fact that I supposedly opened the account with them while being on a tourist visa. What my visa status has to do with the bank? 

[david555]

1 minute ago, impulse said:

 

My debit card hadn't expired.  When I brought it into the lobby, they had some discussions among themselves and several of them tried the card in the ATMs at the bank before one of them figured out that the issue was the 200 baht fee.

 

not so much my reply , as the fee for card or account fee was withdraw from account automatic until expiring date .... then of course stopped , i even reloaded my Thai sim  from account by online banking to keep activity on account during those years 

[Hellfire]

Can somebody supply me with the Bangkok Bank complaints email, if they have any? Thank you

 

no need - found it with chat gpt:

 

3. Email: CC&[email protected] (Customer’s Complaints and Fraud Cases, Compliance Unit)
   •  

 

[impulse]

12 minutes ago, david555 said:

not so much my reply , as the fee for card or account fee was withdraw from account automatic until expiring date .... then of course stopped , i even reloaded my Thai sim  from account by online banking to keep activity on account during those years 

 

I was contrasting my experience with yours.  I can't explain why they were different. 

 

In fact, I had just gotten a new debit card and updated my account with my new passport number a few months earlier.  That's why I was surprised I had the problem.  First, it was declined in China.  Then declined again at Swampy when I landed.  Finally, declined at the bank branch.  Took them about half an hour (and much discussion) to figure it out.

 

 

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

You are jumping the gun a bit. When a bank says it is visa related, it cannot be assumed it has to do with funds for an extension.

Back in 2014 I got an email saying I had to visit the branch and show passport or i would  lose access to online banking. They wanted to check I had a long term visa, I had a Non O ME at the time and that was considered acceptable.

In the last day or so a message has appeared on my phone from  TTB  that I must visit "a branch" with passport by 9th Sept 2025. Only a couple of week notice and I seldom take notice of messages, there was one on there for weeks about FATCA, ignored that one.

If I don't go what is likely to happen.

 

Me too 

What'll happen is your maximum transaction will be restricted to 50kbht.

This is another order to set up facial recognition on your bank app.

[david555]

22 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Me too 

What'll happen is your maximum transaction will be restricted to 50kbht.

This is another order to set up facial recognition on your bank app.

And that is anyway the final outcome now for al of us to be already ....or to become as so many topics showed already

[NanLaew]

8 hours ago, Jim Blue said:

Apart from the (hefty) annual agent's fee !

 

Hefty? At current agent rates, you can do about 25 annual retirement extensions for 800 k.

 

It's like a landlord once asking me why don't I buy the house I was renting since I liked it so much? I told her I could rent her place for about 20 years for the same money, then go rent a new house instead of living in an old one.

[Cameroni]

4 hours ago, Hellfire said:

I advise everyone to keep at least some of their money in crypto stablecoins like USDT. No police, no bureaucracy, no other inhuman social construct will ever be able to arbitrarily restrict your access to what is rightfully yours.

 

Great advice. Of course the value of your money may then drop 68% in a few days, but at least you don't have to deal with a Thai bank.

[Celsius]

This just popped up minutes ago....

 

 

[Hellfire]

21 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

 

Great advice. Of course the value of your money may then drop 68% in a few days, but at least you don't have to deal with a Thai bank.

Educate yourself on stable coins like USDT.

[Everyman]

8 minutes ago, Celsius said:

This just popped up minutes ago....

 

 

 

I’ve been dreading that this exact thing would happen. I’m too young for a retirement visa, I don’t work in Thailand anymore and I’m not married so I’m screwed if they call me in. Fortunately so wasn’t in today’s batch of victims. 

[NanLaew]

2 hours ago, Digitalbanana said:

It's a bank, not an immigration office. The bank does not follow your immigration status.

 

Under Bank of Thailand's instructions, all Thai banks require foreigners who hold accounts with them to have a long-stay immigration entitlement. That's been a requirement since 2014 but was never strictly enforced.

 

Since the end of June this year, and following malfeasance by employees at a branch of Bangkok Bank in Chonburi earlier this year, Thai banks have been VERY interested in the immigration status of foreign account holders.

[Hellfire]

28 minutes ago, Celsius said:

This just popped up minutes ago....

 

 

And something like this seems to happen only to foreigners. Sure, they can close a Thai’s bank account as well, but only if there is suspicion of a crime or misuse. With foreigners, it’s done as part of the regular operations of various Thai organizations — both governmental and private — as a constant reminder to outsiders of who really runs the house. 

There is something deeply xenophobic about this. It seems that foreigners are treated as perpetual outsiders, subjected to arbitrary restrictions that locals would never face.

It starts with the ban on land ownership and gradually seeps into every aspect of life. What is particularly sad is that this process seems to have no limits and could eventually lead to the inevitable expulsion of all foreigners from the country.

Next time, think twice before expressing your naive delight at displays of Thai nationalism — whether it’s flags hung on every corner or the increasing calls to carry out a minor genocide against a neighboring people.

[Peabody]

9 hours ago, Ohyesuare said:

  9 hours ago, Hellfire said:

Whenever I try to initiate a transfer I get a message that the recipient’s account is invalid,

Who is the recipient? You?

Are you transferring funds to yourself?

[Hellfire]

9 minutes ago, Peabody said:

Who is the recipient? You?

Are you transferring funds to yourself?

Both me and my friend. Same message.

[NanLaew]

36 minutes ago, Celsius said:

This just popped up minutes ago....

 

 

 

 This renewed request to submit the same information as last month but wait for several days suggests that the original in-branch verification procedure done last month hasn't been performed properly or the process has possibly been compromised?

 

It looks like the same information now needs to be checked and verified by a higher authority (head office), hence the delays and locking.

 

[Hellfire]

9 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

 This renewed request to submit the same information as last month but wait for several days suggests that the original in-branch verification procedure done last month hasn't been performed properly or the process has possibly been compromised?

 

It looks like the same information now needs to be checked and verified by a higher authority (head office), hence the delays and locking.

 

Well, what information? Wasn’t his visa status already approved by the proper authority — the immigration office? And now the banks take it upon themselves to assume that function, “double-checking” it? Meanwhile, they leave foreigners penniless for weeks. Do you see any normal logic in this process? I certainly do not!

[Cameroni]

35 minutes ago, Hellfire said:

Educate yourself on stable coins like USDT.

 

You're right. Doesn't look volatile at all.

 

[Hellfire]

11 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

 

You're right. Doesn't look volatile at all.

 

Look at the range, please — it’s all within less than 1%, almost negligible. The purpose of this coin is stability. I wouldn’t claim that there are absolutely no risks associated with it, but the more I deal with modern banking services (including here all kinds of electronic wallets), the more the drawbacks and risks of coins like USDT seem almost non-existent.

[dutch boy]

10 hours ago, Cameroni said:

This is why people use an agent. No money that can be confiscated.

And you do not need to do a 90 day report. Works every time.