Went into Bangkok Bank today to move some money from my Fixed Deposit account (Opened 3.5 years ago) to my normal savings account and in the 1st Branch was told that my FD account was locked & I had to go to my "Home" branch to get it unlocked.

As that Branch never seems to want to do anything for anybody, I went to Central Festival but again they said I couldn't do it as my FD account was locked so I had to go to Jomtien where I opened the account.

Went to Jomtien, it was rammed but finally got to speak to somebody and they told me that I needed to provide another form of Photo ID & if I couldn't then I couldn't transfer part of the account but could close it & transfer everything to my savings account.

Problem is, I don't have any other (valid) Photo ID (My UK Driving license expired in 2013, though I still have it and it's not obvious what the expiry date is so might get away with it), in fairness the lady was very sympathetic & tried explaining this to Head Office, even offering my TIN certificate as another form of ID but no go, it's either get another form of Photo ID (E.g. Thai Driving license) OR leave the account as it is OR close it & transfer everything to my normal savings account.

I explained to them that I used the FD account for my Extension (I'm on a Non-IMM O with an Extension until Sept 2026) so don't want to close the account as this might cause me hassles with Immigration and would come back with my lease agreement and any other form of ID I could find.

So my question is, if they do force me to close the account is there anything I should get from Bangkok Bank (E.g. statements/balance letter etc...) that I can use to prove to immigration that I have maintained the 800K/400K required.

I realise that I might be worrying about nothing as they may well accept my expired UK Driving license as a 2nd form of Photo ID & I use Maneerat to do my extensions and they only ever want me to get a 3 month statement but that might be because I use the FD account and it's obvious from the Bank Book that I've maintained the neccesary balance. Does anybody use Maneerat to do their extension whilst maintaining the 800K in a Bangkok Bank savings account and if so, do you need get 3 months statements or are you required to get the full 12 months (Jomtien IO).

Thanks

Sam

30 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

So my question is, if they do force me to close the account is there anything I should get from Bangkok Bank (E.g. statements/balance letter etc...) that I can use to prove to immigration that I have maintained the 800K/400K required.

What other bank account do you intend to use to prove financial compliance.

When you close an account you can still request a 12 month bank statement months later.

Note: Don't let bank teller keep the bank book after you close it.

Immigration will want bank statement + cancelled bank book

13 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

What other bank account do you intend to use to prove financial compliance.

When you close an account you can still request a 12 month bank statement months later.

Note: Don't let bank teller keep the bank book after you close it.

Immigration will want bank statement + cancelled bank book

I would use my Bangkok Bank Savings account (Blue Book) which is the account they would transfer the monies from my Bangkok Bank Fixed Deposit account (Orange Book) to.

This experience has me thinking that I should beef up my KBank account (maybe open a Fixed Deposit account with them) & run it in parallel with the BBL account this year but in 2027 use that for my extension instead.

If you don't have any valid secondary ID, I'd ask them if they'd accept a Certificate of Residence from immigration, which is relatively easy to obtain.

1 hour ago, Caldera said:

If you don't have any valid secondary ID, I'd ask them if they'd accept a Certificate of Residence from immigration, which is relatively easy to obtain.

Thanks, after I left the Jomtien Branch we ended up wandering past the Immigration office & I thought to myself that that's exactly what I should have asked as I seem to recall when I got my TIN I got a stamped CoR from Immigration with my photo on.

Will take a couple of passport pics & my Condo Lease/TM30 with me tomorrow...

Thanks Again

And the Fun & Games continue.

Handed over my (expired) UK Driving license and they weren’t interested wanted to see my lease.

Hands over my lease & they want a copy of the Chanote, GF messages the landlady who emails a copy over & Big Problem… The lease is between me & my landlady, the Chanote is in her (British) husbands name so they won’t accept it, nor will they accept a CoR from immigration.

So now I need to get a new contract between me & her husband.

All the while I’m sat there with my other Bangkok Bank account for which none of this blox is necessary !!!

Only in Amazing Thailand 😝

NB I do feel sorry for the staff as they are just following Head Office directives so when I felt myself getting angry I managed to calm down & turn it into a bit of a joke (which at the end of the day it is).

I had a similar experience last year at my home branch in Chiang Mai.

I have had a FD account for the last 5-6 years; solely for Immigration EOS purposes and never has the balance been less then the EOS requirement.  I have lived at the same home address over 10 years + as well.

Late last year my wife & I were in Nan for a week when I received a call from bank.  She said that they needed to update their records related to my FD account and would I come in that day bringing a photo ID and the FD bank book. I said I was away and would come in the following week with my new passport and she urged me to do so as soon as possible because the account would be frozen if I did not come in soon.

Five days later I was sitting at the desk of another bank representative- not the one who had called me.

I had obtained a new passport the prior year and I assumed that the expired passport info in their records was the cause for their call. I asked the rep why I had been summoned to bring in my passport and he responded that I because I had made a withdrawal from my FD a few weeks back, the bank “treated” that as now placing the FD account in a “new account” status and new accounts required additional customer documentation.  It had nothing to do with my expired/new passport per se.

So I passed to him my current passport and he said that was not what I needed to provide the bank.  He said that they needed a current form of identification that has my name and home address on it to match to their FD account records.  I responded that was not what the phone call I received stated; but in ay case I had my Thai driver’s license which has my address and gave him that to copy.  Then he said that they now required 2 forms of ID, not one.  My “pink” Thai ID card I had with me was not acceptable as it does not have a home address.  My yellow book has my name and address, but no photo; and the representative said that the yellow book WOULD be acceptable as a photo on the ID was not part of their new requirement. 
Having not brought that yellow book with me I told him that I would have to come back with it in the next few days.  The rep then said that my FD account had been frozen (as of the date of that call I received the prior week I found out) and would remain so until I had satisfied the bank’s new requirement.

Obviously at this time I am not pleased to be summoned to the bank to provide documentation that was not the requirement that the rep on the phone call stated the prior week.  I was not pleased to have the bank now require another identification document proving home address for an account that was opened 6+ years before, with my present and unchanged home address of the last 10+ years; and that the bank was treating my FD account as a “new” account merely because I had made a transaction on it.

The rep was seriously embarrassed by all of this as he directly told me he did not understand why the head office was requiring this under the circumstances of my FD account and history.

The rep asked if I had any documents having my name and address on it, such as a utility bill.  I replied that I had a cellular account with True and asked if I had a copy of a billing.  I didn’t have a paper copy with me so I opened the True app on my phone and navigated to a bill that showed my name and address.  He replied that would satisfy the bank and took a photo of my phone display on his phone.

My FD account was unfrozen later that day.

So what are my takeaways?

1. A withdrawal from a Fix Deposit account triggers a flag in the bank’s system to verify that their are 2 pieces of documentation matching the account holders name to the address of the account holder in their system.  A photo of the account holder is not an element of this name-address requirement.

2. I also have a joint savings account with my wife.  This is not required for that account.

3. Calls from a bank representative asking an FD account holder to bring to the bank documentation can be incomplete or erroneous; so if you get a call ask the bank rep to be very specific or explain to the rep what forms of identification you presently have and which will fulfill their requirements.

4. What documentation ultimately satisfied my bank branch’s records may not be the same as yours; that the OP’s Certificate of Residence was not acceptable yet my phone bill was, is a prime example of this.

4 hours ago, jeffandgop said:

My “pink” Thai ID card I had with me was not acceptable as it does not have a home address. 

Your pink ID card should have your Thai address printed on it, however from my experience they required proof of an existing or previous overseas address.
In my case, I supplied a UK solicitors letter and bank statement showing my overseas address, which they accepted.
As I'm married to a Thai, they also requested a copy of my marriage certificate.

It was annoying that after first contacting me and listing additional required documentation, on arrival, they then requested proof of my overseas address, which was never mentioned initially, so a return trip later that day was required.

This is all part of their enhanced security screening due to scammers and mule accounts.

3 hours ago, Liquorice said:

It was annoying that after first contacting me and listing additional required documentation, on arrival, they then requested proof of my overseas address, which was never mentioned initially, so a return trip later that day was required.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the norm rather than the exception. They could save customers a lot of aggravation if they just told them EXACTLY what they need right away.

18 hours ago, Liquorice said:

Your pink ID card should have your Thai address printed on it, however from my experience they required proof of an existing or previous overseas address.
In my case, I supplied a UK solicitors letter and bank statement showing my overseas address, which they accepted.
As I'm married to a Thai, they also requested a copy of my marriage certificate.

It was annoying that after first contacting me and listing additional required documentation, on arrival, they then requested proof of my overseas address, which was never mentioned initially, so a return trip later that day was required.

This is all part of their enhanced security screening due to scammers and mule accounts.

My pink card "should" have my address on it?? Well it doesn't. And never have I ever had to provide proof of an overseas address for EOS's or to have a Bangkok Bank FD account.

I agree with your statement re scammers and mule accounts; that I heard from the bank as well.

19 hours ago, Liquorice said:

This is all part of their enhanced security screening due to scammers and mule accounts.

All Thai banks are similarly exposed to scammers and mule accounts so why aren't they demanding their existing customers do these ridiculous contortions?

No, the truth is a branch of BBL was busted for allowing hundreds, maybe thousands, of non-resident Chinese to illegally open accounts that facilitated millions, maybe billions of dollars equivalent to be laundered.

I previously thought that this was why BBL's initial approach to improving account security was so much tougher than any other commercial bank. However, with this deepening excoriation of FD accounts, maybe the rot extended beyond just the one branch and they are dealing with a proper can of worms?

My recommendation to anyone who is currently on any form of long-stay visa that requires annual proof of funds in a local bank, make sure you have at least three accounts, each with a different bank. Anyone depending solely on BBL account(s) is taking a risk, regardless of how long they've had these accounts, or how long they have lived at the same address.

On 1/6/2026 at 1:03 PM, SamSpade said:

And the Fun & Games continue.

Handed over my (expired) UK Driving license and they weren’t interested wanted to see my lease.

Hands over my lease & they want a copy of the Chanote, GF messages the landlady who emails a copy over & Big Problem… The lease is between me & my landlady, the Chanote is in her (British) husbands name so they won’t accept it, nor will they accept a CoR from immigration.

So now I need to get a new contract between me & her husband.

All the while I’m sat there with my other Bangkok Bank account for which none of this blox is necessary !!!

Only in Amazing Thailand 😝

NB I do feel sorry for the staff as they are just following Head Office directives so when I felt myself getting angry I managed to calm down & turn it into a bit of a joke (which at the end of the day it is).

I admire your positive attitude to this ill-conceived bank malarkey. When local bank staff are unable to explain why, it appears that whoever at their Silom head office is creating these new rules, they have absolutely no concern about possibly putting their employees at risk, or damaging customer loyalty.

1 hour ago, jeffandgop said:

My pink card "should" have my address on it?? Well it doesn't. And never have I ever had to provide proof of an overseas address for EOS's or to have a Bangkok Bank FD account.

I agree with your statement re scammers and mule accounts; that I heard from the bank as well.

Apologies to you Liquorice....you are correct, my pink card HAS the address! and the bank rep even tho I handed it to him said that it did not and I took him at his word w/o looking myself....

5 hours ago, NanLaew said:

All Thai banks are similarly exposed to scammers and mule accounts so why aren't they demanding their existing customers do these ridiculous contortions?

Whilst all banks are similarly exposed, it's a fact that Bangkok Bank has the most branches throughout Thailand, with the most extensive international network of any Thai bank, which made it in particular an ideal bank for scammers to target. Hence, they were more affected than other banks.

That's not to say I condone their method of freezing accounts and requesting additional data. Had they simply checked the history of individual accounts, they may have gleamed more useful information than what they have achieved by their unorthodox actions. For example, other than 2 overseas transfers a year and no other types of deposits and no transfers to other bank accounts, it would be easy to establish that my account wasn't being used as a mule account or any involvement in money laundering, but that would be applying common sense, before taking any actions and disrupting thousands of customers in the first instance.

All sorted, owner gave me a new contract in his name, copy of his passport and a copy of the chanote, that alongside my UK "Pink" driving license was acceptible so after dozens of forms/signatures etc... I managed to move some money from the FD account to my Savings account.

Again the staff were very polite & sympathetic to my situation so I had no problem smiling along and staying calm, was funny at the end when she said that there would be a charge of 105THB for moving the money (My savings account was opened in Bangkok) which was a lot less than I expected as the 1st branch quoted me 1,020 THB, second one 620THB so I expected more this time as I decided to move an extra 200K, she was pale when she came back & said she'd made a mistake & the charge was 877THB thinking I'd get very angry but this was exactly the number I was expecting (approx 0.1% of the transfer value) so smiles all round.

6 hours ago, NanLaew said:

maybe the rot extended beyond just the one branch and they are dealing with a proper can of worms?

And that, in turn, begs the question as to whether any disciplinary action has been, is being or will be taken against culpable staff members. If, as you suggest, multiple branches are involved here, maybe the paramount consideration in the eyes of Silom HQ is to avoid at all costs the expense and effort involved in a mass recruiting exercise to replace said staff members following their dismissal. As a result, I can't see any disciplinary action against them amounting to little more than a gentle slap on the wrist plus a whispered warning of "Don't do it again". Contrast this with the manner in which ordinary BBL account holders are gleefully being made the sole scapegoats for all this shenanigans at the insistence of Silom HQ.

I had similar issues with BB and had to travel from Bkk to Pattaya to sort it out- as the account had been opened in Pattaya

Overall a pain but as others have posted- best to stay calm

It is not fair to have a go at the staff- a bit like me as a lawyer- I am often told off by an unhappy client as the law was against the client

It is so easy to blame the messenger when the recipient does not like the message

And after all the hassle- we all wake up the next day in Thailand- which makes the hassle worth it rather than waking up in freezing UK and the joys of Starmer et al!

Any one still using BKB must be mad....Krungsri bank is still the best, being able to transfer money to any other bank account using their ATMs and withdraw 30,000 baht in one go.

On 1/8/2026 at 5:55 AM, jeffandgop said:

My pink card "should" have my address on it?? Well it doesn't. And never have I ever had to provide proof of an overseas address for EOS's or to have a Bangkok Bank FD account.

I agree with your statement re scammers and mule accounts; that I heard from the bank as well.

If your pink card does not have your home address on it, in Thai, you should check it's validity. All valid pink cards include a home address on the front of the card.

I believe BB are making the rules as they go along from my experience every branch has a different story try to argue even talk sense they give you the blank look.

Curious if your account is fixed or just in a regular savings account with the full 800,000 why would suggestion be made about obtaining 12 mouth statements I heard this many times to question similar.

Because of all the BB problems branches and ATM being close and removed from 7/11 I'm considering moving my Immigration account I use never touch meaning closing BB for example 2 million and deposit 2 million or transfer to new selected bank.

My renewal which I do myself every year next week will ask the IO straight up if I do the move as outlined will there be a problem? I figure if I keep old book and have new book transferred matching should be no problem?

move your account/s to another bank. when setting up my account BB wanted a letter from the embassy (for goodness sake), so i said, thanks, but no thanks, walked round the corner and opened an account with K bank, no problems except the copious amount of photo copying (digital age my arse) and phone calls to head office or whoever/wherever... they've been great ever since.

On 1/8/2026 at 7:43 AM, jeffandgop said:

Apologies to you Liquorice....you are correct, my pink card HAS the address! and the bank rep even tho I handed it to him said that it did not and I took him at his word w/o looking myself....

only problem with the pink card is your name is in Thai, and your bank account is most likely in English

On 1/5/2026 at 7:11 PM, SamSpade said:

Went into Bangkok Bank today to move some money from my Fixed Deposit account (Opened 3.5 years ago) to my normal savings account and in the 1st Branch was told that my FD account was locked & I had to go to my "Home" branch to get it unlocked.

As that Branch never seems to want to do anything for anybody, I went to Central Festival but again they said I couldn't do it as my FD account was locked so I had to go to Jomtien where I opened the account.

Went to Jomtien, it was rammed but finally got to speak to somebody and they told me that I needed to provide another form of Photo ID & if I couldn't then I couldn't transfer part of the account but could close it & transfer everything to my savings account.

Problem is, I don't have any other (valid) Photo ID (My UK Driving license expired in 2013, though I still have it and it's not obvious what the expiry date is so might get away with it), in fairness the lady was very sympathetic & tried explaining this to Head Office, even offering my TIN certificate as another form of ID but no go, it's either get another form of Photo ID (E.g. Thai Driving license) OR leave the account as it is OR close it & transfer everything to my normal savings account.

I explained to them that I used the FD account for my Extension (I'm on a Non-IMM O with an Extension until Sept 2026) so don't want to close the account as this might cause me hassles with Immigration and would come back with my lease agreement and any other form of ID I could find.

So my question is, if they do force me to close the account is there anything I should get from Bangkok Bank (E.g. statements/balance letter etc...) that I can use to prove to immigration that I have maintained the 800K/400K required.

I realise that I might be worrying about nothing as they may well accept my expired UK Driving license as a 2nd form of Photo ID & I use Maneerat to do my extensions and they only ever want me to get a 3 month statement but that might be because I use the FD account and it's obvious from the Bank Book that I've maintained the neccesary balance. Does anybody use Maneerat to do their extension whilst maintaining the 800K in a Bangkok Bank savings account and if so, do you need get 3 months statements or are you required to get the full 12 months (Jomtien IO).

Thanks

Sam

So, will they not accept just your Passport? Why would that be a problem?

10 minutes ago, fittobethaied said:

So, will they not accept just your Passport? Why would that be a problem?

Apparently it’s a change coming from head office so my account was frozen until I could provide extra information & I didn’t find this out until I went in to move some money :(

The staff did say that they’d had a few customers coming in with the same problem so not just me.

18 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

If your pink card does not have your home address on it, in Thai, you should check it's validity. All valid pink cards include a home address on the front of the card.

It has the address as I posted 5 days ago.......

9 hours ago, SamSpade said:

Apparently it’s a change coming from head office so my account was frozen until I could provide extra information & I didn’t find this out until I went in to move some money :(

The staff did say that they’d had a few customers coming in with the same problem so not just me.

Read my post from last Wed which explains...the bank seems to demand TWO pieces of documentation that matches your home address to the address the bank has for the account. It's not a firm requirement that the documents have your photo. A passport does not have your Thai or any other address (U.S. PP).

2 hours ago, jeffandgop said:

Read my post from last Wed which explains...the bank seems to demand TWO pieces of documentation that matches your home address to the address the bank has for the account. It's not a firm requirement that the documents have your photo. A passport does not have your Thai or any other address (U.S. PP).

1st attempt they did specifically ask me for my UK Pink "Picture" driving license which (as with UK Passports) does not have your address on it (and the old Green "Non-Picture" ones that do have an address on them will have a UK address, you cannot have a UK license registered to a Non-UK Address) but I guess they are used to Thai Driving licenses which do.

On the 2nd attempt when I showed my UK license, they weren't interested in it & much more interested in seeing my lease which they then wanted the Chanote for & weren't happy because the 2 didn't match.

As it is now, the 2 proof of addresses they have for me are the original lease with my landlady and my new lease with her husband... TM30 & Certificate of Residence from Immigration were not acceptable.

Could be that they want to see the Lease matches the Chanote, they could have saved me a lot of time & money if they'd have just told me this on the 1st attempt.

7 hours ago, jeffandgop said:

It has the address as I posted 5 days ago.

7 hours ago, jeffandgop said:

It has the address as I posted 5 days ago.......

Unlike your original posting. Anyway, glad you figured that out eventually.

I still keep my Bangkok Bank account as I have had it about 15 years and until last year I was using it for my retirement extension with Cambodia Travel. Had to open a new Krungsri account because they now deal with them, due to Bangkok Banks increased scrutiny of money laundering. Found Krungsri very easy to deal with. As a side note when transferring money via Wise. Bangkok Bank now takes 2 or 3 days where as Krungsri it arrives in seconds. As I still use BB for my main account I just transfer it over, easy enough.

On 1/12/2026 at 6:23 PM, flexomike said:

only problem with the pink card is your name is in Thai, and your bank account is most likely in English

Yes my name on my bank account is in English. But I do not understand why a translation of my name on my pink card from English to Thai would be a problem, especially as it has my photo on it...have you had such an experience? Thank you.