I haven't been to Thailand for just over a year, nor have I made any transactions. My SCB Easy app has now marked my account as dormant. The balance is just over 4,000 baht.

I no longer live in Thailand, but do usually spend a few months a year there, so it's convenient to keep this account open. Do recent changes to banking regulations mean that having a Thai bank account is no longer viable if you don't have a long-term visa?

I realise there may not be a clear-cut answer to this question, but would be interested in hearing any opinions or recent experiences.

1 minute ago, purplesage said:

I haven't been to Thailand for just over a year, nor have I made any transactions. My SCB Easy app has now marked my account as dormant. The balance is just over 4,000 baht.

I no longer live in Thailand, but do usually spend a few months a year there, so it's convenient to keep this account open. Do recent changes to banking regulations mean that having a Thai bank account is no longer viable if you don't have a long-term visa?

I realise there may not be a clear-cut answer to this question, but would be interested in hearing any opinions or recent experiences.

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If you have more than 1 SCB account you can just transfer 1 baht from one account to the other to lift the dormant issue.

Otherwise, just go to SCB whenever you are again in Thailand, and get it sorted instantly.

Your account doesn't get closed or funds removed.

Edit : If you balance is below 500 baht, an amount will be deducted every month until it's zero, and then closed

Edited September 6Sep 6 by CallumWK

Once a Thai bank account gets locked for dormancy, you usually have to visit a bank branch in person to reactivate it. This is largely a security measure, partly to prevent fraud if the account holder has passed away. Simply trying to perform a transaction remotely to reactivate the account typically won't work.

Also, for foreigners, many Thai banks no longer allow you to maintain an account unless you hold a long term visa and can provide proof of residence in Thailand.

On top of that, some banks charge maintenance fees on dormant accounts, amounting to few hundred Baht a month. If you leave an account sitting with only around 4,000 Baht left in it, those fees can completely wipe out your balance after a couple of years.

There is also an older thread on this topic here in case it might be of interest:

14 minutes ago, FriscoKid said:

On top of that, some banks charge maintenance fees on dormant accounts, amounting to few hundred Baht a month. If you leave an account sitting with only around 4,000 Baht left in it, those fees can completely wipe out your balance after a couple of years.

Nope, there is no Thai bank the charges a few hundred baht A MONTH for dormant accounts, and neither is the balance for charging a fee at 4000 baht.

Most banks the minimum balance is 500 baht, with a very few banks requiring a balance of 1000 or 2000 baht.

18 minutes ago, FriscoKid said:

Once a Thai bank account gets locked for dormancy, you usually have to visit a bank branch in person to reactivate it.

Another ignorant comment. I have 3 SCB account, as soon as one of them shows as dormant in the app, I transfer 1 baht from one of the other 2, and instantly it isn't dormant any more.\

This doesn't apply to every bank, but it does with SCB

1 hour ago, purplesage said:

I haven't been to Thailand for just over a year, nor have I made any transactions. My SCB Easy app has now marked my account as dormant. The balance is just over 4,000 baht.

I no longer live in Thailand, but do usually spend a few months a year there, so it's convenient to keep this account open. Do recent changes to banking regulations mean that having a Thai bank account is no longer viable if you don't have a long-term visa?

I realise there may not be a clear-cut answer to this question, but would be interested in hearing any opinions or recent experiences.

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give me your account number... I'll send you 10฿ to wake up your account. Don't spend it all in one place!

Actually, I have a monthly 10฿ transfer scheduled to one of my accounts at another bank and also to my wife's account at a third Thai bank. Only takes a minute or two but should work to keep our backup accounts alive.

Edited September 6Sep 6 by gamb00ler

5 hours ago, FriscoKid said:

Once a Thai bank account gets locked for dormancy, you usually have to visit a bank branch in person to reactivate it. This is largely a security measure, partly to prevent fraud if the account holder has passed away. Simply trying to perform a transaction remotely to reactivate the account typically won't work.

Also, for foreigners, many Thai banks no longer allow you to maintain an account unless you hold a long term visa and can provide proof of residence in Thailand.

On top of that, some banks charge maintenance fees on dormant accounts, amounting to few hundred Baht a month. If you leave an account sitting with only around 4,000 Baht left in it, those fees can completely wipe out your balance after a couple of years.

There is also an older thread on this topic here in case it might be of interest:

My previous post applied to experiences with K-Bank and BBL about monthly charges and when an account gets locked from dormancy. Luckily SCB is much more customer friendly when it comes to handling dormant accounts. It's all covered on their website here in terms of dormancy, reactivation, and monthly charges:

https://www.scb.co.th/en/personal-banking/faq/deposit-faq

13 hours ago, FriscoKid said:

My previous post applied to experiences with K-Bank and BBL about monthly charges and when an account gets locked from dormancy

But it was completely wrong. BBL have charged 50 THB per month (not hundreds) if the balance falls below 2,000 THB (not around 4,000) and Kasikorn the same.

The monthly charge might even be less now as BOT were moving to cap it at a lower level.

3 hours ago, treetops said:

But it was completely wrong. BBL have charged 50 THB per month (not hundreds) if the balance falls below 2,000 THB (not around 4,000) and Kasikorn the same.

The monthly charge might even be less now as BOT were moving to cap it at a lower level.

Thank you for correcting me. When I wrote that I confused the monthly account maintenance fee amount for a low balance with the annual service fee for having an active ATM card on an account.

So yes, the monthly service fee is ฿50 a month at all the major Thai banks on savings accounts if the account both is inactive for over 12 months (dormant) and the account balance is below ฿2000. It might be ฿100 a month service fee though on checking accounts.

Thanks everyone for the info. I'll go to my bank the next time I'm in Thailand and get the account reactivated.

My main concern was being unable to keep the account open as I no longer live in Thailand, which apparently depends on the whim of the branch where you have your account. I'll keep mum and see what happens.

With a Wise debit card, which now includes use of AIipay+ QR codes, maybe it's no longer necessary to have a Thai bank account if you're a snowbird.

4 hours ago, purplesage said:

With a Wise debit card, which now includes use of AIipay+ QR codes, maybe it's no longer necessary to have a Thai bank account if you're a snowbird.

The Wise QR payment system for PromptPay/Thai QR payments is only available if your Wise account is registered in Thailand with a Thai residential address on the account.

In order to avoid inactive accounts you have to do small transactions from time to time. If you have a debit card I suggest you to use that for small purchases. I think the time frame is 6 months or so without movement until an account will be moved to dormant status.

On 9/7/2026 at 12:06 AM, gamb00ler said:

give me your account number... I'll send you 10฿ to wake up your account. Don't spend it all in one place!

Actually, I have a monthly 10฿ transfer scheduled to one of my accounts at another bank and also to my wife's account at a third Thai bank. Only takes a minute or two but should work to keep our backup accounts alive.

Unfortunately, your 10B offer to wake up the OPs account won't work, once dormant or frozen due to inactivity, the account won't accept anything inbound either, basically its locked until the account holder visits a branch in person.

I have my Thai Netflix subscription deducted from my SCB account. No nagging from Netflix, even when I am just 2 month a year in Thailand. And it keeps my SCB account alive too.

4 hours ago, Cenovis said:

I have my Thai Netflix subscription deducted from my SCB account. No nagging from Netflix, even when I am just 2 month a year in Thailand. And it keeps my SCB account alive too.

If the objective is to create an automated way to avoid an account going into dormancy, you could literally just set up an automatic scheduled top up for ฿10 to a Thai mobile phone number, once every 6 or 12 months, and that would do it too. Something you could set up in your mobile banking app within just a few minutes just once a year.

10 hours ago, msbkk said:

I think the time frame is 6 months or so without movement until an account will be moved to dormant status.

The correct time frame is 12 months.

On 9/6/2026 at 5:10 PM, purplesage said:

I haven't been to Thailand for just over a year, nor have I made any transactions. My SCB Easy app has now marked my account as dormant. The balance is just over 4,000 baht.

I no longer live in Thailand, but do usually spend a few months a year there, so it's convenient to keep this account open. Do recent changes to banking regulations mean that having a Thai bank account is no longer viable if you don't have a long-term visa?

I realise there may not be a clear-cut answer to this question, but would be interested in hearing any opinions or recent experiences.

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The problem to keep a Thai bank account while not living in Thailand i solve by each visit to Thailand using a NON O 2 VISA ,which you need however to show on your home bank the 800 k Thb any currancy value on home country bank in 3 monds period to obtain that NON O2 3 months (90 day) and give you rights to open Thai bank account (as you need to for a year extension, however not forced to extend ...so a good bypass trick ) 🤭

I use this to keep mij Th. Bank alive ,as i need anyway 2 months if i should like to extend or transfer into Thailand the needed 800K ...but to get that NON O IN YOUR home country that 800 K. value in home currancy may stay in your home country bank 😉,and you have also your Easy visa to visit 90 day Thailand !

Edited September 19Sep 19 by david555