Presently have a BBL account and want to change to a more foreigner/immigration friendly bank, looking for recommendations.

Also, do these bank have difficult hoops to go through to establish an account?

In the process of doing the same and have been recommended to consider Kasikorn ......so it will be interesting to see what people suggest on here.

Try Kasikorn.

Note they don't have branch at CW not does SCB.

18 minutes ago, thairat said:

Presently have a BBL account and want to change to a more foreigner/immigration friendly bank, looking for recommendations.

Also, do these bank have difficult hoops to go through to establish an account?

Not fully into as yet......but I think I need a Certificate of Residence from immigration.....and a certificate from True to say the phone number I will register with the bank is my phone number.....plus my UK driving licence showing a UK address (I think).

I find Krungsri very efficient when it comes to statement and letter each year, they only take about 15 minutes to complete both. No idea how difficult it is to set up an account with them; I've had my account since 2012 when HSBC sold up.

I have lived in Thailand for > 10 years, and not lived in the country of birth for >40 years.

I find BBL friendly, and been with them 7, if not 10 years. Imm paperwork is easily sourced with them. Just did an extension, and 3 day wait for 1 set of paperwork, If do lump sum, then no wait.

I need statement, credit advice, then balance the day I pick them up, since do monthly income route. Statement is the one that takes 3 days, I think, for some reason.

10 minutes ago, thairat said:

I have lived in Thailand for > 10 years, and not lived in the country of birth for >40 years.

In which case Kasikorn may not be the best option as they are reported to be asking for some government issued ID from your home country which might not be easy to produce.

I have SCB and Kasikorn. Both good. SCB for many years. But I opened a Kasikorn account a year ago (but I already had a joint account with wife). Anyway, it was pretty painless. I think I just showed them my passport and visa. Can't recall if I also showed the joint account passbook. Might be good to have CoR from Immigration or maybe just your TM30 might suffice - or both.

1 hour ago, Will B Good said:

In the process of doing the same and have been recommended to consider Kasikorn ......so it will be interesting to see what people suggest on here.

Went there last year to open another account, here 20 years. After one hour of going through all the documents they wanted- cannot name wrong way round in passport, it's the same as all others including Thai and Thai id cards. Wrote to bank HQ who came back with the same excuse not to open an account. I'm sure others opened one in 15 minutes somewhere.

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by visalady

4 minutes ago, visalady said:

Went there last year to open another account, here 20 years. After one hour of going through all the documents they wanted- cannot name wrong way round in passport, it's the same as all others including Thai and Thai id cards. Wrote to bank HQ who came back with the same excuse not to open an account. I'm sure others opened one in 15 minutes somewhere.

Mental!!

I have had a Kasikorn bank account for 13 years and haven't had any issues with them so far.

Now, I have a few reasons why I want to open another bank account, so last week I went to the nearest Krungthai Bank branch to open a new one. The teller checked my passport and told me to get a receipt from TrueMove and a Certificate of Residence (CoR). Just before I left, she mentioned that her manager was on vacation for another week and she wasn't allowed to open new accounts without him, but added that I could just go to another Krungthai branch to open the account.

The next day, I got my CoR and the TrueMove receipt and went to a different Krungthai branch. A lady looked at my visa and said I couldn't open an account, explaining that they have a policy prohibiting foreigners on marriage extensions from opening accounts. She claimed that even if I had an education visa, I would be allowed to open one, which seemed completely ridiculous.

Hoping for a better outcome, I went to a bigger branch at a shopping mall. It was the same story: I was told that out of all non-immigrant visas and extensions, only marriage visas/extensions are banned from opening bank accounts with Krungthai, and that it is a global bank policy.

To make matters worse, when I was obtaining my CoR, the immigration officer asked where I planned to open a bank account, and I told him Krungthai and named the exact branch. I had no idea he would write that specific branch on the CoR, which means I might not be able to use it to open an account at any other bank.

I think it depends on how much money you got.

The more money you got the friendlier the bank becomes 😄

Spouse and I mostly use the Yellow Bank in Pattaya at Central Festival and have been very happy with their service. We also have accounts at several other banks, including Bangkok Bank and GH Bank, and haven't had any problems with them.

I have always had (20 yrs) good friendly service from Kasikorn bank.

4 hours ago, Upnotover said:

In which case Kasikorn may not be the best option as they are reported to be asking for some government issued ID from your home country which might not be easy to produce.

Passport

7 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Passport

5 hours ago, thairat said:

I have lived in Thailand for > 10 years, and not lived in the country of birth for >40 years.

Thanks for letting us know.

Don't understand this thread. All banks are pretty much the same.

Apart from BBL which should be avoided.

Consideration of Bank branch location is a consideration.

As I posted earlier Kasikorn and SCB no longer have branch at CW.

Sad.

That's only one office. For the other 75 I would consider your location and ease to obtain Bank letter + Bank statement + update on day of application.

The first two are valid for 7 days.