Leaving a bank account open when going back to the home country

[JacChang]

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Just open online banking and forget about the ATM, or cancel it.

To prevent the dormant status, since online banking requires your thai sim card phone, just deposit 50 baht to top off your phone card every few months. Everything is happy, and if for any reason in the future you need a thai bank account, you have one. Rather than finding out in the future, foreigners can't open bank accounts. Better get in early than never.

Well, the fly in the ointment there is that the process might require an OTP (one-time password) sent by the bank to verify the top-off transaction. If they're using your Thai cellphone number to do this, and you're back in the states, you won't be able to get it. 'Tried to do this myself just yesterday and couldn't. The top-offs didn't use to require the OTP, but now apparently do. At least with my bank.

Don't want to go OT with a discussion of thai cellphone network tech vs N. American cellphone network tech. There may be some multi-tech phones at this point that can work in both places AND enable "roaming" between the two, but I don't think the great majority do. You also might be able to switch over your phone contact info with the bank before you leave Thailand to point to your U.S. cellphone - that would solve the problem. You'd then have to switch it back again when you go back to Thailand.

I'm not having any of the problems you mentioned. I have used a thai pre paid sim card, and I roam around the world. It's been years since I've been back to Thailand and I still get the otp code each time either for transfers or bill payments of top ups for mobile phones. I still do full time banking and stock brokerage, so no problem there. And I use a dual sim phone, and only turn on the dual sim when I need the thai banking side.

So I am the living confirmation, that this method works and is available to anyone who wishes to do so. You will receive the relevant otp codes or whatnot, even when you are not in Thailand. Same with topping up and checking the balance on your phone, it works all over the world with your thai sim card.

Hmm - I don't (receive the OTPs). My DTAC SIM won't connect in the states.

Check to see if you have international roaming available on your sim card. Sometimes this needs to be activated, just for the customer's safety to prevent unwanted bills. I think a simple phone call to your provider can remove the restriction.

[hawker9000]

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Hmm - I don't (receive the OTPs). My DTAC SIM won't connect in the states.

Check to see if you have international roaming available on your sim card. Sometimes this needs to be activated, just for the customer's safety to prevent unwanted bills. I think a simple phone call to your provider can remove the restriction.

'Think I went round & round with the int'l roaming thing when I first got the SIM a couple of years ago, and just ended up with a headache. Just checked their info on the web again specific to my SIMcard & plan, and my interpretation of it is I'd actually need to "change my SIMcard". Maybe I should look into that further when I get back to Thailand (which is soon). Actually though, I don't usually need to do anything while I'm out of Thailand with my bank account that would require OTP verification. As long as I can check my balance and view transactions, I'm good.