Keeping your Thai bank account active...

[Ook]

Hi Guys,

 

I have been working for the past 10 years in LOS and have decided to leave Thailand and live and work for a couple years in Europe again.

Current status: My Work permit and Extension of stay have been cancelled and have already left the country.  This means that, for any of my future short visits, I will be either on a tourist visa or 30 days exempt stamp.

I still have an active bank account with credit card attached to it and was wondering if I will be still able to use the account, when living abroad for couple years? There’s some money left on the account, but not plan to touch it for at least a year or so. Will there be a chance they freeze the account or close it, if there has been no movement in a year or so? FYI – the amount on the account is sufficient enough to cover for any annual banking fees etc?

What if I decide to come back at some point in time as tourist and want to apply for a new debit/credit card or online banking… They will certainly ask for a copy of my passport. Which is okay, except for the Visa (which will show a 30 days stamp or tourist visa).
 

Once you stop working, you have basically 7 days to leave the country and return on a tourist (or other visa). So what about the ‘grace’ period in between jobs when you are on a tourist visa? What does the bank do in such case? Will they block, freeze or keep an eye closed, keeping in mind you have been a ‘good customer’ over the past 10 years, until you have found a new job? 

 

Do you think this will be a problem?  I assume the bank must have been dealing with more people like me in this situation?

 

Has anyone experience with this or with any particular bank?

 

Cheers,

 

Ook

[scoutman360]

I have read that you must keep your Thai bank account active for at least 1 year. That means transactions in less than 1 year. If not, they will freeze your account. So, if I were you, I would use the online websites to transfer money around. That should work.

[bartender100]

Just use the credit card in Europe and pay of the balance online before interest is added, should not be a problem.you can use a credit card in any country

[dbrenn]

Online banking is your friend. Use the account at least once a year - just a small online transaction, like paying the annual fee into the credit card, will keep both accounts active. Your bank may or may not also charge you an annual fee for both accounts, which may depend on minimum balances or usages - read the small print for each account. If you let the account run down to zero and the bank is unable to collect the fee, or if the credit card annual fee remains unpaid past the due date, they will close the accounts. Keep a regular check online, and make sure that credit card statements are emailed to you. Also keep an eye on your credit card expiry date - they will only send a card to a Thai address so make sure that you have a (trusted) friend to receive it for you, as the bank may cancel it if not activated within a certain amount of time.

 

Using this method, I kept a credit card and bank account active for five years while I was working overseas. Nice to come back to Thailand and not have to set them up again.

[noise]

Andy's bank account was frozen/closed because there is a minimum balanced required or a service charge is imposed.  When the charge exceeds the amount deposited, the account is closed/frozen.   Check with your bank on the amount required.  

 

If you leave enough money in the account, the bank can, just like U.S. banks, use the money to earn income for themselves and, therefore, take no action against the account.  Contact your bank and ask them how much to leave in an account with no activity for 1 or 2 years (or more).  No need to add you will be out of the country.  

 

And definitely follow DBrenn's advice and have on-line banking to just check on it now and then.

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

They send a letter to you if the account becomes inactive and request you to deposit funds. Best is to have sufficient money in the account and draw funds at your local ATM that why the account keeps to be active. It will cost you with drawl fees but its better than having to get a new account. 

[louse1953]

Why don't you ask your bank?Although we are all finacially genious's,they are the only ones that count.

[louse1953]

1 hour ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

They send a letter to you if the account becomes inactive and request you to deposit funds. Best is to have sufficient money in the account and draw funds at your local ATM that why the account keeps to be active. It will cost you with drawl fees but its better than having to get a new account. 

You are right,the send letter to Thai Address,not much good if you live in farang land

[MyFriend You]

I kept a good sum in my Thai Bank acct with SCB for about 10 years while out of country, only problem I ever had was I couldn't update the bank book with the AM machine, I had to go inside the bank and have them update it when visiting.  Online banking as said above 'is your best friend'  you can even make deposits by EFT without being in country, update your book when you return.  I transfer money in by EFT rather than carrying it on my person (most times)

[eeyang wah]

2 hours ago, louse1953 said:

Why don't you ask your bank?Although we are all finacially genious's,they are the only ones that count.

In most countries that would be a good idea. Here you could ask them 10 times and get a different answer every time. 

[CMoldie]

SCB only require one transaction a year to keep an account active. They accept updating the passbook as a transaction even if no money is moved.

A suggestion. If you have internet banking and a pay as you go phone, you could use the Internet banking to make occasional phone top ups. That way you keep your bank account and phone number active.

[VBF]

As was noted above, all the banks differ, but as I do not live in Thailand, each year I visit my bank which is SCB in Pattaya. As of 1st March 2017, this is what I was told:

 

•    If there is no activity on the account for 1 year, the account becomes dormant; simply logging into the Internet Banking will NOT prevent this. SOME transaction activity is required at least once a year. Paying in or using ATM or topping up phone all OK to keep it alive and “restart the clock.” The twice-yearly interest does NOT count as a transaction for this purpose.

 

•    If there is no activity on the account for 1 year and the account contains β5000 * or less, then a fee of β 50 / month is charged until the account is empty – then it is closed.  

 

•    If there is no activity on the account and the account contains more than β5000 *, nothing happens – account is left in situ ad infinitum but the dormancy referred to above still applies. 

 

NOTE * There is some conjecture as to whether this amount is β5000 or β2000, however if you allow for the annual β250 fee for the card, then β5000 seems to be safer and  my feeling is to keep β10000 in the account to allow for outgoings such as card charges and phone top-ups. ( @CMoldie referred to this above and I agree with his comment about keeping one's Thai phone active)

 

Hope that helps, but I repeat, it was SCB in Pattaya who gave me this information - others may differ.

[26vinny]

i would take all your money away from the thai banks as they are as corrupt as the the police government etc , i have lost money constantly through them by  not being their  no continuity no money

[VBF]

2 minutes ago, 26vinny said:

i would take all your money away from the thai banks as they are as corrupt as the the police government etc , i have lost money constantly through them by  not being their  no continuity no money

So far (touch wood) I've not had any problems and had my account since 2006

[Gumballl]

I left Thailand a little less than 2 years ago, with approximately 17K Baht in my savings account.  I was recently was able to transfer more funds into it.  I do not have internet banking access (yet), but I was able to confirm the transaction using the telephone.  My bank... Bangkok Bank.

[nasanews]

Just make sure your bank account has at least 1000 baht in it.

[hawker9000]

I agree with others.  If you keep an amount sufficient to cover fees, I don't think they'll lock the account.   Even f they do, next time you're in country, a trip to one of their branches (preferably the one where you opened the account) with your passport and bank book should enable you to activate it again.  Locking might actually be a good thing I'd think, if it keeps someone from accessing & fraudulently draining the account.  (I really don't trust Thai banks to make good on fraudulent withdrawals...)

 

And do you actually mean credit card, or debit card?

[55Jay]

I have a couple accounts with BKK Bank for day to day use.  3 with Krungsi that I don't use often or at all, and one of them was frozen recently after 1 year of inactivity apart from monthly interest payments.  Could still see it on line with the other 2 active accounts, but the balance and history was "Not available". 

 

Went to branch with passport and the cute little bank books they give you.   Far as I know they didn't re-check my visa status (although they could have).  They did ask me to fill in a two-sided form, as if I was opening a new account or something, all sorts of questions.  I declined to participate in that and the guy eventually gave up, unlocked the account, and I left.

 

As others say, if you have internet banking, just do a simple transaction once a year to avoid having to deal with bank employees.