What are the benefits of having a bank account in Thailand when using a DTV Visa?

In the rare instance you need to receive a refund into a Thai bank account, you would be able to. QR payments work best with Thai bank. Cannot pay individual QRs with foreign account.

There’s none. I had an account before BB closed it. Yes convenient to scan and pay but you can with other apps or just pay cash. Most credit cards and debit cards have no fees for foreign transactions as well.

none, just majority of people can't use smartphones and apps even in 2026 they'd still be going to exchange money on arrival and then dreaming of local bank accounts, you don't need it at all

I used scan to pay all the time. Pay electric with phone, internet with phone, shopee/lazada orders (dont have to be home when they arrive) and a lot of stuff... but you can do it all by cash too without problems, its how you prefer... my internet cannot be paid by cash (well i havent tried, 3bb), but can use credit card on their webpage. Nowadays I dont trusr bangkok bank too much so i dont keep much there anymore, I withdraw after transferring and use cash... Maybe some day I trust them again, now its been year and 6months with DTV and i still have my account (did the verifications last year)

For your information, seems many users face problems or account freezed on True money due to Visa or doc expired recently. Be aware of the new rules from banks or any banking apps if you trying open new account on it. Just deposite small money even you are lucky enough able to open or still can maintain your account successfully. You know, the gov keep changing the rules.

We use prompt pay daily with Truemoney. You don't need a Thai bank account 🙌

Deep pocket is a good app to use but the transfer fees can be a bit annoying best to transfer a lot at one time instead of as and when you need it

To me, the biggest benefit is PromptPay QR payment to local vendors, I use it 4-5 times a day at street markets, shops, malls, and online as well (ticketing, delivery, etc...) everyone has QR barcode, it's fast, no need to bother with change, I haven't touched cash for years. Also it's the easiest way to pay rental and water/power (or anything else) to locals with e-bank transfer... But if you don't have (or can't get) the account, it's not a deal breaker, there are other ways, just not sure which ones offer personal QR code payment.

Not many benefits actually as there is other options that are easy to use. Living here for over 3 years now without an account and an account wouldnt really have benefited me much in all that time.

i transfer money with revolut which is incredibly cheap. to pay for rent and utilities and other high value payments. its even cheaper than using Wise and transfering money to your own thai bank account what most people do.

to use QR code payments you could use TrueMoney.

for the rest i use cash. its 250 baht atm fee for 30k baht. thats still very cheap comparing to transfer and exchange fees with Wise or similar.

you can also pay utilities via 7-11. or even with your foreign credit card via Lazada app. easy.

moreta pay is also an option for QR.

many people just dont know their options 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️