What are the implications of Bangkok Bank freezing accounts for verification on expat visa applications?

Well my account got blocked in June and the bank in Chiang Mai help to get unblocked now today I get message to go to the bank where I open i have 30 days .

Low season in Pattaya, so this will boost the Tourism a little bit... because many people living in Thailand opened their account in Pattaya and you can only unlock your account in the branch where the account was opened. I've read they targeted 180.000 Bangkok bank accounts that needed to be verified again..

It’s going to cost them a lot in lost revenues

It's frustrating, it's not like I can just pop over from Ulaanbaatar for the weekend. Glad to have K Bank too, but what BKK Bank have done seems a massive knee jerk reaction

Why no everyone close all bb accounts and move to another bank. That might show them it was a terrible mistake they made freezing existing accounts in the name of fraud protection which doesn't make sense at all.

Notices have been sent out for weeks now through their app. I think most people just decided to ignore it until it was too late. I know because I ignored it for a month. 5555.

Their bank their rules. Simple. Don’t cry just work the problem

Can understand that BB stuffed up in the past and their customers used their accounts for money laundering so they need to review their KYC policies, I get that.

What I don't understand is why they just freeze everyones accounts without notice and therefore leaving their customers in a hell of a predicament. (Although I shouldn't be surprised by this!). The other issue I have is communication in the bank itself. Before the bank opened there was a queue of about 30 people, the first lot of people being served didn't leave until about 35 minutes and after a day or day the bank should be aware of the processing time.

They should have then had a sign or regularly communicated this to the customers this was the case. It didn't take long before mathematically people arriving wouldn't get served by the time the bank closed at 4pm. This should have been managed by the manager.

Where I was there were 4 counters open except for toilet breaks and lunch. So from 8:30am to 16:00 that's roughly a maximum of 60 people they could serve for the day (7.5hrs X 2 X 4), in reality less. Looking at the ticket numbers at least 120 arrived before I left and not a word said by management.

Anyway, that's a long winded post to say that they handled this whole process very unprofessionally (and we still have to wait a week to get access to our accounts).

They cannot fix scam issues so they're doing this to slow it down is it going to help long term? Im not sure.. it'd be like bank of America changing it's daily limit & banning accounts because scammers from India call from Microsoft lol

Were they only freezing accounts of non Thai clients?

One day all money will be gone just watch out it’s in there plan

They give a 30 day notice first before it “may” be limited not blocked.

It's a total debankcle

Do people here really think this is affecting every foreign account? It doesn't. It's about relatively new accounts and maybe not even really "active" in the eyes of Bangkok Bank. Get it? It's also about something called "Personal Information (KYC). You'll find it in settings. It's might also be about registering for facial recognition. For "some" people it "might' also be about phone numbers not registered the correct way. Many mights,I know. 😎

I plan on moving to Thai in another year or two. Do you have to open a Thai bank account. Because just seeing all this is giving me a big red flag , to not open one up.

Stop using this bank used ATM with drew all monies Kasikorn Bank better bank

I verified my id for 12 month old account 3 months ago, so apart from breaking international banking standards, what purpose does locking my account yesterday serve anyone, and if the staff at the branch and staff at customer services do not know why my account needs to be locked and I have now to verify my identity a 4th time, then who on this earth does know? Needless to say, I will withdraw all funds to a different bank as soon as they grant me access to MY funds, and then seek legal advice on any action I can take against the World's Worst Bank.

Stop saying seasoning. I don’t know who started saying that but it really annoys me. Seasoning sounds like a chicken being cooked.

Access might be blocked but that doesn't mean inbound transfers will be

I went to my bangkok bank branch this afternoon, I didn't have to confirm anything - I explicitly asked -

they said the just don't take new account applications

It won't. They will hold your month for 4 months, but issue the letter when you deposit the money. That's what the manager told me. They will freeze the 800,000 if it wasn't in the account long enough. Not a terrible solution.

Never had a problem in 22 years…

I sit and enjoy the company of many foreigners.

Nice people, but the majority are clueless.

I’ll just get me coat…

😂😂

Part retired in Thailand is my plan,6 month in 6 month uk and elsewhere but looks like hoops of fire to jump through to get retirement sorted,maybe they don’t want us to get to comfortable in there country,maybe Vietnam or Philippines better less stressful option and just use visa exempt for Thai visit

What will even happen to the bank accounts that can‘t be verified in the 30 days period? Will all the funds on there just be gone or how can you access these funds then?

I think this move is not only going to affect current visa holders and accout holders. I think its going to cause a wave of distrust and uncertainty in future foreigners coming here.

TIT

mine account got blocked, went my branch at 9.30 there were 90 people in front of me, there were two cashiers serving taking 30-40 mins per person, do the maths haha, absolute joke , i walked out , try again in a few days!!!!

What really annoys me is, I did verify at my branch back in April & they sent me confirmation...3 months later blocked. Now in the UK.

Honestly, this policy will just push people to other banks or alternatives. Freezing someone’s account without prior notice is unacceptable, and in the end Bkk Bank will lose more than its customers

You think they care?? I saw yesterday people in the branch that cry because they not have spare money, only in the bkk bank. It's really not normal to do that. Give people period time to get arrange and after do what you want. Why wake up in morning and block hundreds of people accounts.

Bang on right mine was blocked yesterday and was told I've got to go to the branch it was open even if you've gone home for a while,ive got to travel to pattaya from sakon nakhon 🙉🙉