My experience with UOB Bank, Thailand
I went to open up a bank account with UOB this morning. I am currently with Bangkok Bank which I’ve not had any problems with, the only reason for the change is that the BB always has ques since installing a ticket machine, while UOB is always empty.
Anyway, I go in and tell them I want to open up a personal and business account. I couldn’t open the business account as I need to hold a meeting in person with all my shareholders… WTF! Most are based outside of Thailand.
I then filled in the forms for a personal account and the lady asked how much I wanted to deposit. Understanding that most Thai companies are poorly run and wanting to make sure the account was fully set up and working perfectly, I told the lady 1,000b
She turned around and said that the minimum is 50,000, I explained that I wasn’t prepared to deposit a large sum until I know everything is working perfectly. Anyway, she calls the manager over… he recognized me as I go into UOB weekly to withdraw funds from my credit card. I get the 50,000b initial deposit down to 2,000 because he says he knows me. Now what happened next made my jaw drop…
Just before I went into UOB, I had gone to Bangkok Bank to withdraw 200,000b cash, which was rolled up inside my jeans pocket. In order to get 2,000 out, I had to get the whole lot out. I tried to be discreet as I could but the manager saw the money and then started haggling with me to give him more. This went on for at least a minute. I got to admit, I was offended.
I was then offered a credit card. I’ve never heard of a Thai bank issuing foreigners credit cards on personal accounts so my eyes lit up. I asked what the interest rate was and she replied 40% 
No wonder why UOB is always empty!
Have you had any rememberable experiences with Thai Bank’s?
I’ve got accounts with three different Thai banks. Based on my experience, SCB and Kasikorn are the most reliable and their service is not bad.
Bangkok Bank is shite. Always huge queues because the bankers work slowly. I’ve also heard its finances are now in the massive red and might soon be nationalised, like the UK’s Northern Rock.
As for UOB - U Out, Bastard! hahaha
“I’ve also heard [Bangkok Bank’s] finances are now in the massive red and might soon be nationalised.”
Rubbish - it won’t be nationalised. You know nothing about the 1997 aftermath and the influence of the banking families in Thai politics to make that comment.
Yeah, yeah, yeah I probably don’t know nothing about it but again if I’d told you Northern Rock would be nationalised last year, you’d have thought I was talking bollocks too!
Not really. NR was a walking time bomb.