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I’ve helped two people open accounts with Krungthai, the trick was to ask for an account without interests, then they did not need a work permit. But rules were tightened further during the last year or so. After having spoken with a handful of banks, I believe it is now pretty much impossible to open an account without connections/agent, unless of course you have the right visa. Though speaking with these banks, I did ask one bank what would be required to open an account, he mentioned a few options, so I asked to please get a copy of their rules, but was then told that they are not allowed to give them to customers. That made me think that there might still be some flexibility.

It was last month. I don’t think it was a “get rid of us” trick, as she seemed to have actual knowledge about the process, and with Krungthai Bank being government-owned, it sort of makes sense that this would be the designated bank for tracking money from abroad for company purchases.

I went to a bank with a friend and told them that my friend wanted to buy a condo and therefore needed a bank account. The bank told us (I forget which bank it was) that for this, we had to go to Krungthai, as they will open accounts for this purpose, though we had to bring statement from embassy about home address, and possibly some other document which I forget. We didn’t go to Krungthai, as my friend already has an account there, and doesn’t actually want to buy a condo, I just figured that maybe this reason could be used to open a new account today (without long-term visa nor work permit). Don’t ask why my friend wants a second bank account, I don’t get it either…

How is carrying around metal coins not more inconvenient than not having to carry around metal coins? Especially in hot weather where you’re wearing light clothing, plus all the other things I mentioned, like cash often being dirty (try to count a jar of coins and then look at your hands afterwards), and often cash will exchange hands before buying something to eat, so not the time where you want to have dirt hands, and then having to basically make a budget before you leave your home, or visit the ATM… basically you are carrying extra stuff, you are making extra trips to the ATM, and you claim this is not less convenient than not carrying stuff and not having to visit the ATM regularly? As I said, these arguments are just silly… Unless you’re talking about places that are just for tourists (like Ao Nang) then this is BS! I am based in Chiang Mai, and I am aware of only a single street side restaurant that does not take electronic payment, everything else does, and I buy plenty of stuff at markets, street side stalls, small shops, etc. Occasionally I will have someone tell me they do not do PromptPay, but then they will instead give me a bank account number to transfer money to. No, that was not me. If the vendor has their QR code visible, as many do, I will often pay while the vendor is preparing my food, or bagging my items, but yes, not everyone are proficient with digital payments, nor are everyone proficient with cash, as some also wait until they reach the counter to find their wallet and start counting all their coins, and in Europe (where we use NFC instead of QR payments), nobody is holding up the line doing “digital payments”…

Right, easily solved by just getting rid of the coins, i.e. paying by phone. Again, easily solved by having a wallet/payment app on your phone. I don’t mind that some prefer paying with cash and carry around physical cash for “just incase” or going to ATMs, etc., but why do you have to insist that cash is easier than paying with your phone? It most certainly is not, that is just silly.

Dug a little deeper… Bernstein knows full well how the current system works, but 6 years ago he opened up a dialog with proponents of MMT where he asked some questions about how their system would work in practice, e.g. how to “just raise taxes” to stop an overheating economy, etc. It is now clear that the interview above is him being asked about how things work “under MMT”, a fringe theory he already has openly questioned, so of course he fumbles about why government even issues bonds when they can just print their own money, etc., as from his POV MMT is a half-baked theory. I suggest reading his blog entry from 2018, that will put the interview in another perspective and show that he know full well how the U.S. monetary system works.

Not OP, but yes, coins are definitely annoying! In a hot country like Thailand I generally wear thin trousers and a buttoned shirt, so limited pocket space where several coins add noticeable weight to the trousers, and when you also carry a caseless phone, you have to take notice not to put the phone in the pocket with your coins, as your phone may get scratched. Furthermore, after having counted how many coins I have, e.g. if I want to buy something, I need to wash my hands before touching food again. And of course there is just the nuisance of always making sure you have enough cash with you. When you go out, you don’t always plan for taking a taxi because it was raining, eating dinner at some restaurant because it got late, buying something in a store you hadn’t seen before, entering a museum, or what have you. It really boggles the mind that “cash is king” people can’t see it is much more convenient not having to carry around bills and coins all the time, not having to make a budget each time you leave your home, not having to forego a snack because you didn’t bring enough cash with you, etc. I am 100% cashless in Thailand (PromptPay + TrueWallet for 7-Eleven), and my home country (ApplePay), it is only when visiting countries that are still not entirely cashless (Japan and Taiwan comes to mind), that I am reminded of the hassle dealing with cash. I can tell you countless stories about issues we had wrt. cash on our travels, and of course also the annoying problem of not having too much excess cash when you leave the country — likewise, I can tell you just how big of a joy it was in e.g. Switzerland where we didn’t see a single Swiss franc on our entire trip: The pay toilet accepted ApplePay, all public transport, the vendor selling handwoven baskets at the market, etc. Not just is this more convenient, but you also get a full record of everything you have bought, and nobody is shortchanging you.

This is not true. It is only Thai debit cards that they do not accept, with the exception of UOB Bank, and for the same reasons as them refusing to accept PromptPay: They want to push Thai citizens toward TrueWallet or UOB Bank because of ownership stake. Below are the payment methods accepted by 7-Eleven, here VISA, MasterCard, and UnionPay can be debit cards as well, as long as they were not issued by a Thai bank. Speaking as someone who has paid with both my Wise and Revolut debit card in a 7-Eleven.

Maybe related to VISA and MasterCard’s plan to increase their fees. This was reported last year and it said to be from October and April, so basically now.

Same thing happened to me. I applied, nothing happened. I asked at a True store, and they called customer support who said they would contact me within 24 hours. After I contacted True, they called me and told me to reapply, but to do exactly that: Declare myself unemployed and provide my home address as my business, and I was approved the same day.

He does look to fumble, but he also mentions MMT, which is Modern Monetary Policy, and a fringe theory, so it might be something in MMT he is asked to explain, that he does not follow. Though his initial remark about governments not being able to go bankrupt because they print their own money is not how it works. The U.S. government borrows the money which are printed, that is why they have such huge debt, and they can default on paying interests (they came close a few years ago), which effectively would mean them going bankrupt. They can’t print their way out of their debt, that is not how the system is set up.

You can actually pay using PromptPay in the food courts I have visited (i.e. the QR code payment that deducts money from your bank account), I also believe they have supported various digital wallets like LINE Pay, and the Rabbit card (at least when I got my Rabbit card some ten years ago, I was told that it could be used in some food courts). But I don’t think your definition of “cashless” is quite what people normally think of when saying cashless. Cashless means that you do not give physical cash to the vendor when paying for goods and services. It doesn’t matter if the digital wallet or plastic card used for the payment is connected to your bank account or has been prepaid / topped up beforehand. As of such, my Thai bank account is really just a “prepaid wallet” that was topped up with Wise… oh… and my Wise debit card, is that cashless when I use it? Because I regularly have to top up my Wise account as well…

The question was “why would any vendor not accept cash”, and the answer is that for people serving food, there is a hygienic reason to not touch potentially dirty cash, and therefore many Thai food courts are literally cashless. Yes, you can buy a prepaid card with cash, but you can also buy a prepaid VISA or MasterCard with cash, or maybe a gift card, so by that logic, it’s hard to find something truly cashless. But my point remains the same, there are good reasons for some vendors to refuse cash that the customer should also appreciate.

I did not say that. Seriously, you guys seem to just want to argue about everything.

And most likely, many of these vendors “who do not pay tax” do pay all sorts of other “fees” to the local authorities, that would far exceed their actual tax burden. Truly a messed up system.