RSD1

This issue can be easily avoided by using a service provider like Wise, which offers additional digital debit cards for free, or one of the many other providers that also offers comparable features. With a digital card, you can designate it solely for online purchases and lock it in the app when not in use. If the system where your card information is stored is ever hacked, the locked card ensures that no unauthorized charges can be made. My method is to unlock the digital card temporarily in the app just before making a purchase and then lock it again immediately after the online purchase is complete, which usually only takes seconds. This method provides better security and peace of mind, as even if someone obtains your card information, it cannot be used 99% of the time while the card remains locked.

Lower daily transfer limits could have clearly prevented this type of fraud, as others have already pointed out. Additionally, your current setup isn’t ideal for ensuring your wife has access to funds in the event of your death. You should consider setting up a separate legal structure for that, as your current arrangement increases your exposure to fraud, as you’ve unfortunately discovered. A better general solution is to set up two bank accounts in Thailand at different banks. Use one account solely for savings. This account should have no ATM card, and the daily transfer limits should be set to zero. This is where you store the bulk of your money. UOB is a great option for this purpose because their banking security is stronger than that of most local banks. They also offer free life insurance and a guaranteed payout to your wife in the event of accidental death. Use the second account for daily spending, which can be with BBL, SCB, KBank, or any bank you prefer. Once a month, transfer the amount needed for daily living expenses from the main savings account to the spending account. For added protection, set the daily transfer limit, ATM withdrawal limit, and debit card payment limit on the spending account as low as possible to minimize potential losses in case of fraud. By implementing this system, even if the spending account is compromised, the financial impact will be minimal, and the main savings account will remain secure, especially if you use UOB. These precautions will make it significantly harder to fall victim to the type of fraud you experienced.

I was fully prepared to let you have the last word, knowing how much that seems to matter to you. But then I noticed you went back and edited your last post after the fact just to tack on some petty, nonsensical jab towards me personally. Nice touch. Anyway, just pointing that out for clarity. This will be my final response to you. However, feel free to reply (again) to reclaim having your beloved last word. Enjoy...

Every time a business has informed me about a surcharge for using a credit or debit card, they’ve explained that the fee is the same regardless of whether the card is foreign, domestic, credit, or debit, because they will ultimately be charged the same percentage fee from MasterCard and Visa, no matter which card you use. However, they’ve never specifically asked me whether the card I want to use is foreign or domestic. In your case, I assume they may not want to accept an overseas card due to greater concerns about fraud or potential chargebacks. By stating there would be a surcharge for using a "foreign credit card" specifically, they were likely trying to discourage you from using it altogether.

Correct. And specifically about Wise and Revolut. Not about how to use True Money Wallet to collect a few points and earn extra discounts at 7-Eleven, which nobody else here seems concerned with :D 😄

Just to clarify on this point, it's not about minding whether I lose a bit of money or not. I don't look at it that way. After a certain point life comes down to convenience and simplification. To me, those two things are more important than worrying about trying to save a few Baht here and there. To me it's more about quality of life rather than making sure I don't overpay a bit at times on small items. If one is really that worried about cost of living to begin with though then they should probably be shopping at Makro for everything and buying in bulk and never even be shopping in 7-Eleven at all.

Grab orders? Food delivery? Never used it, not even once. I get meals delivered once a week by a proper meal prep service company. I never order food delivery from restaurants. Again, everyone is different.

Exactly. Everybody has a system that works for them. And to each his own. Nobody needs to try and make someone else fit in their own box. I was just providing information about what and how I do in case it's useful for others. It works for me, but it may not work for everyone, and vice versa. 👍🏼

Yes, that's correct. It used to be a 100THB minimum, then they made it no minimum. And now it's back to 200THB, but never an issue for me. Same if you apply for a free 7-11 AllMember card. You are given points that can be used as cash and discounts on certain items by providing your card number, which is your telephone number, at checkout. All of these are such small amounts of money though, it isn't worth worrying about. At the end of the day, I rather just use my Wise card to pay for as many things, as much as I can and as often as I can. It keeps life much simpler. One account to pay for all of my daily expenses. I just tap my watch nearly everywhere I go to make payment from my Wise digital card and done. Another reason why I don't bother with any of the local Fintech service providers. Again, I'm not predicting anything. And I don't need to know when the exchange rate will be most favorable. I now have enough Baht to last me a good amount of time because I exchanged a lot towards the end of 2023 when exchange rates were already really good. But then I still exchanged a bit more in 2024 from time to time when I also felt the exchange rate was favorable, merely in order to replenish some of my Baht reserves. So I don't need to know when it's going to be most favorable, nor am I forced to exchange when it's not. I just wait and act when I want to. It's called long term cost averaging. I also have more Baht than I need right now, so I may not exchange any more into Baht for at least another year from now or longer.

You can open an IB account without putting any money into it. So there are no minimums. But detailed info is on the link below: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/required-minimums.php

You can't be serious. I didn't insinuate that I can predict anything. I merely said that I convert to Thai Baht at times when the exchange rate is most favorable. That's not predicting. That's just waiting.

I wouldn't hold my breath on the safety side of personal data security in Thailand. Some of the biggest companies in the world get hacked and suffer huge data breaches. To think that True Money can't get hacked is not something I can get on board with. I also refuse to hold up my passport and send a photo of that to LINE Pay either. Same reason. I actually don't need to use the services of any of these Thai Fintech providers anyway. I can pay for 90% of everything I need using my Wise debit card. It also works on Lazada and at 7-Eleven so definitely no need at all for True Money either.

You are quite possibly right. It could just be greed without having really thought it through first and/or what the potential downsides might be. But that's a typical aspect of greed. People usually only think about how much they are going to financially benefit from something and ignore contemplating the harm they might be doing to themselves at the same time. Anyway, let's hope they roll it back at some point as you said. Perhaps the chance of that is about 50-50.

No, not necessary to file at all. As a non-US citizen, any capital gains made from buying and selling US securities, and any interest earned on your Interactive Brokers account cash balance is tax-free. The only thing that non-US citizens are responsible for would be taxes on dividends from US held equities or ETFs. But this tax is withheld by the broker automatically so there is no reason to file a tax return. The standard withholding tax is 30% on dividend income, but if you reside in a country like Thailand that has a tax treaty with the United States, then the withholding tax on dividends is only 15%. So there is only a withholding tax but no tax filing is ever necessary for non-US citizens.

YES, they will SEND a replacement Green card or an additional Wise White card to Thailand, as long as it’s for the same Wise account that has already had a Wise Green card issued to the account in the past. However, the first Green card issued cannot be sent to Thailand. To receive a Wise Green card initially, your Wise account must have an overseas address (outside of Thailand), and the first Green card will be sent to that address. It must then be activated at an overseas ATM. But all cards ordered after the initial Green card can be sent to Thailand. I've done it multiple times and no problem.

No problem. And that's presumably a £1.5 equivalent fee in Baht. Wise would charge 44.76 Baht for the same type of transfer, for whatever it's worth.

I don’t believe the main target of the Thai government’s new taxation structure is particularly focused on foreign residents. I think their primary aim is to tax local Thai residents who are transferring large sums of money into Thailand from overseas, typically from business activities outside of Thailand. If foreigners find creative ways to spend money in Thailand without first transferring it into local Thai bank accounts, or to declare it as Thai income, then I don’t think the government is overly concerned. After all, the money is still entering and circulating within the economy. Furthermore, if the government tries too hard to impose heavy taxes on foreign residents’ overseas income without offering the typical social services and benefits found in other countries (things like healthcare, retirement benefits, long-term residency visas, etc), there is a greater risk that more foreigners might withdraw their money and investments from Thailand altogether.

Yes, that was eventually a dealbreaker for me too. I was using it for a while initially and had it connected to a local Thai bank account. But then eventually, they wanted a photo of me holding up my passport in order for me to continue using their service. Basically, I'm not particularly comfortable sending a photo of me holding up my passport via an app in Thailand to a Thai fintech company for security reasons. So that's when I stopped using it completely. In my non-expert opinion, I feel like it's only a matter of time before these Thai companies get hacked and all their customer data gets compromised. I rather not take the risk of a bunch of hackers getting hold of a photo of me holding up my passport. But now I don't need to use it anyway. I have my Wise digital card saved in my smart phone wallet and in my smart watch wallet and I just make payments wirelessly throughout Thailand that way which is much faster than scanning a QR code from the True Money Wallet app to make a payment. I now just tap my phone or my watch on a payment proximity sensor and my payment is done in a second.

According to the following link, they charge £1.5 for a bank transfer to a Thai bank account: https://www.revolut.com/money-transfer/send-money-to-thailand/ But as a comparison, Wise would only charge you ฿44.76 as a transfer fee. So Wise would be slightly cheaper on the bank transfer fee.

In the past I used to use a BBL deposit for extending my Visa, but when I discovered that it takes a week for them to generate a 12 month bank statement, which requires two trips to the bank, one to order the statement and then a second trip to pick it up, I simply stopped banking with them. Too much hassle. Most other banks can give you a printed twelve month statement on your account within a matter of minutes normally. No one week delay and multiple trips to the bank required like with BBL.

Correct on both. But at this point it seems that the TRD is really only focused on taxing residents on their overseas bank transfers into Thailand.

I doubt there would be any difference in Revolut’s fees between the UK and the USA. For comparison with Wise though, if you exchanged £1,000 into baht within your Wise account, they would charge a fee of roughly 0.54% for the currency conversion, which would be just under £6. Wise would then charge an additional ฿44.76 to transfer the baht from your Wise account to your KBank account in Thailand. With Wise, transfers under ฿50,000 typically take only a few seconds to reach your Thai bank account too. The key difference between Revolut and Wise is that if you transferred £1,000 a second time within the same month from your Revolut account to your Thai baht bank account, Revolut would charge a 1% fee, whereas Wise would still only charge around 0.54%. This means that after the first £1,000 transfer in a month, Revolut is no longer cheaper or fee-free when compared to Wise.

Yes BBL poses many banking inconveniences. And there are lots of better banking options in Thailand; SCB, KBank, and UOB are all good alternatives. So no reason to stick with BBL if you aren't happy with their service.

Yep, no reason for you to switch. Wise and Revolut are essentially the same when it comes to making card payments. Wise charges a small fee of $3 to $5 on your first $1,000 of purchases per month when it involves a currency conversion, while Revolut has no fees on the first $1,000. However, the fee difference is so minimal that it’s not worth switching from Wise to Revolut just to save a few dollars over the course of a month, at least not for me.

Yes, but with the caveat that this only applies to payments in Thailand totaling less than the equivalent of $1,000 per month on a Revolut card. When comparing the card spending costs of Revolut to Wise, which is the focus of the original post, Wise will only charge between $3 and $5 in currency exchange fees on $1,000 worth of purchases made with your Wise card. In my opinion, the cost difference between these two Fintech companies is so minimal that it’s not even worth worrying about. I’m not entirely sure what point you’re making, but I believe there are many foreign residents in Thailand who spend over $1,000 a month for purchases using their Wise debit cards. In fact, I think this number has increased this year. And yes, I am referring mainly to foreign residents in Thailand rather than tourists or digital nomads, because the majority of the people posting on this site are mainly residents. The increase in spending on Wise cards in Thailand is likely due to the recent changes in Thai tax regulations where money transferred from overseas into a Thai bank account is now subject to personal income tax if you reside in Thailand for more than 180 days per year, and this applies to both foreigners and to locals alike. As a result, many people are now choosing to spend money in Thailand using overseas credit and debit cards to avoid transferring funds into their Thai bank accounts and potentially being taxed on that money.