KTB unveils ‘ideal’ card for overseas travellers

[snoop1130]

KTB unveils ‘ideal’ card for overseas travellers

By The Nation

 

 

KrungThai Bank will tomorrow (April 5) introduce the Krungthai Travel Card, use of which involves no fees for balance inquiries, overseas ATM withdrawals, EDC payments or exchanging foreign currency for baht.

 

KTB said it is the only card that can exchange and store up to seven currencies, which, along with exchange rates preferable to those offered on the market, makes it ideal for travelling. 

 

President Payong Srivanich said the bank applied Smart Concept financial technology used in designing products and services. 

 

It can handle US, Hong Kong, Australian and Singapore dollars, euros, British pounds and yen. 

 

It can be used to buy goods and services at shops around the world showing Visa signs, to withdraw cash at any ATM machine, and to activate or deactivate the card manually via the KTB netbank app.

 

Until May 15, no fees will be charged for card issuance, balance inquiry and withdrawals via overseas ATMs, payment on EDC machines and currency exchanges. 

 

Customers with a bank account can apply for the card at any branch and download the netbank app to activate it. 

 

More than seven million Thais travel abroad every year and the Krungthai Travel Card adheres to the government’s National e-Payment policy to encourage a “cashless society”.

 

The primary target users are businesspeople, students, recreational travellers and employees of tourism companies and airlines employee.

 

The bank aims to issue 200,000 cards.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/business/30342455

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-4-4

[Thian]

That's the perfect moment for Euro-countries to charge the 220 baht for each transaction back from the thai...I hope they do it.

[brain150]

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

the government’s National e-Payment policy to encourage a “cashless society”.

This is what it's all about ! ... and it will be the worst nightmare anybody can imagine !!!

100% full control of everything - Orwell on Steroids is a child's play compared to this.

[moana]

Hidden fun facts in their FAQ:

 

1. After May 15th, each withdrawal abroad will cost 100 baht, and each balance inquiry 15 baht.

 

2. The card cannot be used within Thailand.

 

3. The card is literally limited to those 7 supported currencies. It won't work anywhere else.

[lkn]

2 hours ago, moana said:

Hidden fun facts in their FAQ:

It’s also limited to Thai nationals, so no-one here would even qualify.

 

I like the idea of having a multi-currency VISA card, but this one is useless even if I were a Thai national, as I have to pre-fund the foreign currency from my THB balance (using their app), so I don’t see how this is better than withdrawing from a regular (Thai) card in a foreign country, as that would also dispense local currency from my THB balance, but without me having to fund it first, and without being limited to only 7 currencies.

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by lkn

[moana]

52 minutes ago, lkn said:

I don’t see how this is better than withdrawing from a regular (Thai) card in a foreign country

Basically less fees than the normal Thai card inflated rates.

You fund it and then exchange at the bank rate, and pay directly using the required currency without any penalties. Using a normal Thai card, you'd be exchanging at a better rate (the Visa/Mastercard official rate), but the Thai banks charge heavily on top of that (3% IIRC). That's just for POS. ATM withdrawal incurs additional withdrawal fees (around 100 baht, just like this card after May 15th).

So in short, you save the 3% "conversion fee" or "foreign transaction fee". Naturally they still make money on the exchange, but not as much as they normally do ("only" around 0.5% IIRC).