My wife had a problem this week using her Bank of Scotland (same as Halifax) ATM (Visa Electron) card which has worked fine for > 3 years. Tried Tues, Wed & Thurs - no joy.

Kasikorn said timout error but krung thai bank was a bit more informative & said - contact issuing bank.

Thursday afternoon phoned Bank of Scotland and was told that because of the amount of fraud they had stopped allowing ATM withdrawls but purchases etc were fine.

To allow the ATM withdrawls again my wife had to set up effectively telephone banking on the savings account.

No problems just had to choose 2 passwords and confirm regular security questions - she was asked how long she would be in Thailand so she said 6 months - so may have to do again in 6 months if problem reoccurs.

Went Friday am to ATM and it worked fine - 20k withdrawl

So if you are having problems do call your bank in the UK.

My wife had a problem this week using her Bank of Scotland (same as Halifax) ATM (Visa Electron) card which has worked fine for > 3 years. Tried Tues, Wed & Thurs - no joy.

Kasikorn said timout error but krung thai bank was a bit more informative & said - contact issuing bank.

Thursday afternoon phoned Bank of Scotland and was told that because of the amount of fraud they had stopped allowing ATM withdrawls but purchases etc were fine.

To allow the ATM withdrawls again my wife had to set up effectively telephone banking on the savings account.

No problems just had to choose 2 passwords and confirm regular security questions - she was asked how long she would be in Thailand so she said 6 months - so may have to do again in 6 months if problem reoccurs.

Went Friday am to ATM and it worked fine - 20k withdrawl

So if you are having problems do call your bank in the UK.

Thanks for that croftrobin, the best advice so far!

I'll try that tomorrow

Could she use the same card??

Nikkijah

Edited February 3, 200719 yr by Nikkijah

St George Bank here in Australia still will not allow internet transactions to Thailand since the "withholding" debarcle a while ago.

Aparantly ATM withdrawal is not possible either.

Did a transfer to BBL with HSBC on 20/01/2007 and had no problems. I would check with your bank again not all bank clerks understand international transfers.

This has happened about four times in the last ten years to me, always "contact your bank" and next day everything was perfect. The "communication error"is most likely at the gateway to the international network.

I also notify my bank where I will be travelling to and they will put a watch on your cards,as they are aware of fraud with CCs in S E Asian countries.

This is where a few travellers cheques come in handy for emergencies.

My wife had a problem this week using her Bank of Scotland (same as Halifax) ATM (Visa Electron) card which has worked fine for > 3 years. Tried Tues, Wed & Thurs - no joy.

Kasikorn said timout error but krung thai bank was a bit more informative & said - contact issuing bank.

Thursday afternoon phoned Bank of Scotland and was told that because of the amount of fraud they had stopped allowing ATM withdrawls but purchases etc were fine.

To allow the ATM withdrawls again my wife had to set up effectively telephone banking on the savings account.

No problems just had to choose 2 passwords and confirm regular security questions - she was asked how long she would be in Thailand so she said 6 months - so may have to do again in 6 months if problem reoccurs.

Went Friday am to ATM and it worked fine - 20k withdrawl

So if you are having problems do call your bank in the UK.

Thanks for that croftrobin, the best advice so far!

I'll try that tomorrow

Could she use the same card??

Nikkijah

Yes it was the same card.

My wife had a problem this week using her Bank of Scotland (same as Halifax) ATM (Visa Electron) card which has worked fine for > 3 years. Tried Tues, Wed & Thurs - no joy.

Kasikorn said timout error but krung thai bank was a bit more informative & said - contact issuing bank.

Thursday afternoon phoned Bank of Scotland and was told that because of the amount of fraud they had stopped allowing ATM withdrawls but purchases etc were fine.

To allow the ATM withdrawls again my wife had to set up effectively telephone banking on the savings account.

No problems just had to choose 2 passwords and confirm regular security questions - she was asked how long she would be in Thailand so she said 6 months - so may have to do again in 6 months if problem reoccurs.

Went Friday am to ATM and it worked fine - 20k withdrawl

So if you are having problems do call your bank in the UK.

Thanks for that croftrobin, the best advice so far!

I'll try that tomorrow

Could she use the same card??

.

Nikkijah

Yes it was the same card.

Fine, use your Bank of Scotland card if you want to throw away up to five percent of your hard earned money.

Why not do what most seasoned expats do and use the xxxxxxxxxxcard, but I suppose many people don't care about saving a few bob

My wife had a problem this week using her Bank of Scotland (same as Halifax) ATM (Visa Electron) card which has worked fine for > 3 years. Tried Tues, Wed & Thurs - no joy.

Kasikorn said timout error but krung thai bank was a bit more informative & said - contact issuing bank.

Thursday afternoon phoned Bank of Scotland and was told that because of the amount of fraud they had stopped allowing ATM withdrawls but purchases etc were fine.

To allow the ATM withdrawls again my wife had to set up effectively telephone banking on the savings account.

No problems just had to choose 2 passwords and confirm regular security questions - she was asked how long she would be in Thailand so she said 6 months - so may have to do again in 6 months if problem reoccurs.

Went Friday am to ATM and it worked fine - 20k withdrawl

So if you are having problems do call your bank in the UK.

Thanks for that croftrobin, the best advice so far!

I'll try that tomorrow

Could she use the same card??

.

Nikkijah

Yes it was the same card.

Fine, use your Bank of Scotland card if you want to throw away up to five percent of your hard earned money.

Why not do what most seasoned expats do and use the xxxxxxxxxxcard, but I suppose many people don't care about saving a few bob

Thanks for that topfield, it really helps me at this moment

hi,halifax have stoped all atm withdraws overseas for fraud ,if you do telephone banking and give them ur password and number code they will give you access,if not you have to turn up in any halifax and show your id,you most proberly dont want to do this, if you go to any bank or exchange you can give them your card and passport and withdraw up to 30,000 baht aday,its a solution and it only takes a few mins

Success!!

I called the Halifax last night, they lifted the block on my account without setting up telephone banking after some begging from me

Just went to the ATM and out came my money!!

This is one happy man

Nikkijah

p.s. what bloody <deleted> though eh? Cheeky f**king bank, blocks my account and doesn't inform me or any of the other account holders overseas! What about all those people on holiday right now, they would have to fart around and find answers for themselves, luckily for me there are a few helpful souls on thaivisa.com!

Unless you tell your CC/bank before you leave the UK, your card will be refused/rejected almost certainly. It's happened now to five people I know who have come to Bangkok; each time they call back to the UK and have the 'block' lifted and each time they are told it's down to high levels of fraud in Thailand. If you're coming here on holiday or for business, make sure you tell your provider the dates you will be here - so that any unauthorised use can be detected.

Unless you tell your CC/bank before you leave the UK, your card will be refused/rejected almost certainly. It's happened now to five people I know who have come to Bangkok; each time they call back to the UK and have the 'block' lifted and each time they are told it's down to high levels of fraud in Thailand. If you're coming here on holiday or for business, make sure you tell your provider the dates you will be here - so that any unauthorised use can be detected.

So in that case I should have had my account frozen periodically over the last 6 years right? But in fact, this is the first time this has happened to me in all of that time...

My finishing point was that most people don't know that they have to tell the bank they're going abroad, from my experience you are the first person who appears to know this.

The bank should have been more responsible and contacted its customers, the first guy I spoke to at the Halifax call centre had heard rumours that blocks were in place but couldn't confirm it, IMO that is very bad customer service.

Nikkijah

Edited February 5, 200719 yr by Nikkijah

Nikkijah,

You should be furious with your bank if after speaking with them, and also getting e-mail from them telling you that your account is fine(when it was not), you went ahead and spent money on western union transfers.

And your time wasted is worth something as well, as well as international phone calls, running to ATM's, forcing people back home to run to western union, etc.

You have been screwed by your bank....demand some action.

Nikkijah,

You should be furious with your bank if after speaking with them, and also getting e-mail from them telling you that your account is fine(when it was not), you went ahead and spent money on western union transfers.

And your time wasted is worth something as well, as well as international phone calls, running to ATM's, forcing people back home to run to western union, etc.

You have been screwed by your bank....demand some action.

My thoughts exactly, we're not talking great amounts of money over the week of inconvenience, almost B4,000, I'll try the complaints procedure on the Halifax website but we know how much good that'll do.

Wish me luck!

Nikkijah,

You should be furious with your bank if after speaking with them, and also getting e-mail from them telling you that your account is fine(when it was not), you went ahead and spent money on western union transfers.

And your time wasted is worth something as well, as well as international phone calls, running to ATM's, forcing people back home to run to western union, etc.

You have been screwed by your bank....demand some action.

My thoughts exactly, we're not talking great amounts of money over the week of inconvenience, almost B4,000, I'll try the complaints procedure on the Halifax website but we know how much good that'll do.

Wish me luck!

Choke dee Khrap