Figure this good news is worth a separate thread. 

 

Over recent months I've seen a few posters mention they were told by their Bangkok Bank branch a Mastercard "debit" card was coming....and a few posters today mentioned in related threads they saw on the Bangkok Bank website the Mastercard debit card will be available 5 Nov 18.  And sure enough it is now saying 5 Nov is the availability date.  See below snapshot/weblink for full details.

 

Annual fee Bt300.   I expect all of you UnionPay debit card holders to be standing at a your branch's doors at opening time 5 Nov/Monday morning to turn in your UnionPay card and get a Mastercard.   Don't be surprised if they charge a Bt100 replacement fee.

 

And just as a info, this is really a dual logo card like the UnionPay/TPN card is.  TPN stands for Thai Payment Network jointly owned by UnionPay and Bangkok Bank.  TPN is basically just another "domestic" payment network....so, so many new payment networks trying to get a piece of the action.   But this Mastercard/TPN debit card will work worldwide...and Thai merchants definitely accept Mastercard. 

 

Fortunately I never had the privilege of experiencing their UnionPay debit card as I have a Bangkok Visa chipped debit card which does not expire until 31 Dec 2021.  However, the Bangkok Bank website does say Visa cards can be used until 2019 (don't know if that means 1 Jan 19 or 31 Dec 19).  See snapshot/weblink below the Mastercard info.  So, I don't know if my Visa card will last until the end of 2021 or sometime in 2019....but no worries as I can get a Mastercard debit card when the time comes. 

 

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Cards/Be1st-Smart-Card/Be1st-Smart-TPN-Mastercard

 

 

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Cards/Be1st-Smart-Card

 

I've still got a Be1st VISA no chip, and it still works, valid until 12/22 stamped on it.

I was resisting the UnionPay, but I guess I'll go for the Mastercard if they force it.

It is confusing - some say the Visa card is good to expiry date.

The website says 2019 [ but not 1 Jan 19 or 31 Dec 19. ]

I have phoned three times  and got 3 different answers. ????

Can you get two new  MC for a joint account?

I tried to get SMS alerts only to find out you cannot with a joint account.

 

PS thanks PIB- good news.

26 minutes ago, pontious said:

It is confusing - some say the Visa card is good to expiry date.

The website says 2019 [ but not 1 Jan 19 or 31 Dec 19. ]

I have phoned three times  and got 3 different answers. ????

I think their original intention was to make them invalid earlier this year, but like me nobody with a VISA card would trade it in for a UnionPay card. So they got scared, and didn't cancel the VISA, then did a new deal with Mastercard.

 

People power in action!

1 hour ago, pontious said:

It is confusing - some say the Visa card is good to expiry date.

The website says 2019 [ but not 1 Jan 19 or 31 Dec 19. ]

I have phoned three times  and got 3 different answers. ????

I sure don't know the correct answer.

 

The website statement "use" to refer to only the "non-chipped" Visa debit card regarding the card dying sometime in 2019.  And I pretty sure that was because the Bank of Thailand told all Thai banks to get all of their "non-chipped" cards changed to chipped cards by then.  Then one day about a year ago the Bangkok Bank website working changed to say/imply all Visa debit cards, chipped or non-chipped.

 

With the Mastercard debit card becoming available it's  generally a non-issue now "unless you are out of Thailand/can't visit a branch" to get a new debit card when the Visa debit card actually dies--and that can definitely be an issue.   I know a lot of expats don't live Thailand full time...might be gone for years and they are using the debit card while outside Thailand...probably best for those folks to get a Mastercard when in Thailand again even if their Visa card still has long time before the expiration---play it safe.

 

56 minutes ago, pontious said:

Can you get two new  MC for a joint account?

I tried to get SMS alerts only to find out you cannot with a joint account.

 

PS thanks PIB- good news.

Sure....each joint account owner can get a card.  The wife and I both have cards on our joint Bangkok Bank account.  But with Bangkok Bank....probably other Thai banks also....you can not have SMS Alert service on a joint account....must be a Thailand thing.   

 

Now you can still get certain SMS Alerts on joint accounts like the Free SMS Remittance Alert for incoming international transfers, but signup of that requires you to submit a simple form at your branch.  I have that on my joint and single Bangkok Bank accounts. 

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I've still got a Be1st VISA no chip, and it still works, valid until 12/22 stamped on it.

I was resisting the UnionPay, but I guess I'll go for the Mastercard if they force it.

I would definitely get a chipped card; the old non-chip cards (a.k.a., magnetic strip cards)  are easily skimmed letting bad guys liberate your money.

13 minutes ago, Pib said:

I sure don't know the correct answer.

 

The website statement "use" to refer to only the "non-chipped" Visa debit card regarding the card dying sometime in 2019.  And I pretty sure that was because the Bank of Thailand told all Thai banks to get all of their "non-chipped" cards changed to chipped cards by then.  Then one day about a year ago the Bangkok Bank website working changed to say/imply all Visa debit cards, chipped or non-chipped.

 

With the Mastercard debit card becoming available it's  generally a non-issue now "unless you are out of Thailand/can't visit a branch" to get a new debit card when the Visa debit card actually dies--and that can definitely be an issue.   I know a lot of expats don't live Thailand full time...might be gone for years and they are using the debit card while outside Thailand...probably best for those folks to get a Mastercard when in Thailand again even if their Visa card still has long time before the expiration---play it safe.

 

I have a BB B1st Visa card that is valid till 07/22, the manger at the bank told me last month this card will be taken out of service at the end of this year.

 

I have just applied for a credit card and that took a bit of messing around with all the requested requirements.

1 hour ago, Isan Farang said:

I have a BB B1st Visa card that is valid till 07/22, the manger at the bank told me last month this card will be taken out of service at the end of this year.

 

I have just applied for a credit card and that took a bit of messing around with all the requested requirements.

Unless you want a credit card [ not really a credit card in Thailand ] I would cancel it and go for the MC.

9 minutes ago, pontious said:

Unless you want a credit card [ not really a credit card in Thailand ] I would cancel it and go for the MC.

Thanks for the info I will ask them why this option was not made available.

6 minutes ago, Isan Farang said:

Thanks for the info I will ask them why this option was not made available.

I agree - they start issuing them in 2 days time so they must have had some prior notification.

Me too. and the girl in the bank said that I can use it til it expires in 2023

Until 2019 means until 1. january 2019 at 00:00 am.

18 hours ago, Pib said:

I expect all of you UnionPay debit card holders to be standing at a your branch's doors at opening time 5 Nov/Monday morning to turn in your UnionPay card and get a Mastercard. 

I'm just fine with the Union Pay card.  But then I don't tend to follow the bleating herds.

I'm just fine with the Union Pay card.  But then I don't tend to follow the bleating herds.

Glad you are happy with a card not accepted by many Thai merchants. But the herd likes to have a card which is accepted by any business accepting cards.

 

I replaced my be first debit visa with a chipped version for safety reasons, they gave me the union pay card telling me it was all they were dealing with(18 months ago) but it would not work on any of my overseas account etc so I went to a different branch and they got me the chipped visa card in its place. Knowing they were going to drop the visa card for union pay I opened another account in the govt bank ready for when they closed down the visa card but if they are going to offer a master card now I will keep my Bangkok Bank account as well, glad to see common sense showed through, maybe many customers like me told them they would close their accounts if they only offered the union pay card

I don't get it? Does Bangkok Bank make more from Mastercard than Visa card or what? ????

I expect the slow acceptance of UnionPay by many merchants and the bank continuing to lose customers because of that reason that Bangkok Bank needed to repair the situation by offering Mastercard or even a Visa debit card again. But they may have burnt their bridge with Visa when dropping their Visa debit card or would lose face by going back to offering a Visa debit card.

A couple of days ago I ran into Sombat at Bangkok Bank at the Kad Suan Kaew branch in CM. He mentioned a new card coming soon. 555 a couple of days is fast.

 

I had mentioned to him a few months prior that after getting the Union Pay card and to use it online I had been asked to 'install software on my computer' at times. No thanks. So I told him I had opened up an SCB account for online shopping.

 

I'll get the new card as I like to have a Plan B in all of my affairs.

So for people like me that neither have nor want an "Urban lifestyle" (whatever that it) don't need this card. Go back to barter?

2 hours ago, CALSinCM said:

I'm just fine with the Union Pay card.  But then I don't tend to follow the bleating herds.

I found Union Pay doesnt work in other countries where the ATM displays the logo. Burkina Faso in West Africa accepted the card but wouldnt give me any money, in Irkutsk, Russia the manager explained to me the card is encoded with region numbers. Bit like international country phone identification number +66  say for Thailand. So he checked my card and said the Russian code is not in the chip, wont work. ????

Sorry if I'm a little slow, but what are the benefits (especially travelling overseas) of exchanging my current Be 1st Union Pay,  chipped, Debit card for the MC chipped Debit card?

Can the new MC debit card be used to say pay an overseas hotel bill or shopping or buy an airline ticket?

Many thanks

Bangkok Bank have been dithering on this decision for 8 months.

Even their staff did not want Union Pay.

Looks like a decision has finally been made.

They told me I can still use Be 1st thru 2019

I have a Bangkok Bank Be 1st visa card with a chip. It says expires 01-21. Works everywhere

A day late and a BAHT short! We already switched to Siam commercial bank! ????

6 hours ago, orchidfan said:

Sorry if I'm a little slow, but what are the benefits (especially travelling overseas) of exchanging my current Be 1st Union Pay,  chipped, Debit card for the MC chipped Debit card?

Can the new MC debit card be used to say pay an overseas hotel bill or shopping or buy an airline ticket?

Many thanks

UnionPay is not as widely accepted as Mastercard and Visa, inside and outside of Thailand.  The main reason the UnionPay card generated so much negative feedback is because many merchants do not accept it yet. 

 

Ignore what the UnionPay website says about accepted in almost every country.  Although that is true statement it is greatly misleading because it may not be accepted by many merchants in those countries.  It's low acceptance by many merchants in Thailand is why it has got so many negative comments on ThaiVisa and many Bangkok Bank customers.  

 

And this negative feedback from Bangkok Bank customers (to include account closures) is surely causing Bangkok Bank to begin offering the Mastercard debit card because Mastercard (and Visa) are truly widely accepted by most merchants in almost every country.

 

Now when it comes to use of the UnionPay debit card to get money from an ATM that's a non-issue in Thailand and probably most countries....it's just many merchants do not yet accept UnionPay in Thailand.

5 hours ago, Blue bruce said:

I have a Bangkok Bank Be 1st visa card with a chip. It says expires 01-21. Works everywhere

But maybe not on Jan 1 2019?

On 11/3/2018 at 5:47 PM, BritManToo said:

I think their original intention was to make them invalid earlier this year, but like me nobody with a VISA card would trade it in for a UnionPay card. So they got scared, and didn't cancel the VISA, then did a new deal with Mastercard.

 

People power in action!

I switched banks have 50 baht in BKK. Now l will get MasterCard and out some cash there. It surely hurt them with that UNION joke

Always keep in mind, that you're dealing with idiots!

It doesn't matter which Bank. 

You'll find yourself happy to get a service, if the cell phone, or squashing pimples isn't more important at the moment.

If you've got the "Service" (!): They're acting so important, because they're working in an AC office and wearing a "plastic" costume that doesn't really fit.

They usually don't know anything, but asking you for your passport and perhaps a CV, your fingerprints and some signed copies of "Whatever".

Just to tell you after 30 minutes waiting time,

that you've to go to the branch, where you opened the account, maybe 10 years ago, on the other edge of the country!

555