Man 'forced to sleep with rats' after Scottish bank cancels credit card during Thailand trip

[sawadee1947]

Well, and the time spent with rats made him looking like their relatives? ????????????

[Pattayabeerbacon]

12 hours ago, madmitch said:

So, he's never heard of Western Union, Paypal, bank transfers to third parties?

 

I've known many people in a similar position and it isn't hard to get cash if you really want to. On a few occasions I've had someone transfer money to my UK bank and then I've paid the person in THB......after the cash is safely in my bank! The guy needs to wise up.

 

I'm also unsure how he would have paid the hospital for his dengue test!

Notice the article doesnt have a place/city/town????

 

Most likely blew it on soi 6 then went begging.......

[SiSePuede419]

[djayz]

I know this isn't going to help him now, but when I used to come to SEAsia on holidays, I would always notify my bank and cc institutes that I'd be in such and such a country for the month of....  and not to block my cc for that country/those countries for that period. Worked like a charm. 

Apparently they do look for "unusual activity", especially if it's coming from a part of the work with a somewhat unsavoury reputation for cc fraud. 

 

If, on the other hand, the Scott left home with a cc that was about to expire, then tough luck. A mistake he won't make again. 

[Nong Khai Man]

4 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

That has happened to me ,having a new card before my old one expires ,but to be honest to travel to Thailand for a long period without cash ,he must be very stupid

But I Heard the " Ladies " in The Coconut Bar Now accept Debit / Credit Cards....

[Mukdahanman]

13 hours ago, MeePeeMai said:

Yes it’s happened to me also. 

And me

[MickeyDelux]

An Irish man name Alberto Perez (fake news), was forced to sleep with rats (fake news) and cockroaches (fake news) etc etc etc

[Mukdahanman]

10 hours ago, ravip said:

Frankly, my primary spending method while travelling is cash and two cards as backup. One week before departure inform the bank about my travel plans - destinations.

Ditto

[Mukdahanman]

19 minutes ago, SiSePuede419 said:

True, but without the ‘not’

[MeePeeMai]

22 minutes ago, djayz said:

when I used to come to SEAsia on holidays, I would always notify my bank and cc institutes that I'd be in such and such a country for the month of....  and not to block my cc for that country/those countries for that period. Worked like a charm. 

Doesn't work with Citibank for some unknown reason.  Citibank believes that all charges should be made in your home country and in your home state (regardless of any and all travel noticies you have made with them).  

 

They are nothing but incompetent, inbred imbeciles.

[p414]

My bank cancelled my credit card as I had made a large purchase in Thailand...I phoned them and it was reinstated immediately.

[PerkinsCuthbert]

"Tonight you sleep with the rats, Mr Perez!...."

[MeePeeMai]

6 minutes ago, p414 said:

My bank cancelled my credit card as I had made a large purchase in Thailand...I phoned them and it was reinstated immediately.

Yea but was it a Citibank credit card?

[dabhand]

4 hours ago, Sheryl said:

It wasn't about to expire. Expiration was 2021.

Nice try, but you are fighting a losing battle.

[Jimbo53]

13 hours ago, MeePeeMai said:

I guess the IO who stamped him in didn’t ask to see his 20k in cash. 

 

And this is the reason they want to see the cash, not plastic. 

How do you know that he never had 10,000 baht cash,as per the requirements? He had already been in Thailand 6 weeks! I,along many others,probably yourself included,have walked tbrough immigration with cash,and never been asked for it,same goes for return tickets! depends where you bought the outbound ticket. BTW..Its 10k bht for a single person,20k for a family,this subject has been done to death on here,the only good advice i see on here, is regarding Visa's from Ubon Joe,which,if people done a bit of groundwork tbemselves,he wouldn't need to answer continuously.It never ceases to amaze me how many expats denigrate the actions of other expats here,its bad enough witb the crap they have to put up with from the local yokels....I was always of the opinion that expats were here to enjoy themselves,and have a good time,but sometimes you cant fix Stupid! Just get out there and enjoy your lives here,instead of wasting it on here! BTW...This is my first post in a long time.

[MeePeeMai]

6 minutes ago, Jimbo53 said:

How do you know that he never had 10,000 baht cash,as per the requirements? He had already been in Thailand 6 weeks! I,along many others,probably yourself included,have walked tbrough immigration with cash,and never been asked for it,same goes for return tickets! depends where you bought the outbound ticket. BTW..Its 10k bht for a single person,20k for a family,this subject has been done to death on here,the only good advice i see on here, is regarding Visa's from Ubon Joe,which,if people done a bit of groundwork tbemselves,he wouldn't need to answer continuously.It never ceases to amaze me how many expats denigrate the actions of other expats here,its bad enough witb the crap they have to put up with from the local yokels....I was always of the opinion that expats were here to enjoy themselves,and have a good time,but sometimes you cant fix Stupid! Just get out there and enjoy your lives here,instead of wasting it on here! BTW...This is my first post in a long time.

 

Settle down there big fellow, I was simply using this situation as an example for those who cannot understand why Thai Immigration insists on cash and do not care about your ATM or Credit cards.  Machines break, electricity goes down, cards get lost or stop working, get eaten by the ATM machines, banks freeze cards for suspected fraud etc...

 

Many posters here complaining about why they have to bring in cash even though they have ample plastic on hand.

 

You need to take a chill pill before you have an M.I. (myocardial Infarction).  Can I get you a drink my friend?  You look awful.

 

 

[Arkady]

It is surprising that anyone travels without enough cash to cover emergencies and with two or three credit/debit cards in case one goes caput, as they often do, or get lost. But the farang embassies see cases like this all the time.

[billd766]

Many years ago when I used to have a UK bank account with Lloyds offshore in Jersey I had a problem using my Lloyds debit card here in Thailand.

 

I tried 5 different ATMs in Thailand to no avail and I eventually rang the international branch in the Isle of Man to ask what was going on.

 

They told me that somebody in Thailand was trying to use my debit card.

 

I asked if they were sure and of course they said yes, it is true.

 

I then asked them for the address that the statements were sent to, which was me and by then I had lived in Thailand for 6 years.

 

Oh oh, was the answer and my card was opened again in 3 minutes.

 

The last time was when I went to PNG and the bank in Jersey simply canceled my debit card due to my overdraft being to high. They didn't bother to tell me though. It cost me over us$ 100 to phone them and sort that out.

 

I cleared the overdraft in 6 months and cancelled the account and wrote an extremely strong letter to the bank manager in Jersey which was ignored. 

 

That was back in 2007 and the only bank account I have in the UK now is TW.

 

[MeePeeMai]

2 minutes ago, billd766 said:

The last time was when I went to PNG and the bank in Jersey simply canceled my debit card due to my overdraft being to high. They didn't bother to tell me though. It cost me over us$ 100 to phone them and sort that out.

 

I cleared the overdraft in 6 months and cancelled the account and wrote an extremely strong letter to the bank manager in Jersey which was ignored. 

 

That was back in 2007 and the only bank account I have in the UK now is TW.

 

And this is the reason that some believe that the banks will soon give way to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.  People are fed up with their fees, the hassles and the poor customer service etc.  Banks have gone down the sh*tter and don't appear to even notice or give a damn.

[gk10002000]

15 hours ago, Youlike said:

Yes and that's because we even can't trust our own banks anymore these days.

 

I've had the same, my bank had blocked my creditcard for certain countries for safety reasons without telling me.

Heck here in the states, I have had my credit card "frozen" without any prior notification a few times when I was driving across the country.  Once when I called the bank the girl said "It looks like somebody took your credit card and drove across the country".  I said uh huh, me!  Now I don't mind some fraud alerts but it took them a whole week before they acted and at no time told me!  I was standing in the cashier line at Walmart and the purchase was declined, this after 5 days on the road, charging gas, hotels, food etc.!  Of course I had backup plastic from Debit to credit cards.  And when overseas I always bring two of each and from different institutions, even each little credit card is from a different network, i.e. MasterCard versus Visa.  Still kind of sad for this guy that he has nobody that can western union him some money for the short term

[Tony125]

15 hours ago, colinneil said:

You having a bad day? not getting any?

People leaving their home country/ travelling to distant shores, should notify their bank of what they are planning and for how long, then no problems should arise.

In my travelling days UK to Asia i always let my bank know which countries i would be in, and approx how long.

The 1 time i did not notify them my card is blocked, for my own safety, when i enquired why my card was locked, i was told you did not notify us you would be in Thailand, your card transaction was considered fraudulent.

Sorry Colinneil but I told Citi I was traveling to Thailand and they still blocked me on 2 different trips on a total of 3 occasions. Bank of America even blocked me once in USA.  I usually travel with a debit card that I can access a savings or checking account as well as a credit card from a different bank.

[Tony125]

1 hour ago, gk10002000 said:

Heck here in the states, I have had my credit card "frozen" without any prior notification a few times when I was driving across the country.  Once when I called the bank the girl said "It looks like somebody took your credit card and drove across the country".  I said uh huh, me!  Now I don't mind some fraud alerts but it took them a whole week before they acted and at no time told me!  I was standing in the cashier line at Walmart and the purchase was declined, this after 5 days on the road, charging gas, hotels, food etc.!  Of course I had backup plastic from Debit to credit cards.  And when overseas I always bring two of each and from different institutions, even each little credit card is from a different network, i.e. MasterCard versus Visa.  Still kind of sad for this guy that he has nobody that can western union him some money for the short term

Not that sad and a lot of things he could have done to prevent the problem or solved it. Here is a quote from the link below the OP post

A Bank of Scotland spokesman said the bank would send money to Mr Perez through Western Union and would then investigate the situation.

He said: “We are very sorry to hear of Mr Perez’s situation. We are in contact with Mr Perez to try and resolve this as a matter of urgency, helping him to access cash as a priority.”

 

I have had Gold cards that would Western Union me money in an emergency and had a new Credit card Fedex to Citi Bank Bangkok where I picked it up 2 days after I reported I lost the old one.

[GinBoy2]

This is all a little tough.

 

Having been the victim of identity theft, my alter ego even filed a tax return in my name, which resulted in a whole world of hurt with the IRS, I'm pretty much on board with the banks, when their algorithms detect something suspicious freezing your account.

And generally they freeze it, you call them, verify recent activity, and the account is unlocked, no need for new cards etc.

 

The OP had a bank screw up!

 

But once again, travel with more than one funding source, and surely he must have had someone who could have sent him money via Western Union or Moneygram??? 

[Isaanbiker]

 El Condor Pasa, Senor Perez. 

 

    

 

       

       

[lucifer666]

The expiry date is always stamped onto the card, if he had cared to look. Secondly, most ATMs here can be used without a card ( You do need the account details though)

[faraday]

37 minutes ago, lucifer666 said:

The expiry date is always stamped onto the card, if he had cared to look. Secondly, most ATMs here can be used without a card ( You do need the account details though)

Can they? How do you do that then?

[raccos21]

Credit cards are ok for hotel reservations and air tickets but not a good idea to use other countries, first ridiculous foreign transaction fees if you use them outside of your country, the second is a risk of debt which takes you to a painful bankruptcy process. And most of the time people steal your information when it comes to online payment. It depends on where and how do you use them.

[Mitkof Island]

11 hours ago, djayz said:

I know this isn't going to help him now, but when I used to come to SEAsia on holidays, I would always notify my bank and cc institutes that I'd be in such and such a country for the month of....  and not to block my cc for that country/those countries for that period. Worked like a charm. 

Apparently they do look for "unusual activity", especially if it's coming from a part of the work with a somewhat unsavoury reputation for cc fraud. 

 

If, on the other hand, the Scott left home with a cc that was about to expire, then tough luck. A mistake he won't make again. 

I always notified the banks and credit card companies before i left. Also had two different ATM cards, travelers checks, cash, credit card. The guy should just stay home locked in his room like the majority of travelers. Not ready for prime time Southeast Asia.

[Confuscious]

"Man 'forced to sleep with rats' after Scottish bank cancels credit card during Thailand trip."

 

"A man has claimed he has been forced to sleep in abandoned buildings with rats and cockroaches on holiday in Thailand after his debit card was cancelled in error by a Scottish bank."

Was it a "CREDIT card" or was it a "DEBIT card"?
A "CREDIT card" is not the same as a DEBIT card".
 

[Kieran00001]

16 minutes ago, Confuscious said:

"Man 'forced to sleep with rats' after Scottish bank cancels credit card during Thailand trip."

 

"A man has claimed he has been forced to sleep in abandoned buildings with rats and cockroaches on holiday in Thailand after his debit card was cancelled in error by a Scottish bank."

Was it a "CREDIT card" or was it a "DEBIT card"?
A "CREDIT card" is not the same as a DEBIT card".
 

 

How exciting.