Thai Bank Accounts

[Europeanguy]

Please find below an email sent to to my Bangkok Bank account manager. Any reactions?

 

I also would like to raise your attention to the fact that very few companies accept my BKK card for payment. Practically none, “Thai”, “Union Pay”, “Rabbit” ,”Be1st” are not  recognized practically anywhere . “Visa” is of course the main absent as accepted universally. It so daft for a bank the size of BKK. I attach a Lazada  example.

It doesn’t matter to me as I have opened another account with Kasikorn which have VISA so I am happy, I can do whatever I want with that card. But it should matter to BKK as the end result is that I move money from my BKK account to my Kasikorn account and use that card instead of yours. It is crazy really.

The only reason I keep my BKK account is that I have all my ingoings and outgoings bank accounts details setup there. A poor reason indeed as I could relatively easily change it over to the Kasikorn account but I am concerned about messing about with ingoings account details like my pension.

Why BKK has abandoned VISA is probably a corporate decision with its reasons but I am not sure BKK weighted the consequences.

 

Another interesting thought is to compare BKK and Kasikorn websites.

 

-          Both have web access which I need and appreciate but …

-          BKK records are instantly updated but Kasikorn shows you correctly what the balance is straight away but their statements are only updated for the next day. A capital difference.

-          Kasikorn has the very useful ability to add notes to the statements, very useful indeed when you wonder later what was that transaction was for. BKK do not have that facility.

-          For “transfers”, BKK let you drill down easily to who the transfer was for, Kasikorn doesn’t.

 

I wish I had all the facilities described above in one single account but I don’t.  So I mess about, usually splitting my money in the BKK and Kasikorn accounts. It is not in BKK interest.

 

Kind regards

Bernard

[CharlieH]

MOVED to Banking forum.

[Just Weird]

28 minutes ago, Europeanguy said:

I also would like to raise your attention to the fact that very few companies accept my BKK card for payment. Practically none, “Thai”, “Union Pay”, “Rabbit” ,”Be1st” are not  recognized practically anywhere

BBL will probably just ignore it, as well they should.  To claim that "practically no businesses accept Bangkok Bank's cards" is just laughable.   Although when it was first introduced there were some issues with UnionPay, there are not many places now that do not accept that card now and I doubt that any business that accepts cards will refuse BBL's Mastercard.  Maybe you could be specific about the massive numbers of businesses that won't accept either UnionPay or Mastercard?

 

Rabbit and Be1st are not the financial institutions that provide the card service and don't need to be recognised anywhere, Be1st is simply what BBL calls it's own card and the "Rabbit" reference on the BBL card is just an indication of an additional service the bank's card provides.  What needs to be recognised is UnionPay and Mastercard and both are!

Edited November 29, 2019 by Just Weird

[justaphase]

Yep, buying anything online and wanting to pay by card is impossible as there's never an option for useless Union Pay

[CharlieH]

My guess would be a template polite generic response, of being passed to appropriate dept and thanks for your feedback and little else, if at all.

[pgrahmm]

Go into a Bangkok Bank & upgrade your card to their Mastercard card....It will cost 400B for the new card, but should open up some options for you....

I also have an SCB account & their's is also an MC....

[The Fat Controller]

Bangkok Bank have a MasterCard option.

 

100 Baht Entry Fee

 

300 Baht Annual Fee

[Europeanguy]

Thank you for all the answers.

I am happy with my Kasikorn Visa card as I can do all I want with it. And it is free. So I will keep with 2 bank accounts  - the BKK one has all the details of incoming and outgoing people, companies and governments that I am dealing with so I don't want to mess anything there.

 

I regret I didn't took a picture of a restaurant displaying all the cards they accepted - none from Bangkok Bank. It would have easily answer the question of "the massive business" which do not accept a BKK card. It is true though that I was offered a Mastercard which I turned down, rightly or wrongly - wrongly looking at your answers.

 

For CharlieH suggestion to talk to the appropriate department in BKK, I will do that at my next meeting with my bank manager. He will probably point me to the Mastercard option, something I have already admitted was an oversight of my part.

 

Best regards all, very useful.

Bernard