Thai Banks - 2020 or 1920?

[Na Fan]

TLDR: my credit card is now useless, according to the issuing bank.

 

 

Simple task for today: send 15'000 THB to a relative in Europe.

 

First attempt (mood: good)

Kasikorn. Sent wife since I figured it's easier if a Thai does it. She walks in, gets the usual "oh, Europe. Can not.".

Having been educated a bit, she rings their call center, who tells her she "can do it in any branch, any time. Not a problem.".

 

Second attempt (mood: not thrilled)

Kasikorn, different branch. This time they can do it, but only if she proves that she is married to me and that I am indeed related to said relative. Naturally that involves submitting a stack of documents.

 

Third attempt (mood: annoyed)

Figured I can do it on SCB, online. Ring them up, and ask what I need to do in order to do this. Simple, go to easynet, and under transfers you need to fill in a form.

A form?

Yes, a form. You then need to go to the branch and get it approved. Will take a few days. Once approved, you can then transfer money to the 1 account that was approved via easynet.

 

(mood: confused ?!?)

Hop on to easynet. fill in the form. Download and print the form.

Success!

 

Uh, no.

 

Form comes out tiny, unreadable.

 

Try another browser.

Same thing.

Try another browser.

Same thing.

 

mood: (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot)

 

Bored yet? Welp, here's where the real fun begins.

 

Hop on to transferwise.com, set everything up to pay by credit card and they'll toss it into the bank account in the EU. Easy enough, right?

 

Oh no.  Oh hell no.

 

Filled everything in (by now I know the recipient's IBAN by memory, yay!) and hit Pay.

 

Transaction declined.

 

(mood: @#%$!!)

 

Check balance on the card. A bit tight, perhaps there was some exchange rate bullcrappery. Alright, let's ring 'em up and find out.

 

Call center, episode 1:

 

Girl speaks vely bloken Engrish.

 

Skip 10 minutes of back and forth until she got the point, and she mumbles something that I should toss another 3000 Baht onto the credit card, and then it would work.

 

Alright, alright, I'll play along.

 

Card is now at 20'200 Baht (it's one of those fixed account ones, that I got years ago. You toss 30k into a fixed account that you can't touch and you get a card with a 15k limit, but can top it up over the limit if you need to pay something more expensive).

 

(mood: clowdy, with rays of sunshine in the distance).

 

Back on to transferwise, satisfied that it will now work and hit Pay.

 

Transaction declined.

 

(mood: <deleted> off, but hanging in there)

 

Call center, episode 2:

 

Bloak this time, Engrish no vely gewd.

 

He checked and checked and checked and checked  again. Then, he blew my tits off saying (translated to English for your enjoyment):

 

"Your card has 20'000 Baht available balance. But you can not use more than 15'000 due to bank policy".

 

(mood: bl@#%$@ m$#^@$f#@!!*$ p'd off)

 

Now, this contradicts everything I was told in the past, both by branch staff when I made the card and by call center employees I spoke previously to, ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS when I have done similar things. I know for a fact that I have paid hotel bills far in excess of 15'000 Baht during vacations with this very card.

 

It also doesn't make any sense whatsoever and renders the card basically useless. Maybe this is a new rule, or maybe they're just trying to get rid of foreign customers in general. Hell knows.

 

But frankly, I'm too tired and exhausted from dealing with stupid people for today.

 

I rang them twice, and both times they made up an excuse why the transaction didn't go through, and from what I can tell, both times they pulled it out of their rear end, clueless as they all apparently are.

 

 

Tomorrow I'll be getting a new credit card. From a different bank.

 

 

Recommendations?

[jonwilly]

My bank assure me that if I can show I brought money in then I can send money out to that value.

I get 2 UK pensions sent in each month and the bank give me a letter to show value imported each month.

 

john

[stuandjulie]

Don't think you can use transferwise for outward payments, I tried many times. Pay Pal sometimes works but even then the banks <deleted> themselves, they love it coming in, hate it going out.

[rvaviator]

Have you seen this ?

 

Will that be of any use to you ?

 

[scorecard]

I've used Western Union to send funds to: Europe, Sth. America and Australia over the last several years. No questions asked at all in regard to my personal relationship with the recipients, amounts from 2,000Baht to 20,000Baht. 

 

Every time I did the transfers it was at the WU counter inside the exchange counter of Bangkok Bank at Chiang Mai airport.

 

WU is a marginally more expensive than other systems but once the transfer is fully accepted into the WU computer system the funds are available for pick up within a few minutes.

 

Every time I used WU the funds were picked up in person at a WU office (can be any WU office in the receiving country. The spelling etc., of the receiving name must be exact. The receiver must present a valid photo ID card.)

 

Whether WU will lodge the received funds into bank accounts I don't know. 

[cyril sneer]

didn't read the post but 1920's

[Na Fan]

36 minutes ago, jonwilly said:

My bank assure me that if I can show I brought money in then I can send money out to that value.

I get 2 UK pensions sent in each month and the bank give me a letter to show value imported each month.

 

john

This gets me. It's my bloody money. None of their f'n business what I do with it or where I send it.

 

[Puchaiyank]

8 minutes ago, Na Fan said:

This gets me. It's my bloody money. None of their f'n business what I do with it or where I send it.

 

Wrong...it WAS your money...now in Thai hands...must jump through hoops...BTW...where is your patience with these children?   ☺

[chickenslegs]

57 minutes ago, Na Fan said:

Recommendations?

Yes, pour yourself a glass (or two) of your favourite tipple, as a reward for not resorting to violence.

[thedemon]

46 minutes ago, stuandjulie said:

Don't think you can use transferwise for outward payments, I tried many times. Pay Pal sometimes works but even then the banks <deleted> themselves, they love it coming in, hate it going out.

 

I don't think you can remit cash from Thailand with Transferwise but you can definitely setup a transfer on their website and pay for that with a Thai credit card. I have done that a few times using a Kasikorn card.

[scorecard]

8 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

Wrong...it WAS your money...now in Thai hands...must jump through hoops...BTW...where is your patience with these children?   ☺

Certainly annoying but the reality is that historically many other countries had similar policies.

 

Yes, not helpful. 

[SteveK]

Dealing with Thai banks is a complete and utter nightmare. I dread having to go in to do anything. The amount of paperwork is ludicrous, I wonder where there store it all?

[Na Fan]

1 minute ago, SteveK said:

Dealing with Thai banks is a complete and utter nightmare. I dread having to go in to do anything. The amount of paperwork is ludicrous, I wonder where there store it all?

That puzzles me too.

 

On a related (and positive) note; I had a situation recently where they still had my old passport on my credit card and I needed to update it to the new one so I could manage it via the mobile app. Went to the branch to do the paperwork and all, and at some point they asked for my old passport. I said all I had was the number (it expired years ago). I fully expected them to say "sorry no can do, need old passport". But nope, turns out that girl actually went the extra mile to get the copy from the branch where I originally got the card (80km away), and had them send a copy to her. Got there in 4 days, signed it as a copy, and done. Was impressed. No idea where they dug it out from, but they did indeed find it.

 

I guess if you get lucky and get someone who cares and is interested, stuff magically works. On the other hand .....

 

 

 

 

[SteveK]

4 days to get a copy of your passport which should be on file? In the real world it would be available instantly on the computer and in any branch!

 

Thailand must be one of the only countries in the world where a bank customer has to go back to the branch where they originally opened their account to perform certain tasks.

[Logosone]

The good news though, I went into Kasikorn bank and made a 35000 Baht payment to a local account holder and it worked beautiful, very polite service with a smile. Super fast too.

 

If you send money abroad I'd use WU, like a previous poster said. Works wonderful.

[Logosone]

44 minutes ago, Na Fan said:

This gets me. It's my bloody money. None of their f'n business what I do with it or where I send it.

 

Actually, you'll find Thai banks, like all banks world wide, are now, after years of UK, US and European pressure, obligated to check you're not financing terrorism or laundering money. It is very annoying.

[gearbox]

15 minutes ago, SteveK said:

Dealing with Thai banks is a complete and utter nightmare. I dread having to go in to do anything. The amount of paperwork is ludicrous, I wonder where there store it all?

If the coronavirus panic and the baht trends go unfavourable for Thailand, the Thai banks could be a good investment. It is unbelievable the things they can get away with here - 400 baht new debit card, 200 baht ATM fees, and tons of others - I want to hop on that gravy train! BBL at P/E 7.6, not bad.

 

I was chatting to a Thai girl which borrowed 100K from somebody with a contract at 13% pa. My first thought was that this interest is too high, she could refinance with a personal loan from a bank. Nada, quick look and the personal loan rates were more or less the same,  with the max deposit rates being 1.5%.  Nice margins. 

[SteveK]

11 minutes ago, gearbox said:

Nice margins. 

It might sound good, but I bet Thai borrowers default on their loans a lot more than in the west, hence the high rates. They just don't seem to be very good with finances in general.

[Logosone]

13 minutes ago, gearbox said:

If the coronavirus panic and the baht trends go unfavourable for Thailand, the Thai banks could be a good investment. It is unbelievable the things they can get away with here - 400 baht new debit card, 200 baht ATM fees, and tons of others - I want to hop on that gravy train! BBL at P/E 7.6, not bad.

 

I was chatting to a Thai girl which borrowed 100K from somebody with a contract at 13% pa. My first thought was that this interest is too high, she could refinance with a personal loan from a bank. Nada, quick look and the personal loan rates were more or less the same,  with the max deposit rates being 1.5%.  Nice margins. 

It's the same in Brazil. For some reason wherever there are beautiful women banks charge high interest. 

 

 

[AussieBob18]

The Thai banking system is not good and is getti9ng away with ripping off so many people. But unlike in the west were pressure from media and politicians and enquiries has forced them to be better (a little), the powers that be have no such fear in Thailand.  I can recall at otjher times making disparaging remarks about the Thgai banking system and how corrupt it is, only to be shouted down that it is just as good and safe.  News flash - when the recession hits you better not have too much assets/imvestments in Thailand banking system.  It is just a matter of time before it comes crashing down - again.  So many examples of where it is wrong - but my favourite for today is their booked asset values.  Do you ever wonder why so many foreclosed places never sell cheaply and why so many construction projects/houses just stop and stay that way for years and years? Because the Thai banks refuse to close those bad loans and take a hit - they keep the assset value at the loan valuation on their books and hold the loan open. That is one reason they charge so much for everything and the corruption lets them get away with it - but eventually the years and years of this practice is going to bite - and when it bites it will be hard. The western world banking system knows this about Thai bank practices  and so many other things they do - and they wont allow them to operate in their markets because of that.  That is part of the reason they have lots of trouble sending money to overseas financial institutions - plus the Thai Govt puts big controls on any money going overseas - and the Thai banks are very happy about that. 

 

[Scouse123]

I use Krung Thai bank and I can transfer ( and I have ) up to 100.000 baht online from my account to any UK account.

 

No problems and no bank questions as I do it on my PC at home!

[Vascoda]

5 hours ago, Na Fan said:

my credit card is now useless, according to the issuing bank.

Assuming it is THai bank credit card. Why not use a card from your home country. Problem solved. If you don't have a card from your home country. Think about it deeply why you don'nt have. Intelligent people have cards from their home country to use in sitatuions like this.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, SteveK said:

Dealing with Thai banks is a complete and utter nightmare. I dread having to go in to do anything. The amount of paperwork is ludicrous, I wonder where there store it all?

 

I think the Thai banks must have a co-shared paperwork warehousing depot along with Thai Immigration!  

[pomchop]

4 hours ago, SteveK said:

4 days to get a copy of your passport which should be on file? In the real world it would be available instantly on the computer and in any branch!

 

Thailand must be one of the only countries in the world where a bank customer has to go back to the branch where they originally opened their account to perform certain tasks.

My bangkok bank ATM card was set to expire.  My account was opened years ago in Chiang Rai where i lived and had been maintained with pretty high balances for years. Went to BKK Bank in Bangkok to deposit 50 k baht and get new ATM card as was going on a trip down south.  Teller told me mai dai, not possible, that i would have to GO back to Chiang Rai to get new ATM card.

 

Having learned long ago good luck using logic that it was after all Bangkok Bank and I did have an account with Bangkok Bank and it really wasn't convenient at all for me to fly back to Chiang Rai to fix an ATM card that was going to expire in a month  I did not argue, did not deposit the 50 k baht....I said thank you went to the ATM and withdrew all my funds except 10 baht effectively closing the account.  Went to kasikorn bank where i also have an account opened in Chiang Rai....my ATM card which was also about to expire was replaced with a new one in about five minutes, deposited the funds there and went on my merry way.

 

moral of the story is you can't fix stupid so don't even try.

[Na Fan]

1 hour ago, Vascoda said:

Assuming it is THai bank credit card. Why not use a card from your home country. Problem solved. If you don't have a card from your home country. Think about it deeply why you don'nt have. Intelligent people have cards from their home country to use in sitatuions like this.

"Intelligent people" ?

 

[Pib]

You can not use THB to fund a foreign transfer...that is, trying to use THB to fund a Transferwise transfer to another country will be rejected. 

 

I expect it was actually Transferwise being the one to decline the attempted payment via Thai credit card as the payment was attempting to move/transfer money...use THB to fund another currency movement to outside of Thailand....that is sending money to Europe but funding the transfer with THB. 

 

Probably when hitting the Submit/Payment button at that time when interfacing with the Visa/Mastercard/UnionPay/etc., network that's when Transferwise became aware it was a Thai credit/debit card being used and then declined further processing of the transaction....gave the appearance the card-issuing bank declined the payment.

 

Below snapshot from Transferwsie website

 

[DeeMoney]

Probably biased here... but DeeMoney.

 

Can transfer to 19 European countries, namely all the ones in the Eurozone except for Slovenia.

 

????

[thedemon]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

You can not use THB to fund a foreign transfer...that is, trying to use THB to fund a Transferwise transfer to another country will be rejected. 

 

I expect it was actually Transferwise being the one to decline the attempted payment via Thai credit card as the payment was attempting to move/transfer money...use THB to fund another currency movement to outside of Thailand....that is sending money to Europe but funding the transfer with THB. 

 

Probably when hitting the Submit/Payment button at that time when interfacing with the Visa/Mastercard/UnionPay/etc., network that's when Transferwise became aware it was a Thai credit/debit card being used and then declined further processing of the transaction....gave the appearance the card-issuing bank declined the payment.

 

Below snapshot from Transferwsie website

 

 

You can use a Thai credit card if the transaction is billed in USD. I have done that several times.