About to apply for a prepaid card (ie a sum, say B100,000, held in a new deposit a/c against a card paid off monthly from the savings a/c) to supplement my debit card, for paying such as hotel reservations or airfares where the vendor rarely accepts debit cards.

 

Does anyone have experience of whether a prepaid card is treated as a “proper” credit card by businesses in TH? If so, is it also accepted abroad (once we can travel again!) like a card from UK or Europe?

Are you are talking about a Thai credit card which is issued with the condition that the bank, as security, holds B100,000 of your money in an account in your name?

 

If yes, I have had two such credit cards with two different banks - SCB and Krungsri. Krungsri was the better deal; the amount they held was lower than SCB for the same credit limit.

 

Both credit cards worked perfectly in Thailand and all over the world, like a western card; no problems.

 

Even had my card fraudulently used in California to the tune of $3500. After a couple of months, the money was refunded to me.

Edited November 16, 20205 yr by macahoom

2 minutes ago, macahoom said:

Krungsri was the better deal; the amount they held was lower than SCB for the same credit limit.

Thanks, so not a problem in use, apparently.

To my surprise, Bangkok Bank offers credit limit the same as the deposit (ie B100k deposit, spend up to B100k).

I think the term commonly used for what you have in mind is "secured credit card". It's s proper credit card and behaves as such, just backed by collateral in a fixed deposit account with the card issuing bank.

 

A prepaid card, on the other hand, is a special kind of debit card and cannot be used where only credit cards are accepted.

 

It is a credit card you are talking about with an automatic monthly payment from another account 

(which they have told you must be maintained at a minimum of the CC approval).

If so more secure than a debit card but there may be an annual fee

I have 3 debit cards but have never used for direct debit, CC safer

On 11/16/2020 at 10:17 AM, Disparate Dan said:

Does anyone have experience of whether a prepaid card is treated as a “proper” credit card by businesses in TH? If so, is it also accepted abroad (once we can travel again!) like a card from UK or Europe?

I've checked my prepaid and virtual cards at binbase.com and they're all identified as Debit card. I think some banks used to offer a virtual Credit card, but it's no longer the case, or I have a phantom memory ????