Best local credit card

[dginoob]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good local credit card (real credit card, not a prepay card), with good rewards for spending?

Thanks

[DrJoy]

I am using Kasikorn Bank cr card since 3 yrs. It has tons of offers, discounts etc.

Excellent English customer support.

 

Minimum monthly salary THB 50,000/- to apply

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

try UOB black card, you get one mile for every 18 baht spent in CRIS ALLIANCE

can add up nicely for free flights

 

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

Don’t Thai Bank Credit Cards for Foreigners require a Deposit Sum in full amount of the CC Credit Limit ?  If so, whats the point ? Just to rack up loyalty points for card use ? 18 baht / one air mile….. seriously ?Do males actually do that stuff ? Isnt that a demeaning  “old biddy “ thing, like trading large bundles of magazine food coupons in Tescos back home ? 

Just curious is all ……

[blackcab]

2 hours ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

Don’t Thai Bank Credit Cards for Foreigners require a Deposit Sum in full amount of the CC Credit Limit ?

 

Mine doesn't. If you have a stable job and work permit with some history then it's possible to get an unsecured credit card 

 

2 hours ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

Do males actually do that stuff ?

 

I do. I rack up about 1 business class return to Europe per year, which I find very convenient.

[cmarshall]

As far as I know none of the Thai credit cards have fraud protection, except at the discretion of the bank.  I wouldn't accept one.

[dginoob]

13 hours ago, DrJoy said:

I am using Kasikorn Bank cr card since 3 yrs. It has tons of offers, discounts etc.

Excellent English customer support.

 

Minimum monthly salary THB 50,000/- to apply

I have a Kasikorn account so I will check that out.
Thanks

[dginoob]

12 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

try UOB black card, you get one mile for every 18 baht spent in CRIS ALLIANCE

can add up nicely for free flights

 

That would be useful. Thanks, I will check that out.
BTW what is CRIS ALLIANCE?

[dginoob]

6 hours ago, cmarshall said:

As far as I know none of the Thai credit cards have fraud protection, except at the discretion of the bank.  I wouldn't accept one.

Thanks for that info. I wasn't aware of that and assumed fraud protection would be covered by Visa or Mastercard. 
I'll look into that before deciding.
Thanks

[rheinwiese]

17 minutes ago, dginoob said:

That would be useful. Thanks, I will check that out.
BTW what is CRIS ALLIANCE?

KrisFlyer. Frequent flyer program of Singapore Airlines 

[dginoob]

2 minutes ago, rheinwiese said:

KrisFlyer. Frequent flyer program of Singapore Airlines 

???? Thanks

[PMinThailand]

7 hours ago, cmarshall said:

As far as I know none of the Thai credit cards have fraud protection, except at the discretion of the bank.  I wouldn't accept one.

I have Bangkok Bank Credit card (Visa). It was hacked a few weeks ago and goods purchased online. I immediately called the bank and they cancelled the card. Investigation took about 2 weeks and full credit for unauthorized purchases was received together with a new card. Perfect service from Bangkok Bank!

 

[KannikaP]

10 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

Mine doesn't. If you have a stable job and work permit with some history then it's possible to get an unsecured credit card 

 

 

I do. I rack up about 1 business class return to Europe per year, which I find very convenient.

How much do you have to spend, and on which card in order to get that reward please?

[Satcommlee]

Kasikorn "The Passion" has good points scheme especially for foreign transactions.

[cmarshall]

53 minutes ago, PMinThailand said:

I have Bangkok Bank Credit card (Visa). It was hacked a few weeks ago and goods purchased online. I immediately called the bank and they cancelled the card. Investigation took about 2 weeks and full credit for unauthorized purchases was received together with a new card. Perfect service from Bangkok Bank!

 

As I said fraud protection in Thailand is at the discretion of the bank, not statutory as in the US.  So, you might be made whole, but you might not.  I wouldn't use such a card.

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

“tons of offers & discounts” is just marketing , presenting products in a non- product forum, like TVF ads here I suppose, to make people spend impulsively on stuff they dont really need or would not otherwise even know about. end up spending “tons” instead of limited necessary spending from normal independent product sourcing work based on actual needs……like going to a grocery store to buy a vacation package.

lifelong procurement & marketing pro here……..

[YT3k72Em]

All the Thai Banks have a wide selection of credit cards. There is no "best" one. It just depends what you want, eg. No fee, points, cash back, air miles. Try checking their websites.

 

That being said, the best one for you will be the one that you can get.

[blackcab]

38 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

How much do you have to spend, and on which card in order to get that reward please?

 

SCB My Travel.

 

You get 1 mile for every 17 baht you spend.

 

A round trip business class ticket with Thai is 180,000 miles.

 

17x180,000 is 3,060,000 baht.

 

And before you all think I'm rich, a lot of that expenditure is on behalf of the company I work for!

[Satcommlee]

27 minutes ago, YT3k72Em said:

All the Thai Banks have a wide selection of credit cards. There is no "best" one. It just depends what you want, eg. No fee, points, cash back, air miles. Try checking their websites.

 

That being said, the best one for you will be the one that you can get.

Very good point, nobody will be begging you to take their cards - In fact, even with the requisite work-permit and good salary history - you may still find it extremely difficult to get accepted, especially in this financial climate and the risk appetite of an absconding farang.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Satcommlee

[dlclark97]

I have only USA Visa/MC credit cards and they work fine here.  A very well to do friend with substantial assets in the bank has repeatedly been denied a Thai credit card and always refused because he is over 65 and not working.  One of my cards, the primary one I use gets me 2% cash back on every purchase and has no foreign transaction fee.  I strongly recommend NOT using your card any where it is out of your sight as they are easily and quickly copied and reproduced.  This information is often sold to interested parties.  So far, and before I learned not to let my card out of sight, I have had two cards compromised.  One was definitely compromised at a gas station, it was the only place it had been used.  My most recent one was just a week ago and with a card that had not been used any where for many months.  I received a fraud alert and was able to cause the charge to be denied.  The charge would have been for a purchase at a Coach store in Florida for $649.00.  That card has been cancelled and another is being sent to me.  No problem getting the cancellation done by phone but paperwork will follow that you must affirm in writing that the charge was unauthorized.  Getting a replacement card here can be a nightmare.  One of my cards expired last January and it took 3 months to the day to receive the replacement.  In all, the bank sent 3 new cards, the first 2 never arrived.  

[Andycoops]

For everyday expenses here in Thailand I have no use for CC and pay cash.

If I need to book a flight or hotel abroad I use my UK debit card and sometimes for large purchases here 50k up.

[sanuk711]

If you air travel a lot BKK-Bank (and maybe others)  have a Air Asia Card , you have to spend very little to get free Luggage/red seats /coffers/meals etc I don't know about their hotels. If you spend nothing --just showing the card means you load first, Lug age off first etc. BKK Bank usually gives out 2 cards of choice on the one account.

I take it are employed in Thailand--money in the bank isn't usually enough to get a Credit card with no strings to it.

[Cricky]

16 hours ago, DrJoy said:

I am using Kasikorn Bank cr card since 3 yrs. It has tons of offers, discounts etc.

Excellent English customer support.

 

Minimum monthly salary THB 50,000/- to apply

I've had a Kasikorn credit card for more than 10 years, wasn't working in Thailand at the time so my offshore salary was irrelevant.

[Aussieroaming]

Mine is a Kasikorn CC, attached to a fixed term deposit and Wisdom Account.

[Muhendis]

15 hours ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

Do males actually do that stuff ?

A mate of mine did exactly that and earned a massive free return flight on the final concord flight. All his girlfriends testify his masculinity.

[smccolley]

I use a Citibank Visa issued here in Thailand. I don't use points too often, but I managed to use them to get 20k baht discount on my 110k gaming comp. I just made the purchase and they prompted me immediately afterwards. I am a fan.

[Jenkins9039]

Have SCB Ultra Platinum, use extensively, I always clear the balance routinely so never worried about interest etc, had about 10yrs.

 

Customer service is great, i think you have annual renewal cost of about 5k but never paid it as i use millions on it yearly so they have never charged.

 

Had 3 new cards since first obtained, never an issue.

 

Points are great, i once had accred something like 50,000 THB of vouchers which i gave to staff.

 

Now days i'm routinely knocking 400 or so here and there off my outstanding etc.

 

Used a few times with the broken repayments, but never experienced the outcome as paid by the end of the month.

 

Credit limit 500,000 but can be increased to 2m (just change the slider to that in the app), no deposit etc (actual CC).

 

Back when i got it, the bank offered me a 15,000,000 mortgage if i wanted, so it was different times...

 

I think i'm 'grandfathered in' now which is fortunate as i believe its a lot harder for foreigners to obtain them these days without depositing funds into some sort of placebo credit card (debit card).

 

What i also like, is the new in-app detailed overview of spending, it really gives a good insight into where you are spending money quickly and easily.

 

Just accrued another 400THB off since beginning of the month, so claimed the vouchers for that.

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Jenkins9039

[Jenkins9039]

Should add, i've used my ultra Pl CC world wide, never a problem and there's not a noticeable fee when doing so.

 

 

[richard_smith237]

8 hours ago, YT3k72Em said:

All the Thai Banks have a wide selection of credit cards. There is no "best" one. It just depends what you want, eg. No fee, points, cash back, air miles. Try checking their websites.

 

That being said, the best one for you will be the one that you can get.

The best one used to be Citi Bank Royal Orchid Plus Credit card - we’d get our yearly flights to Japan for free using that one.

 

Since Thai airways pretty much killed off their frequent flyer program, halving the value of their points then doing so again a few years later we’ve given up with that card, covid was the final nail in that coffin. 

 

We now use SCB M Card (M Lux), which gives a decent amount of points and discounts at any of the Mall Group department stores, discount on plenty of restaurants too. 

 

Wife is in charge of all of that stuff, she’s the main card holder and just piggy back on that, I’ve never tried to get a card in Thailand, I don’t believe I can as I’m not working here etc. Irony is, I’m the main bread-winner yet the Wife is the one who can get the Cards with Limits in excess of 1MB baht !

She’s usually up to date with which the best options are for the cards... on that Rationale - SCB M Card is the best one at the moment. 

 

As YT3k71Em - for a foreigner, the best one is the one they can get. 

[richard_smith237]

7 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

SCB My Travel.

 

You get 1 mile for every 17 baht you spend.

 

A round trip business class ticket with Thai is 180,000 miles.

 

17x180,000 is 3,060,000 baht.

 

And before you all think I'm rich, a lot of that expenditure is on behalf of the company I work for!

And the Tax on that ticket ?

 

We used to get the TG Airmiles with our previous Card (Citi ROP), I don’t think the miles per baht ratio was as good as yours (I think it was 1:20) - but we still had to pay Tax on the ticket. 

I recall one time the Tax alone on the Airmiles ticket was more expensive than buying my Son his ticket separately (some weird setup about using Airmiles for kids tickets but charging adult tax rates).