Bank of Thailand moves against cash and the US dollar in a plan to reduce cash in half by 2026

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, NoshowJones said:

When I was younger back in the UK, I briefly worked as a bus driver (I needed pay packets to get a mortgage) at the end of the week, any losses were taken out of our pay, but if you had gains the bus company did not add them on to your pay. No prizes for guessing what I did about that. ????

Off-ski?

[NoshowJones]

3 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Off-ski?

Yes Off-ski, but only after I got what I wanted and making sure I was not out of pocket.

[Bigtimecharlie]

They had Mondex experiment in UK 1995 and it failed miserably, seems people like a bit of both!

[ChumpChange]

FYI… Apple Pay does work in Thailand. It works almost everywhere that a merchant has a contactless debit card or credit card reader or pay point.
 

Apple Pay is merely a means of transmitting your card details wirelessly and is not a limiting factor. So the real issue that is actually preventing many people from using Apple Pay in Thailand is that all local Thai banks (AFAIK) still don’t allow you to add their debit and credit cards yet to digital wallets. So it’s not an Apple Pay issue per say. 
 

However, most overseas issued credit or debit cards can be added to Apple Pay and can be used to make contactless purchases in Thailand. 

One of the best cards for making contactless payments at any point of sale is Wise. So if you have a Wise account and a Wise debit card it can be used with Apple Pay almost everywhere in Thailand.
 

Since Wise also allows you to keep Thai Baht in a borderless Wise account, you can also pay using Thai Baht in Thailand despite having an overseas issued debit card. This prevents all the usual added charges and currency exchange fees for using an overseas debit or credit card denominated in a foreign currency. Thus, using a Wise debit card for purchases in Thailand has no added fees. 
 

The Wise card with Apple Pay works contactlessly in 7-11, Tops, Villa, Central, Big-C, and Lotus just to name a few of the many places that it works.
 

Some places in Thailand might say that they only accept credit cards and not debit cards, like 7-11, but the Wise debit card still works there anyway. 
 

Most places now also no longer have a minimum purchase amount on debit card purchases. So you can purchase something as small as a 7 Baht bottle of drinking water using Apple Pay. Just tap and go. Faster than cash in many cases. 

[billd766]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

You must not travel back to the states much.

As a Brit, the only time I was in the USA was in January 1991 for a week between jobs in Mexico and then on to Chile.  I haven't been so cold in my life as that week.

 

The only other times I was in the airport transit lounge at Dallas/Fort Worth or Miami and they don't really count.

[fleccer]

This move by the bank of Thailand is simply disgusting and obviously aligned with the world economic forum agenda. 

So once the cash has been eliminated, they can turn you off by just a click

Remember what happened in Canada

 

 

 

[dallen52]

So what goes in the brown envelope if going cashless.

An IOU..?

[Ty Hareways]

The way the world is evolving in every way just makes me glad i'll be dead soon????

[Orinoco]

3 hours ago, sandyf said:

UK trains and most budget airlines are card only, so it is a case of bring it yourself or go without, no "other places" around.

Fine by me.

Reckon life will still go on.

 

[Sydebolle]

............... all the while they've just killed all non-Thai PayPal customers in Thailand; makes perfect sense! 

[Orinoco]

1 hour ago, ChumpChange said:

FYI… Apple Pay does work in Thailand. It works almost everywhere that a merchant has a contactless debit card or credit card reader or pay point.
 

Apple Pay is merely a means of transmitting your card details wirelessly and is not a limiting factor. So the real issue that is actually preventing many people from using Apple Pay in Thailand is that all local Thai banks (AFAIK) still don’t allow you to add their debit and credit cards yet to digital wallets. So it’s not an Apple Pay issue per say. 
 

However, most overseas issued credit or debit cards can be added to Apple Pay and can be used to make contactless purchases in Thailand. 

One of the best cards for making contactless payments at any point of sale is Wise. So if you have a Wise account and a Wise debit card it can be used with Apple Pay almost everywhere in Thailand.
 

Since Wise also allows you to keep Thai Baht in a borderless Wise account, you can also pay using Thai Baht in Thailand despite having an overseas issued debit card. This prevents all the usual added charges and currency exchange fees for using an overseas debit or credit card denominated in a foreign currency. Thus, using a Wise debit card for purchases in Thailand has no added fees. 
 

The Wise card with Apple Pay works contactlessly in 7-11, Tops, Villa, Central, Big-C, and Lotus just to name a few of the many places that it works.
 

Some places in Thailand might say that they only accept credit cards and not debit cards, like 7-11, but the Wise debit card still works there anyway. 
 

Most places now also no longer have a minimum purchase amount on debit card purchases. So you can purchase something as small as a 7 Baht bottle of drinking water using Apple Pay. Just tap and go. Faster than cash in many cases. 

And who do you work for ? 

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, Sydebolle said:

............... all the while they've just killed all non-Thai PayPal customers in Thailand; makes perfect sense! 

Yet Google pay and wallet are now available...go figure.

[BuyBitcoin]

13 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Hopefully the arabs will allow buying oil in other currencies soon and the dollar will collapse through lack of demand

That would risk ‘freedom’ and liberation coming their way.  It would also mean no help against Iran.  Unlikely.

[edogthong]

14 hours ago, jacko45k said:

We don't need Applepay.. there are many working alternatives around. 

Yes, the best one is called CASH!

[thaibeachlovers]

15 hours ago, MJCM said:

I guess you have never been to Makro and a tradesman pays his bill (5k THB) with lots of 20's and even 10 THB coins ????

No, but the bank I use now doesn't have tellers and only one machine, so when shop owners come to put the takings into the account, it can be a long wait if they have a lot of coins.

A price I'll gladly pay to keep real money in circulation.

[edogthong]

3 hours ago, fleccer said:

So once the cash has been eliminated, they can turn you off by just a click

Remember what happened in Canada

That's exactly it. We all need to refuse going along with this. Many European countries now have entirely "cashless" businesses. In some countries, small "cash only" businesses have started popping up in protest. This is the route we all need to take otherwise we're screwed. 

[thaibeachlovers]

14 hours ago, Orinoco said:

You don't have to except it, at present.

If something is digital payment only, I just don't buy it.

 

Right. Computer shop I used to use went digital payment only. I won't be going back there.

[thaibeachlovers]

10 minutes ago, edogthong said:

That's exactly it. We all need to refuse going along with this. Many European countries now have entirely "cashless" businesses. In some countries, small "cash only" businesses have started popping up in protest. This is the route we all need to take otherwise we're screwed. 

Sadly young people love the idea.

[Mrfox]

Death of the usd is inevitable 55

 

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, ChumpChange said:

FYI… Apple Pay does work in Thailand. It works almost everywhere that a merchant has a contactless debit card or credit card reader or pay point.
 

Apple Pay is merely a means of transmitting your card details wirelessly and is not a limiting factor. So the real issue that is actually preventing many people from using Apple Pay in Thailand is that all local Thai banks (AFAIK) still don’t allow you to add their debit and credit cards yet to digital wallets. So it’s not an Apple Pay issue per say. 
 

However, most overseas issued credit or debit cards can be added to Apple Pay and can be used to make contactless purchases in Thailand. 

One of the best cards for making contactless payments at any point of sale is Wise. So if you have a Wise account and a Wise debit card it can be used with Apple Pay almost everywhere in Thailand.
 

Since Wise also allows you to keep Thai Baht in a borderless Wise account, you can also pay using Thai Baht in Thailand despite having an overseas issued debit card. This prevents all the usual added charges and currency exchange fees for using an overseas debit or credit card denominated in a foreign currency. Thus, using a Wise debit card for purchases in Thailand has no added fees. 
 

The Wise card with Apple Pay works contactlessly in 7-11, Tops, Villa, Central, Big-C, and Lotus just to name a few of the many places that it works.
 

Some places in Thailand might say that they only accept credit cards and not debit cards, like 7-11, but the Wise debit card still works there anyway. 
 

Most places now also no longer have a minimum purchase amount on debit card purchases. So you can purchase something as small as a 7 Baht bottle of drinking water using Apple Pay. Just tap and go. Faster than cash in many cases. 

I'm concerned about the method of waving a card at a reader and it deducts money from our account without need for a pin number or anything, so at my age if I had one of those, and I had heart attack and had to go to hospital in ambulance, there would be loads of opportunity for someone to go through my pockets and take my card, and spend my money. I refused the bank's offer to give me one of those cards.

 

Am I wrong?

[ChrisKC]

"We will all be screwed", "they want to control us".

 

I have no such feelings; even by 2026 there will still be 50% cash transactions. It is a gradual process of change that I won't even notice! There is no hidden agenda.

 

If you don't have a smart phone, you are definitely in a very small minority and therefore has little relevance to the scheme to ultimately go cashless; that is becoming the way to go.

 

Some people just will not change rather than unable so to do and having a planned idea to object will have little effect except to those who it would seem are getting themselves stressed about something that they cannot control in the overall scheme of things. I remember when UK went decimal and metric: many objected in principal and openly rebelled but it made no odds in the end. Going decimal and metric made sense then and it makes sense now. 

 

At first, I had some reservations about paying without cash, but soon got used to it and in any case, I didn't , and don't now, allow it to bother me.

 

If this matter is one of the biggest issues in your life, then you will be absolutely fine!

[fleccer]

47 minutes ago, edogthong said:

That's exactly it. We all need to refuse going along with this. Many European countries now have entirely "cashless" businesses. In some countries, small "cash only" businesses have started popping up in protest. This is the route we all need to take otherwise we're screwed. 

That's right, we must to stop them and the first step is to boycott anyone who doesn't accept cash. The second ones: is to resort to cryptocurrencies

[bangon04]

"the Bank of Thailand joined four other Southeast Asian central banks in creating a cross-border payment zone that uses QR codes and avoids converting and reconverting"

 

sounds vaguely like a EuroZone  an ASEAzone???

[sezze]

16 hours ago, rwill said:

Cash still works when the internet or power goes down.

And it will always be like that imho . Gold has a value in Thailand , why ? Because people use it as a bank account . But it isn't in the rich Western world . True , but then again , gold is still a standard value coin . Even in the western world . Gold has been since gold was around . You can introduce so many systems but in a war or any extreme situation ( and at some point it will come) things of value are not electronic but something you can hold in your hands .

[BEngBKK]

I my country it is very difficult to find an ATM machine , Everybody use NFC.

We not have paper bankbooks for 30 years...

Velcome  to the future (present)

[bangkok19]

BIG BROTHER will have even more eyes! 

If CCTV, GPS to SIM isn't enough, they'll now know your EVERY move and where every Baht you own has gone to. 

Gratuities you may get could be taxed. It stinks. 

[Mac Mickmanus]

21 minutes ago, bangkok19 said:

BIG BROTHER will have even more eyes! 

If CCTV, GPS to SIM isn't enough, they'll now know your EVERY move and where every Baht you own has gone to. 

Gratuities you may get could be taxed. It stinks. 

Why would that bother you ?

[geisha]

Pipe dreams, nothing else, especially in countries like Thailand.

[jacko45k]

9 hours ago, edogthong said:

Yes, the best one is called CASH!

I don't mind the convenience of a tap and go for small purchases, nor do I have a problem with scanning a QR code to pay my electricity or water bills.... very convenient. But I don't need Applepay....

[sandyf]

14 hours ago, Orinoco said:

Fine by me.

Reckon life will still go on.

 

Of course it will, mankind has always adapted to an ever changing environment.