Secured Credit Card at Bangkok Bank -- can people share their experiences?

[Jingthing]

I am strongly considering getting a secured credit card at Bangkok Bank but because I can't find anything written about this in print or online, I have some questions about the actual experience with it. Hopefully there are members who have such a card that can inform.

 

I want a local (Thai) card even though I have a U.S. cc. My purpose is mostly for travel although I assume if I buy products with it there are (hopefully!) more consumer protections paying by CC than with cash or debit card.

 

I am not eligible for a regular Thai credit card as not working here (retirement visa). 

 

It's a shame that Thai banks don't offer regular credit cards to retired expats based on verifiable pension income. But even though that is possible in other countries, it is not in Thailand.

 

Yes, Bangkok Bank is not the only bank offering secured cards, but BB happens to make sense for me because of the way I use that account. (I also have SCB and Kasikorn accounts.)

 

Here is what an in person BB banker told me at a BB branch.

 

The minimum to open is 50K baht.

 

That money is locked until you close the secured cc account.

 

If you wish to increase that rather low limit, you can add money to that account at any time, and your available credit increases to that level.

 

So let's say you need 100K credit for an upcoming trip. Add 50K. 

 

Adding that money to the 50K does NOT increase your LOCKED credit of 50K permanently. Seemingly a great feature! (Hopefully I understood it correctly.)

 

However if you open with more than 50K you can never lower it unless you close the account and open a new one.

 

Which begs the question -- why would anyone open with more than 50K?

 

The interest rate for balances is 16 percent.

 

Visa was recommended as the better choice for travel purposes although not the only option.

 

I forget to ask whether you are required to pay the full balance each month or if like regular cards there is a minimum payment required and the rest gets charged interest. I assume from their profit seeking POV that you can hold a balance. But not certain at this point. 

 

I forgot to ask about annual fees. That would be easy to find out.

 

As I have the BB app on my phone I assume adding to balances and paying monthly bills will be a breeze.

 

For anyone using this kind of BB card, do I have the details correct? What has been your experience? Anything else to add?

Edited September 12, 2023 by Jingthing

[Mavideol]

have had it for the past 10 years absolutely no problem

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, Mavideol said:

have had it for the past 10 years absolutely no problem

Can you confirm that you can add money to it at any time to temporarily raise your credit limit without increasing the initial lower LOCKED amount?

[Mavideol]

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

Can you confirm that you can add money to it at any time to temporarily raise your credit limit without increasing the initial lower LOCKED amount?

never had to do it but was explained to me that was an option, since it has been more than 10 years things may have changed but overall never had to slightest problem, have my 800,000 there as fixed deposit at a fantastic interest rate (sarcasm intended) 1.25% yearly rate  555

[Jingthing]

8 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

never had to do it but was explained to me that was an option, since it has been more than 10 years things may have changed but overall never had to slightest problem, have my 800,000 there as fixed deposit at a fantastic interest rate (sarcasm intended) 1.25% yearly rate  555

Thanks.

I will open with 50k and test it.

It's important to me to be able to have a higher level as needed.

Many air tickets cost more than 50K just for the ticket.

 

Are you required to pay off the full balance monthly or are you allowed to pay a minimum payment and keep a balance? Not that you'd want to at 16 percent though!

Edited September 12, 2023 by Jingthing

[gargamon]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Which begs the question -- why would anyone open with more than 50K?

I had one of these for a bit years ago. The credit limit on the card is limited by the amount in the account. If I recall correctly, for a 50k limit I needed 100k in the account. 

 

[Jingthing]

7 minutes ago, gargamon said:

I had one of these for a bit years ago. The credit limit on the card is limited by the amount in the account. If I recall correctly, for a 50k limit I needed 100k in the account. 

 

That is not what I was told.

That would be a deal breaker -- 100K for 50K. I find that hard to believe.

Was this Bangkok Bank? If not, which bank.

If it wasn't Bangkok Bank (it was clear that I COULD open for 50K) it's not very relevant to me. 

The being able to raise the limit at anytime sounds like a great feature and almost too good to be true. If it's not true, to get what I want I would need to open with a bigger balance as 50k is not enough for many trips.

[gargamon]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

That is not what I was told.

That would be a deal breaker -- 100K for 50K. I find that hard to believe.

Was this Bangkok Bank? If not, which bank.

If it wasn't Bangkok Bank (it was clear that I COULD open for 50K) it's not very relevant to me. 

The being able to raise the limit at anytime sounds like a great feature and almost too good to be true. If it's not true, to get what I want I would need to open with a bigger balance as 50k is not enough for many trips.

Yes it was Bangkok bank. The one on second rd near soi 6.

 

This was more than 10 years ago. Who knows what the deposit amount is now. Something more for you to check before you sign up. 

 

[Jingthing]

Just now, gargamon said:

Yes it was Bangkok bank. The one on second rd near soi 6.

 

This was more than 10 years ago. Who knows what the deposit amount is now. Something more for you to check before you sign up. 

 

Thanks.

But I really think that has changed. 

I explicitly asked the minimum to.open.

Answer 50k.

[BenStark]

2 hours ago, Mavideol said:

have my 800,000 there as fixed deposit at a fantastic interest rate (sarcasm intended) 1.25% yearly rate 

So you use your 800K retirement requirement as deposit for the credit card?

 

Good idea, hadn't thought about that.

 

Edit : Last time I asked about that at Kasikorn, I think I was told that the deposit for the CC would not earn interest

Edited September 12, 2023 by BenStark

[Ben Zioner]

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Which begs the question -- why would anyone open with more than 50K?

I have opened mine with 200k. Why? Hotel bookings, airfares for holidays get dangerously close to that number..

 

Had it for 7 years now, zero complaints, never paid any interest. 

[Jingthing]

14 minutes ago, Ben Zioner said:

I have opened mine with 200k. Why? Hotel bookings, airfares for holidays get dangerously close to that number..

 

Had it for 7 years now, zero complaints, never paid any interest. 

Yes of course.

But as said if you can open with 50k and temporarily add all you want to cover current activity while still keeping only 50k permanently locked up that seems ideal to me.

[Mark Nothing]

I have had a 50,000 baht Bangkok Bank secured credit card for 10 years. 50,000 baht required to open. Overall it has been good but there are several inconveniences which take getting used to.

 

My Bangkok Bank regular bank account gets automatically deducted each month for full payment on the credit card.  Even when I make payments early.  In effect  a double payment.  This results in a credit limit over the 50,000 baht. 

 

And if there is not enough cash in your bank account to make the minimum payment, they will automatically take the entire amount available and freeze the credit card until the minimum payment is made.  Maybe these are automatic default setting that can be adjusted by talking to customer service department.

 

Lately some vendors are not accepting my attempts to make a purchase using my Bangkok Bank credit card.  Ebay japan.  Some specialty usa vendors.  No problem with any Thailand vendors.

 

One year I requested the 50,000 baht back.  It was a hassle.  Plenty of paperwork.  About 3 months to process and receive cash.

 

I think my bank atm gets docked for 300 baht annual fee each year and credit card fee waived.

 

 

[Jingthing]

41 minutes ago, Mark Nothing said:

I have had a 50,000 baht Bangkok Bank secured credit card for 10 years. 50,000 baht required to open. Overall it has been good but there are several inconveniences which take getting used to.

 

My Bangkok Bank regular bank account gets automatically deducted each month for full payment on the credit card.  Even when I make payments early.  In effect  a double payment.  This results in a credit limit over the 50,000 baht. 

 

And if there is not enough cash in your bank account to make the minimum payment, they will automatically take the entire amount available and freeze the credit card until the minimum payment is made.  Maybe these are automatic default setting that can be adjusted by talking to customer service department.

 

Lately some vendors are not accepting my attempts to make a purchase using my Bangkok Bank credit card.  Ebay japan.  Some specialty usa vendors.  No problem with any Thailand vendors.

 

One year I requested the 50,000 baht back.  It was a hassle.  Plenty of paperwork.  About 3 months to process and receive cash.

 

I think my bank atm gets docked for 300 baht annual fee each year and credit card fee waived.

 

 

That was very informative.

 

Thank you.

 

Your post appears to confirm:

 

That you can open with 50k for 50k credit 

 

That it is possible to add to your credit limit without raising the original base amount 

 

That at least for my purposes there is no reason to open it higher than 50k.

 

That's wild about the automatic sometimes double payments.

 

Is the auto payment done just before the due date?

 

I will definitely ask if that's required or if it can be turned off.

 

Not too worried about delays if existing as 50k isn't life changing.

 

I assume your name is printed on the card, correct?

 

How about address?

 

I assume it's the same address you used to open their bank account  

 

You need the address to match for online purchases when they ask for address.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Jingthing

[Mavideol]

1 hour ago, BenStark said:

So you use your 800K retirement requirement as deposit for the credit card?

 

Good idea, hadn't thought about that.

 

Edit : Last time I asked about that at Kasikorn, I think I was told that the deposit for the CC would not earn interest

BkBk gives me a ""very high interest rate"" 555 meaning  1.25% per year on the fixed deposit account, such fixed deposit account has the amount required to my yearly retirement extension and I use it to secure a CC.

 

[Mavideol]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Thanks.

I will open with 50k and test it.

It's important to me to be able to have a higher level as needed.

Many air tickets cost more than 50K just for the ticket.

 

Are you required to pay off the full balance monthly or are you allowed to pay a minimum payment and keep a balance? Not that you'd want to at 16 percent though!

I selected to pay off the full balance each month but have the option to pay only the minimum payment, each or every month receive the statement and there it shows the minimum payment to be made but since I selected full payment it automatically get debited from my regular savings account, the statement is detailed showing all transactions and payments made

[Mavideol]

4 hours ago, gargamon said:

I had one of these for a bit years ago. The credit limit on the card is limited by the amount in the account. If I recall correctly, for a 50k limit I needed 100k in the account. 

 

not anymore, you can spend the total secured amount, but you will have top pay the full spend money to get your credit back, if you only pay the minimum payment the interest will kill u and only that small amount would be available, never did it but that's my understanding

[Mavideol]

1 hour ago, Ben Zioner said:

I have opened mine with 200k. Why? Hotel bookings, airfares for holidays get dangerously close to that number..

 

Had it for 7 years now, zero complaints, never paid any interest. 

same here, started with same amount but later realized that I could use the fixed deposit acct to provide letter for IMO thus increased it to the required amount, as u I don't understand why someone would open with just 50K Baht, air tickets, hotel booking potential car rental and so forth

[Jingthing]

7 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

same here, started with same amount but later realized that I could use the fixed deposit acct to provide letter for IMO thus increased it to the required amount, as u I don't understand why someone would open with just 50K Baht, air tickets, hotel booking potential car rental and so forth

I don't get it. 200K isn't enough for visa qualification for anything I'm aware of. But clearly different people have different needs. My visa account is at SCB and I if I need more than 50K credit for a trip, I can just add whatever amount I need to the credit account. 

[digbeth]

I have it with Bangkok Bank too, 100k in the account, if I overpays, the amount owed shows a - minus and I can spend that amount straight away, so yes, if you temporarily need extra credit, you can just pay into the credit card 

 

you can pay the minimum and pay interest to borrow against your own money

 

I've never tried but if you open 800k, can you show the bank book to immigration and spend what you otherwise can't touch? it appears as regular bank book, only caveat is that the amount don't show as available balance in online banking

[jprve]

Perhaps for your consideration - UOB offer a secured Credit Card as well, which could be very useful if you travel a lot as it provides air miles/points on transactions....

They also offer a unsecured version if you can show you have over 1M in a Thai Bank account and has been there for 3 months previous - this is what i was told by the branch near me. Retirement Visa can apply.

Edited September 12, 2023 by jprve

[Jingthing]

I want to say thank you for all the responses.

I definitely learned more about the BB secured credit card here and I assume others who might be interested have as well.

This forum can be really great for this kind of function and quite often very quickly as well (as has happened in this case). 

[Ben Zioner]

37 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I don't get it. 200K isn't enough for visa qualification for anything I'm aware of. But clearly different people have different needs. My visa account is at SCB and I if I need more than 50K credit for a trip, I can just add whatever amount I need to the credit account. 

Easy to answer that one. First year I deposited an extra 200k believing that I could use  the 400k for my extension of stay. Not so, the letter they gave me showed only 200k available for immigration purpose. Never mind I had enough elsewhere. But that makes perfect sense since logically you can't use the same money for two distinct guarantees. 

 

Thereafter I had one  account for CC and a distinct on for Immigration. Dunno yet what I am going to do with the latter. Smallish money anyhow.

[aublumberg]

7 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I am strongly considering getting a secured credit card at Bangkok Bank but because I can't find anything written about this in print or online, I have some questions about the actual experience with it. Hopefully there are members who have such a card that can inform.

 

For anyone using this kind of BB card, do I have the details correct? What has been your experience? Anything else to add?

Works as you described, easy to open. Go to the Bangkok Bank headoffice (333 Silom Road) if you can.

[Mavideol]

16 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I don't get it. 200K isn't enough for visa qualification for anything I'm aware of. But clearly different people have different needs. My visa account is at SCB and I if I need more than 50K credit for a trip, I can just add whatever amount I need to the credit account. 

my initial deposit had nothing to do with my extension of stay,  it was only for a CC, later realized that
I could use that fixed deposit account for immigration purpose thus deposit the difference, somebody already answer that as well

[Mavideol]

16 hours ago, digbeth said:

I have it with Bangkok Bank too, 100k in the account, if I overpays, the amount owed shows a - minus and I can spend that amount straight away, so yes, if you temporarily need extra credit, you can just pay into the credit card 

 

you can pay the minimum and pay interest to borrow against your own money

 

I've never tried but if you open 800k, can you show the bank book to immigration and spend what you otherwise can't touch? it appears as regular bank book, only caveat is that the amount don't show as available balance in online banking

that's a fixed deposit account, no mention of secure deposit for CC purpose, and have been showing the book to IMO with a letter as well, the front of my book says FIXED ACCOUNT PASSBOOK

Mine shows the account and available balance on line banking and I use to draw the interest earned but my balance never go below 800K

Edited September 13, 2023 by Mavideol

[oxo1947]

I have had one for quite some years---put 100K in, married so everywhere I book/eat  etc is usually  for 2 and didn't want to mess around topping up etc, Also took the option of automatically paying full amount at the end of the month from another account at. I didn't want to be paying extras-- yer, C. Cards ..they charge you 16% when you use their money  1. 25% when they use yours.

 

Your get 2 cards (without asking) Visa & Master Card. --Master card being the much better option IMO as BKK bank one is sponsored by Air Asia.  If your traveling-just showing the card will put you at the front of the queue for checking in or for Boarding. You dont have to spend much on it before your getting freebies on flights .... coffee/soft drinks -move up to Red seats etc. Of course at the moment they are thin on the ground. A friend who worked for them told me they leased all their aircraft, and were ruthless in cutting staff as soon as Covid hit. So they are taking the longest to start up again--but hope they hurry because there were the airline that help drive prices down over the years.

 

 

Oh dont forget to remove the CCV number when you get it.

[Danderman123]

On 9/12/2023 at 8:31 PM, jprve said:

Perhaps for your consideration - UOB offer a secured Credit Card as well, which could be very useful if you travel a lot as it provides air miles/points on transactions....

 

Can the Bangkok Bank secured credit card be used for airline points?

[oxo1947]

1 hour ago, Danderman123 said:

Can the Bangkok Bank secured credit card be used for airline points?

Yes ...as above

 

Google  = your friend

You can use your card in any of Mastercard's merchants both locally and internationally as well as online. Each time you use your card you'll earn airasia points that you can use to redeem AirAsia flights, SNAP, hotel stays, food and airasia rewards deals on the airasia Super App.

[Negita43]

Some time ago I asked for a credit card at SCB and was told as I was over 70 "government rules" say I cannot have one - anyone know if this is true?