My credit card from another bank got suspended because I was using it to much for their taste as they could see I had not returned to my home country for several months where my account was still registered. I was not charging big amounts but used it like 30 times a month for small stuff like Grab. Better to change adress to Thailand? Not sure if you do not get kicked out from their services if you change your residence to Thailand. Info on real life experiences much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Edited February 4, 20242 yr by stat

That’s just crazy — I have heard of cards being frozen because the bank thought it was fraud, but they shouldn’t deny their customers to use the card abroad, on the contrary, many banks will make extra fees from this.

 

As for Revolut and Wise, they are basically designed to be used away from home.

33 minutes ago, stat said:

My credit card from another bank got suspended because I was using it to much for their taste as they could see I had not returned to my home country for several months where my account was still registered. I was not charging big amounts but used it like 30 times a month for small stuff like Grab. Better to change adress to Thailand? Not sure if you do not get kicked out from their services if you change your residence to Thailand. Info on real life experiences much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Changing residence for a bank account to Thailand is tricky.

They may do as Barclays did in the UK:  accept it for a while, then all of a sudden kick you out.

A friend had this experience with 2 German banks.  He even asked before changing residence whether there would be a problem.  They said no, but changed their mind after 2 or 3 years. 

18 minutes ago, lkn said:

That’s just crazy — I have heard of cards being frozen because the bank thought it was fraud, but they shouldn’t deny their customers to use the card abroad, on the contrary, many banks will make extra fees from this.

 

As for Revolut and Wise, they are basically designed to be used away from home.

My credit cards have been frozen many times because I used it abroad. 

 

Out of state, or in another town, has never been a problem, though, so I gave up complaining. 

27 minutes ago, stat said:

My credit card from another bank got suspended because I was using it to much for their taste as they could see I had not returned to my home country for several months where my account was still registered. I was not charging big amounts but used it like 30 times a month for small stuff like Grab. Better to change adress to Thailand? Not sure if you do not get kicked out from their services if you change your residence to Thailand. Info on real life experiences much appreciated.

Strangely enough, during COVID, I stayed uninterrupted for two years, and I charged everything, including 7/11 purchases, all food orders, and everything except where vendors accept only cash. I still do the same in Thailand for half of the year now. 

I used my HSBC UK Mastercard to pay my expenses whilst living and working in Hong Kong in the early 2000's. After 3 months they asked me where I lived and I replied the UK. The following month they cancelled my card. My client at the time was SCB who was quite happy to issue me with a HK credit card to replace it. When I returned to the UK nine months later I started to use my Barclaycard which I continued to use, both in the UK and in Thailand, even until today, without a problem.

Maintain a healthy debit balance, they wont cancel your account!! 

On 2/5/2024 at 6:33 AM, Olmate said:

Maintain a healthy debit balance, they wont cancel your account!! 

Typically what charges are involved if you take a cash advance in local currency overseas when you have a positive balance on your card?

On 2/5/2024 at 12:33 AM, Olmate said:

Maintain a healthy debit balance, they wont cancel your account!! 

The one that got canceled was a credit card and a balance was not allowed.

On 2/4/2024 at 8:04 PM, lkn said:

That’s just crazy — I have heard of cards being frozen because the bank thought it was fraud, but they shouldn’t deny their customers to use the card abroad, on the contrary, many banks will make extra fees from this.

 

As for Revolut and Wise, they are basically designed to be used away from home.

They are "afraid" that your adress is no longer correct and asked me for a written confirmation that I still live in Germany which I could not get as I was in Thailand and the confirmation can only be got in person. That is why I have 10 cc as backups 🙂

On 2/4/2024 at 6:42 PM, stat said:

My credit card from another bank got suspended because I was using it to much for their taste as they could see I had not returned to my home country for several months where my account was still registered.

 

Is that what they told you? Due to you being away from home for a long period? Not suspicious transactions?

 

I use a UK Virgin Atlantic Credit card and had it registered on the Bolt App which I use here in Thailand. After 1 journey they blocked my card as "suspicious transaction" for 100 Baht. I had to call Virgin Money and get the card unblocked. Lo and behold, same thing happened next time. I told them to mark the Bolt transactions as authorised and not suspicious. Apparently their system can't do that. After the 3rd time I had to give up using that card with Bolt. It is only Bolt that this happens with. Dimwits!

 

On 2/5/2024 at 2:22 AM, Lorry said:

 

Changing residence for a bank account to Thailand is tricky.

They may do as Barclays did in the UK:  accept it for a while, then all of a sudden kick you out.

A friend had this experience with 2 German banks.  He even asked before changing residence whether there would be a problem.  They said no, but changed their mind after 2 or 3 years. 

Not only does your friends bank have its rules, but the country central banks have their rules as well and the country can change its banking rules at any time.

 

If something is OK now, who can forecast what will happen 2 or 3 years into the future.

On 2/5/2024 at 2:42 AM, stat said:

My credit card from another bank got suspended because I was using it to much for their taste as they could see I had not returned to my home country for several months where my account was still registered. I was not charging big amounts but used it like 30 times a month for small stuff like Grab. Better to change adress to Thailand? Not sure if you do not get kicked out from their services if you change your residence to Thailand. Info on real life experiences much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Go to Krungsri atm take out 30,000 baht. Use that instead. Problem solved. Normal for banks to cancel a card if used a lot overseas as they suspect unauthorised use.

On 2/5/2024 at 2:04 AM, lkn said:

That’s just crazy — I have heard of cards being frozen because the bank thought it was fraud, but they shouldn’t deny their customers to use the card abroad, on the contrary, many banks will make extra fees from this.

 

As for Revolut and Wise, they are basically designed to be used away from home.

They are NOT credit cards, they are Debit cards

On 2/7/2024 at 5:28 PM, KannikaP said:

They are NOT credit cards, they are Debit cards

And? I don’t get your point at all.

 

Banks often add 1-2% to the VISA/MasterCard exchange rate when used abroad, and for cards issued within the EU, they are not limited by EU’s cap on interchange fees when used outside the EU.

 

So regardless of credit or debit card, banks often make an extra cut of the spending when used abroad, and it makes no sense to me why a bank would want to freeze a card for other reasons than suspected fraud.

Edited February 10, 20242 yr by lkn

On 2/7/2024 at 11:04 AM, soi3eddie said:

 

Is that what they told you? Due to you being away from home for a long period? Not suspicious transactions?

 

I use a UK Virgin Atlantic Credit card and had it registered on the Bolt App which I use here in Thailand. After 1 journey they blocked my card as "suspicious transaction" for 100 Baht. I had to call Virgin Money and get the card unblocked. Lo and behold, same thing happened next time. I told them to mark the Bolt transactions as authorised and not suspicious. Apparently their system can't do that. After the 3rd time I had to give up using that card with Bolt. It is only Bolt that this happens with. Dimwits!

 

They explicitly asked for a written confirmation from my home country. After I delivered that months later I could use the card again.I used grab and had no problems with the credit card so do not know about grab.

On 2/7/2024 at 11:12 AM, uttradit said:

Go to Krungsri atm take out 30,000 baht. Use that instead. Problem solved. Normal for banks to cancel a card if used a lot overseas as they suspect unauthorised use.

Why is the problem solved then with a 30K Atm transaction ( I live in TH) ? The problem was not unauthorised use, it was explicitly stated that they suspected no longer live in the west. 

On 2/10/2024 at 11:11 AM, lkn said:

And? I don’t get your point at all.

 

Banks often add 1-2% to the VISA/MasterCard exchange rate when used abroad, and for cards issued within the EU, they are not limited by EU’s cap on interchange fees when used outside the EU.

 

So regardless of credit or debit card, banks often make an extra cut of the spending when used abroad, and it makes no sense to me why a bank would want to freeze a card for other reasons than suspected fraud.

I think they were afraid that I would stop paying my cc bill because I no longer live in the west 🙂 A lot of banks stipulate a residence in the banks country.

On 2/5/2024 at 1:42 AM, stat said:

My credit card from another bank got suspended because I was using it to much for their taste as they could see I had not returned to my home country for several months where my account was still registered. I was not charging big amounts but used it like 30 times a month for small stuff like Grab. Better to change adress to Thailand? Not sure if you do not get kicked out from their services if you change your residence to Thailand. Info on real life experiences much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Revolut stopped me using their card. I'm registed in Thailand. 

 

I use Crypto.com, much better.