TrueMoney blocks foreign Credit/Debit cards from April 24, 2024

[Highlandman]

3 hours ago, atpeace said:

Using cash is overly complicated if you have your phone with you.  A 100 baht electronic payment is clean and simple.  The local vendors seem to like it.  In many cases they beg you to to avoid dirty cash and locating change for your bills.

 

Simplicity is king but I get why some enjoy swapping dirty bills.  They are comfortable with what they have always done.  Bet that British man that slapped the taxi driver over a 100 baht bill and was taken into custody wishes he would have gone the simple electronic route.

 

Absolute nonsense 

 

If you find it difficult to pay with a 100 Baht bill something is wrong with you.

 

Local vendors absolutely prefer cash. I've never had a vendor tell me otherwise. 

 

Also, I don't always carry my phone and I usually don't have excess funds in my local account nor do I topup my phone balance unless I wish to browse the internet or use GPS on my phone. 

 

I usually withdraw the entire balance of my account very quickly and that won't be topped up until I next make a transfer. More reasons why this absurd QR code system doesn't work for me.

 

Credit cards make sense because you're using borrowed money, which you pay back later.

 

QR codes are for lazy people who can't be bothered going to the ATM. They make money management difficult.

Edited May 3 by Highlandman

[Highlandman]

On 5/1/2024 at 10:09 PM, eisfeld said:

 

That's not true. I used to be able to use my debit card years ago.

At 711 or where? Credit card acceptance at 711 only began relatively recently. "Years ago" only cash was accepted.

[Highlandman]

11 hours ago, george said:

 

As mentioned above, I don't use cash anymore, haven't used it for approx 6 months or so.

 

Most PromptPay these days, and card for online purchases, plus an excellent Revolut account.

 

Well that's a strange choice of yours. It also makes your life more complicated.

 

You might want to reconsider.

 

People like you are the reason a cashless society could be upon us within just a few years (China is already there).

 

Already there is a proliferation of cashless cafes and restaurants (mostly located inside malls, though not exclusively) and their number grows by the year.

 

Fortunately, these places accept debit and credit cards as you would expect but the fact they don't take cash is deeply concerning. 

[scubascuba3]

4 hours ago, JensenZ said:

Are you serious? Having some coins in your pocket distresses you? A lot of things seem to stress you out. Are you OK?

 

Here's a tip. Keep the coins in your pocket and spend them the next time you shop. 7Eleven staff are more than happy to take them off your hands. If you learn this simple method you can keep the coins in your pocket to an absolute minimum.

you another one of those elderly farang who won't change with the times?

[george]

2 minutes ago, Highlandman said:

 

Well that's a strange choice of yours. It also makes your life more complicated.

 

You might want to reconsider.

 

People like you are the reason a cashless society could be upon us within just a few years (China is already there).

 

Already there is a proliferation of cashless cafes and restaurants (mostly located inside malls, though not exclusively) and their number grows by the year.

 

Fortunately, these places accept debit and credit cards as you would expect but the fact they don't take cash is deeply concerning. 

 

So the staff can't steal the cash...

[Highlandman]

Just now, george said:

 

So the staff can't steal the cash...

 

Another looney conspiracy theory? As if the well trained staff of a chain restaurant or Cafe such as "After You Cafe" which has like a dozen cameras everywhere would even think of doing that.

 

Thais are honest people for the most part they don't steal.

[Highlandman]

4 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

you another one of those elderly farang who won't change with the times?

 If you're struggling with coins it's probably because you're developing arthritis or something.

 

Normal people no matter their age have no issue with them.

 

Even I won't, when I visit Switzerland soon, which uses the Franc, the currency with the most coins in the world. Even decades ago, the 5 Franc denomination was already a coin.

[scubascuba3]

14 minutes ago, Highlandman said:

Normal people no matter their age have no issue with them.

 

You'll find younger people prefer not to carry round change, do you keep it in a purse?

[eisfeld]

5 hours ago, Highlandman said:

At 711 or where? Credit card acceptance at 711 only began relatively recently. "Years ago" only cash was accepted.

 

Phuket and I said debit card not credit card.

[SingAPorn]

Think that it is really time to leave Thailand as they are going to far in harassing foreigners with money that to. They prefer the broke quality Russians ? fine. Why should we continue to be harassed as such here ?

[yabbra]

17 hours ago, george said:

 

When did you used Wise plastic at 7-Eleven. Before or after April 24?

 

I last physically used my overseas debit card at the 7-11 about 2 hours ago & have done so regularly for the past 2 years...Not sure why people are saying debit cards aren't accepted there...As long as your spending over 200 Baht there's no issues at all.

[george]

6 minutes ago, yabbra said:

 

I last physically used my overseas debit card at the 7-11 about 2 hours ago & have done so regularly for the past 2 years...Not sure why people are saying debit cards aren't accepted there...As long as your spending over 200 Baht there's no issues at all.

 

That was the rule then, now only local credit cards over 200 baht purchase, or True Wallet.

[yabbra]

17 minutes ago, george said:

 

That was the rule then, now only local credit cards over 200 baht purchase, or True Wallet.

 

Now, any card purchase whether it's local or overseas, has to be over 200 Baht.

[Highlandman]

6 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

You'll find younger people prefer not to carry round change, do you keep it in a purse?

In a wallet.

[Highlandman]

32 minutes ago, george said:

 

That was the rule then, now only local credit cards over 200 baht purchase, or True Wallet.

 

Any credit card can be used regardless of where its issued. They use the VISA or Mastercard networks. If I'm not mistaken UnionPay also works. 

 

Again, if you use the physical card. I'm not talking about the wallet which is obviously the purpose of this thread you started.

[Highlandman]

42 minutes ago, yabbra said:

 

I last physically used my overseas debit card at the 7-11 about 2 hours ago & have done so regularly for the past 2 years...Not sure why people are saying debit cards aren't accepted there...As long as your spending over 200 Baht there's no issues at all.

 

Other than the digital wallets and all, it's obvious that when a VISA or Mastercard logo appears, ALL cards on those networks regardless of where they're issued are accepted.

 

There's no such thing as a "local VISA network" that excludes foreign issued VISA cards.

 

The only times I've seen such restrictions are online; for example, a US based merchant only delivers domestically and thus if you use a foreign issued card with a foreign billing address its blocked (although I've seen sites where there is a work around).

 

More commonly though, foreign issued cards are accepted but shipping is only within the US, meaning for deliveries to Thailand you'd need to use a parcel forwarding service.

[Highlandman]

38 minutes ago, george said:

 

That was the rule then, now only local credit cards over 200 baht purchase, or True Wallet.

 

Nonsense. Can you read? He used his card 2 hours ago. Unless something has changed in the past 2 hours then there is no issue.

 

We get it; the digital wallet has changed.

 

What has NOT changed and most likely won't (and can't) is the acceptance of PHYSICAL VISA/Mastercard cards issued in other parts of the world. 

 

Again, a terminal capable of swiping a locally issued VISA or Mastercard will be equally capable of swiping such a card issued outside the country. How can there possibly be a difference when it's the same company?

 

Besides, VISA and Mastercard are American companies.

 

If Thailand wants to limit acceptance to its own cards then it would have to limit to debit cards issued on their local network. 

 

For example, Myanmar of all countries has their own payments network called MPU. Their cards can ONLY be used in Myanmar. They won't work for anything outside of Myanmar, not even ATM Withdrawals. Conversely, MPU is often accepted by merchants who won't accept Visa or Mastercard.

 

While the sanctions that apply to Myanmar aren't as strict as they were pre 2013, VISA and Mastercard are effectively NOT accepted anywhere outside a few hotels and malls in Yangon and Mandalay anymore.

 

This contrasts with the pre Covid/pre coup situation where credit cards were increasingly accepted even in places like Dawei and Kawthaung.

[Highlandman]

1 hour ago, SingAPorn said:

Think that it is really time to leave Thailand as they are going to far in harassing foreigners with money that to. They prefer the broke quality Russians ? fine. Why should we continue to be harassed as such here ?

 

Russians can only get anything done or make payments/withdraw money in Thailand if they have a UnionPay card.

 

UnionPay is Chinese.

 

Visa and Mastercard as well as Diners Club and Amex have all left the Russian market.

 

Mir I think it's called is the Russian payments network. I've not seen it accepted anywhere in Thailand, but China's UnionPay is widely accepted.

 

Any Russian previously holding a Visa/Mastercard/Diners Club or Amex card would have already switched over to a UnionPay card by now.

Edited May 3 by Highlandman

[Highlandman]

2 hours ago, eisfeld said:

 

Phuket and I said debit card not credit card.

 

Credit and debit card acceptance started around the same time. I don't recall when exactly, might have been around 5 years ago. 

 

10 years ago, 711 was cash only.

[Middle Aged Grouch]

In backward countries, ca$h rules

[johng]

Cash rules in all countries and long may it continue....resist digital "money"  CBDC's and digital ID's

for as long as possible as they lead to the panopticon.

[Highlandman]

I was going to add, there is a Thai payments network called "Thai Payment Network"  I understand all locally issued debit cards are on this network in addition to whatever internationally recognized payments network they're associated with such as VISA/Mastercard or UnionPay.

 

This means that theoretically, it's possible to limit acceptance to domestic cards (as is done in Myanmar) to those on the TPN, meaning those transactions would be conducted through that network and NOT Visa/Mastercard etc 

 

In such cases, signs would indicate acceptance of TPN and there would be no Visa or Mastercard signs as these aren't accepted.

 

If memory serves me right, a small number of merchants did exactly this, maybe 5-10 years ago, but since the proliferation of QR codes and the fact most small businesses have never accepted cards to begin with, you'll now find that when cards are accepted, the major international networks are covered in pretty much all cases.

 

Of course, sometimes you may find VISA cards are accepted but not Mastercard, though this applies only in a minority of cases.

 

Essentially, if a merchant accepts credit /debit cards, your card will be accepted but acceptance is still relatively limited compared to cash and QR codes.

 

QR codes seem to be accepted by 90-95% of merchants in Thailand these days. 

 

QR codes can't be used to pay road tolls in Bangkok and intercity expressways. For those, you need to use either the easy pass, M-Flow (only on 2 expressways so far) or cash; an increasing number of tollways accept tap credit cards too (Visa/Mastercard). From what I've seen, ALL cash booths are being converted to eventually accept credit cards too. So far more than half already do.

[retarius]

Cash all the way

[torturedsole]

8 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

You'll find younger people prefer not to carry round change, do you keep it in a purse?

I'm not young, but joined the computer revolution with my ZX Spectrum as a young teen and my interest in technology has never diminished.

 

Life in the UK is now largely cashless and can be months on end before I draw cash from an ATM (Apple Pay et al rules the roost now). I always keep ten or twenty quid in my wallet for emergencies and a few pound coins on the side to tip the occasional fast food delivery driver, but that's about it.

 

Thailand is catching up on the electronic payments front, albeit slowly. QR codes do the job for me linked to my Bangkok Bank account, although still not as smooth as an Apple Pay purchase. There's hope yet.

 

 

[johng]

4 minutes ago, torturedsole said:

joined the computer revolution with my ZX Spectrum as a young teen

I had one too  and remember typing in a program from the handbook for hours (seemed like hours) only to be rewarded with a cryptic error message  which could not be recovered from except powering off the damned thing and starting again...later after much scrimping and saving my long suffering parents bought the magnetic tape upgrade  and we all marvelled at  "Jet Set Willy"

 

"Cashless" society is the very worst thing since sliced bread.

[torturedsole]

2 minutes ago, johng said:

"Cashless" society is the very worst thing since sliced bread.

It all depends on what side of the fence one sits.  

 

A quick press of the side button on the iPhone versus fiddling with notes and change. Apple Pay every time.  

[johng]

59 minutes ago, Regyai said:

What the future holds...

 

Foretold now in China:

 

Unfortunately many other countries are also rushing at break neck speed towards the digital dystopia...all for your convenience and safety of course.

[Rimmer]

An unattributed conspiracy troll post has been removed

[scubascuba3]

13 hours ago, george said:

 

That was the rule then, now only local credit cards over 200 baht purchase, or True Wallet.

The issue is with truemoneywallet not using debit/credit card, not 7 Eleven not accepting payment cards

[lkn]

On 4/30/2024 at 5:32 PM, Bountyhuntr said:

I think when I set mine up I had to contact them by phone as my application didn't get any attention for days.

 

Same thing happened to me. I applied, nothing happened. I asked at a True store, and they called customer support who said they would contact me within 24 hours.

 

On 5/1/2024 at 3:53 AM, Moonlover said:

Someone on this forum finally came up with the answer. You call yourself 'unemployed' (technically true) and you give your home address as your work address (a stretch but good enough) It worked and my account was approved in just a couple of hours. 

 

After I contacted True, they called me and told me to reapply, but to do exactly that: Declare myself unemployed and provide my home address as my business, and I was approved the same day.