Grab and Food Panda Blocking (some or all?) Thai bank debit cards

[Jingthing]

Starting about January 6th, both my Grab and Food Panda apps began rejecting my Bangkok Bank debit card payment method.

Both had messages indicating that I must contact my bank.

I let it slide a few days by switching to cash hoping it was a temporary glitch but finally called today and found out is definitely NOT a temporary glitch.

Bangkok Bank told me (I have a MC debit card) that these apps have "upgraded" and it will be no longer possible to use my card for payments with them. I asked if there was anything I could do, like switch to new card from them, and was told that they can offer no solution.

I then tried adding my Kasikorn Visa debit card.

It was not accepted.

Of course I wouldn't know what other Thai banks might also be blocked or might still work, but it's not looking good!

Switching only to cash won't work for me as I use their services so often and drivers can't be expected to always be able to make change.

So I noticed both apps do offer the option of TRUE MONEY WALLET.

Checked with them and it is available to foreigners.

However my first attempt to sign up with them hit an unfixable roadblock, so I'll try again of course to see if I can get into their system. Specifically it stopped me when I tried to enter my occupation.

It wouldn't let me enter anything. So basically a frozen attempt with no way back or forward.

 

[gargamon]

I gave up on ATM cards in Thailand long ago. Can you pay with a QR code?

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, gargamon said:

I gave up on ATM cards in Thailand long ago. Can you pay with a QR code?

I didn't really think of this with food delivery drivers.

When you order and choose CASH, I have assumed you need to be ready to pay cash, or if not, why didn't they say pay with SCAN QR as an option?

 

I do pay Tops delivery by scanning QR with Bangkok Bank and I also use bank transfer from Bangkok Bank when buying from Lazada.

 

So far as far as I know it's only about these two very popular apps.

[dddave]

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

I didn't really think of this with food delivery drivers.

When you order and choose CASH, I have assumed you need to be ready to pay cash, or if not, why didn't they say pay with SCAN as an option?

I haven't done it myself but I have seen other residents of my Jomtien condo building paying GRAB drivers using a QR code.

[Jingthing]

4 minutes ago, dddave said:

I haven't done it myself but I have seen other residents of my Jomtien condo building paying GRAB drivers using a QR code.

I will try! Thank you.

It's possible to chat up drivers when they accept orders and ask if they can change 1000 (it helps to tell them how much you will tip if they can as after all they're not bringing your food for their health) and I can also ask them if I can scan pay.

Do others have experience doing that successfully with Grab and Panda drivers?

[richard_smith237]

IF the Apps are not accepting Debit Cards (Bangkok Bank), could you get a Credit Card ??

 

Most Banks will allow a 'stored value credit card' with preloaded funds ?

(essentially its just another DebitCard, but you have to load it separately and it works 'as a credit card' when some digital payments will not accept a Debit Card. 

 

 

[Jingthing]

I have been considering getting a Thai credit card from Bangkok Bank tying up 50,000 baht to do so. But so far I haven't found it necessary. I assume that would work with those apps but worth verifying. If True Money and Scan QR won't work for me, then there would then be a stronger reason to do that.

[Jingthing]

Update -- yes had a Grab driver accept paying by scanning his QR code (to pay with Bangkok Bank account). Does that mean that all or most all Grab drivers would do the same? It seems probably so as they all have to have functioning phones to do the job at all.

Also all Panda drivers? I guess so.

It's weird that neither say anything on their apps about this option.

Paying cash is not the same thing as scanning a code.

Tops Online for example gives that as option to choose when ordering.

Maybe these apps don't want to commit to obligating all their drivers to do so. 

 

That said, I still want True Money wallet for two reasons --

 

It often takes longer to get a driver to accept the order when cash is selected. Bigger chance of cold food. It could even lead to rejected orders with no driver found.

 

I'm in the frequent order promotion clubs on both apps. The savings especially on Grab are quite significant. The only way to keep paying those modest dues is to have an online payment option on file. 

[ricklev]

Interesting.  Yes, both Foodpanda and Grab no longer accept my Bangkok Bank Mastercard debit card, but my Kasikorn Visa debit card has been working on Foodpanda (I order every day)  and I was able to add it as a payment method to Grab.  I wonder what that is all about...

[Thaindrew]

same problem with grab and food panda for food, I tried a HSBC card (which I hold Baht in in Hong Kong), Grab verified the card by taking 5baht, but when placed the order they refused the card!

[ricklev]

Must be a fairly high percentage of Foodpanda's customers paying with Bangkok Bank debit cards.  You would think they would put some kind of notice up.  Same for Grab.  

[Thaindrew]

8 minutes ago, ricklev said:

Must be a fairly high percentage of Foodpanda's customers paying with Bangkok Bank debit cards.  You would think they would put some kind of notice up.  Same for Grab.  

it is strange, food panda seem to allow the pay by "cash" option without issues, of course I then pay by Bangkok Bank app when the food arrives - albeit that is to the rider. Grab don't seem to have many riders accepting cash - had an order pending last night for 1 hour, in effect awaiting for a driver, only after the 1 hour would they let me cancel !

[Jingthing]

46 minutes ago, ricklev said:

Interesting.  Yes, both Foodpanda and Grab no longer accept my Bangkok Bank Mastercard debit card, but my Kasikorn Visa debit card has been working on Foodpanda (I order every day)  and I was able to add it as a payment method to Grab.  I wonder what that is all about...

Also interesting.

Of course when I called BB they could only speak for their bank and not debit cards for all Thai banks.

So I'm wondering why your Kbank works and mine doesn’t. 

I have one maybe clue.

Recently I signed up for youtube premium and needed to use a Thai card and there are monthly charges.

I wanted to use kbank but failed with their Activation for online shopping process. But I was able to activate my BB card for that.

I suppose I should look into my kbank situation again.

 

[Jingthing]

To add about the scan QR to pay option if you want to tip you can add that to the amount due so.you don't need to pay cash for the tip either.

[Bangkok Hound]

I called Bangkok Bank about this issue yesterday evening. I had some trouble understanding the lady, but she mentioned Kasikorn Bank and Mastercard. It seemed like an issue that might be resolved sooner or later. Both of my cards that don't work are Mastercards (BB and Krung Thai.) Is anyone having trouble with Visa?

[Ohyesuare]

17 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

To add about the scan QR to pay option if you want to tip you can add that to the amount due so.you don't need to pay cash for the tip either.

 

Yeah scan to pay with QR should work with almost all drivers. You should consider Line Man as well if it has the food options you want, they have a decent english option now. They have no issue accepting cash or QR and we order food with them almost daily. Never have to wait 30mins to an hour for a rider to accept an order like often happened to me with Grab when I used it.

[Jingthing]

31 minutes ago, Bangkok Hound said:

I called Bangkok Bank about this issue yesterday evening. I had some trouble understanding the lady, but she mentioned Kasikorn Bank and Mastercard. It seemed like an issue that might be resolved sooner or later. Both of my cards that don't work are Mastercards (BB and Krung Thai.) Is anyone having trouble with Visa?

Yes.

My Kbank card is visa.

 

 

[Jingthing]

15 minutes ago, Ohyesuare said:

 

Yeah scan to pay with QR should work with almost all drivers. You should consider Line Man as well if it has the food options you want, they have a decent english option now. They have no issue accepting cash or QR and we order food with them almost daily. Never have to wait 30mins to an hour for a rider to accept an order like often happened to me with Grab when I used it.

Yes I do use Line occasionally for restaurants not on the others. I have found the price on Line generally higher because of a scarcity of promotions on food and delivery.

[ricklev]

I did just order lunch from Grab and paid with my KBank Visa debit card with no problem.  This was in Bangkok.  Kanom jeen nam prik 🙂 

[johnnybangkok]

I had this problem with Grab for about 3 days at the beginning of this week (had to use a credit card) but it seems to have resolved itself now so maybe give it a couple of days as I'm sure Grab and the liked can't afford to not accept BB debit.

[The Old Bull]

When I use the ATM I take out 900 ฿ instead of 1000 ฿ if I think making change anywhere is going to be a problem.

[brfsa2]

It's kind of a requirement now in Thailand that the local debit card and credit card processing must be processed locally, like being routed through TPN (Thai Payment network) , and because of that, they are not stable and have regular downtime and incidents causing debit cards to fail, specifically Mastercard from BBL. Debit cards are special because they can be routed quickly to the acquiring local banks, and that means using local systems developed here by the the banks, they go down quite often.

 

Maybe another reason could be high amount of fraud on the local debit cards so they stopped accepting Debit for most transactions.

 

Do you have to do 3DS/OTP for the debit cards when used with Food Panda?

 

I think credit card is much better, you get a pretty good protection there.

[JBChiangRai]

I suspect there's been a high level of fraud and the banks are no longer prepared to have their card details stored by these companies.

 

Foodpanda asked me to reenter my Kasikorn Debit Card details, for no valid reason, it was already stored but the app triggered wanting them again.

 

Within a couple of days, there was a 30,000 baht fraud on my card (in the UK) I reported it immediately and the card was canceled, there were half a dozen OTP requests came through on my phone too.

 

ReverSharger who provide charging for EV's are currently unable to accept Kasikorn Debit Cards, perhaps these companies all share the same payment processor?

 

 

[JeffersLos]

21 hours ago, Ohyesuare said:

Yeah scan to pay with QR should work with almost all drivers.

 

22 hours ago, Jingthing said:

To add about the scan QR to pay option if you want to tip you can add that to the amount due so.you don't need to pay cash for the tip either.

 

Do you mean that this is for food panda, and you scan the food panda app on their phone?

 

Or do you scan a qr code on their own personal bank account? 

 

For example: You order food panda delivery and select to pay with cash.

The driver arrives, and instead of paying with cash, you scan a QR code on their food panda app to pay, and can also add a tip?

 

[ujayujay]

I don't have Grab in my apps anymore anyway because of the poor quality of service. Panda is more reliable and friendly. I always pay with CC.

[Jingthing]

3 hours ago, JeffersLos said:

 

 

Do you mean that this is for food panda, and you scan the food panda app on their phone?

 

Or do you scan a qr code on their own personal bank account? 

 

For example: You order food panda delivery and select to pay with cash.

The driver arrives, and instead of paying with cash, you scan a QR code on their food panda app to pay, and can also add a tip?

 

So far I have done with Grab and haven't tried with Panda yet but I assume it would be the same.

Check CASH for payment option.

Driver arrives.

Show him my phone with my bank app open and ask if I can scan.

He says yes.

I scan his QR code on his phone and enter the amount of the charge on my bank app for the food (plus optional tip).

Confirm.

Done. 

[Jingthing]

 

4 hours ago, brfsa2 said:

It's kind of a requirement now in Thailand that the local debit card and credit card processing must be processed locally, like being routed through TPN (Thai Payment network) , and because of that, they are not stable and have regular downtime and incidents causing debit cards to fail, specifically Mastercard from BBL. Debit cards are special because they can be routed quickly to the acquiring local banks, and that means using local systems developed here by the the banks, they go down quite often.

 

Maybe another reason could be high amount of fraud on the local debit cards so they stopped accepting Debit for most transactions.

 

Do you have to do 3DS/OTP for the debit cards when used with Food Panda?

 

I think credit card is much better, you get a pretty good protection there.

I have a U.S. credit card but no Thai one.

I wouldn't use my U.S. credit card on these apps.

Do they accept foreign cards? Just asking as I wouldn't use it if they did.

[Jingthing]

On 1/9/2025 at 12:36 PM, ricklev said:

I did just order lunch from Grab and paid with my KBank Visa debit card with no problem.  This was in Bangkok.  Kanom jeen nam prik 🙂 

I tried yesterday to use my Kbank card again.

First I tried to activate for online shopping using their bank's portal for that.

Failed.

Not sure if related as these apps aren't technically online shopping.

Then I tried entering again on the apps.

Failed.

F em. 

[Jingthing]

Curious timing but I've been requested by Bangkok Bank to update my personal info on their app. Nothing has changed in my personal information. So I went to the place on the app to confirm that and it said I must go to a branch and show my passport. Geez Louise!

[Liverpool Lou]

On 1/8/2025 at 7:26 PM, Jingthing said:

I can also ask them if I can scan pay.

Do others have experience doing that successfully with Grab and Panda drivers?

I've QR/scanned direct to the driver's own bank instead of cash and I'd be surprised if most of them don't accept that method.  I also have BBL, KTB, UOB KBank and Krungsri cards on my Grab payment method list all of which operate normally.