Atm System Glitches?

[Dustoff]

Between my wife, myself and my visiting brother from Stateside, we have eight ATM, debit and credit cards between us, half of which are on Thai banks, the rest US banks and it has been a nightmare trying to withdraw money for about a week now.

And its not like we haven't tried a lot of times including not only different bank ATM's but locations in both Chiang Mai and Phuket Island. What gives? And before you suggest it, all accounts in five different banks have way more money than we are attempting to withdraw.

Not that I wouldn't suspect the Cosmic Snicker (PBUH). Over the past week the electronics went out on my Honda750 Shadow, our VCR and stereo systems died, the television is acting up and I have a cold...

Has anyone else out there had trouble with machines refusing to even allow the insertion of your cards?

[p1p]

Moving to Computers, with a link in General.

[mcgriffith]

Between my wife, myself and my visiting brother from Stateside, we have eight ATM, debit and credit cards between us, half of which are on Thai banks, the rest US banks and it has been a nightmare trying to withdraw money for about a week now.

And its not like we haven't tried a lot of times including not only different bank ATM's but locations in both Chiang Mai and Phuket Island. What gives? And before you suggest it, all accounts in five different banks have way more money than we are attempting to withdraw.

Not that I wouldn't suspect the Cosmic Snicker (PBUH). Over the past week the electronics went out on my Honda750 Shadow, our VCR and stereo systems died, the television is acting up and I have a cold...

Has anyone else out there had trouble with machines refusing to even allow the insertion of your cards?

It's just you!

Withdrew 10K B today no problem....

[Crossy]

Has anyone else out there had trouble with machines refusing to even allow the insertion of your cards?

Nope, no issues today with machines from BKK Bank and SCB. If it won't even accept the card (and it is in-service) you may have the card the wrong way up / round

[Cobalt60]

I had trouble a couple of weeks back, seems like only the Purple ones like my cards. All the rest, and I tried many, had one problem or another. I wouldnt mind if there was no money in the accounts and I was trying it on, its when you can't get your own money that it starts to be frustrating. I had this theory that the ones in banks, that may be hard wired to the service, work better, as opposed to the satelite types scattered around the malls.

Edited October 8, 2007 by Cobalt60

[mellow1]

The bank I have my accounts with, discontinued allowing ATM transactions from within Thailand, about a year ago. I have to do international wire transfers. Their reason was too much fraud. You might want to call and check with the bank you use.

[nikster]

My U.S. based card got disabled as soon as I used it in Thailand once. I called and turns out they do that automatically when they detect transactions in Thailand. I have heard the same from others - as stated above, seems to be a lot of fraud coming out of Thailand.

Called the bank and they re-instated the card and made a note on my account to not disable when used in Thailand. Not sure this will work - I try to not use this card here in any case as there really is too much fraud...

[BelfastMike]

Normally I've had no problems with withdrawing cash using my UK ATM card. However, the last two weeks or so I've been unable to use it in the machines.

I can use it in shops and withdraw money by going into a branch of any bank with my Passport.

I called the bank today (Alliance & Leicester). They've imposed a blanket limit of £60 per day on all foreign ATM transactions due to increased fraud. Normally the limit is £250 per day.

Curious thing though, managed to get 8k out an SCB machine today.

[bangkokrick]

Normally I've had no problems with withdrawing cash using my UK ATM card. However, the last two weeks or so I've been unable to use it in the machines.

I can use it in shops and withdraw money by going into a branch of any bank with my Passport.

I called the bank today (Alliance & Leicester). They've imposed a blanket limit of £60 per day on all foreign ATM transactions due to increased fraud. Normally the limit is £250 per day.

Curious thing though, managed to get 8k out an SCB machine today.

I tried to draw 10K today on my Barclays ATM card and was refused at two machines. I was later contacted by the bank fraud squad checking to see if it was me using the card. Following my confirmation they have now re instated the card. All the problems are related to the high level of fraud in Bangkok.

Cheers Rick

[tjo o tjim]

Exactly what error do you get? There is one which basically says "communication interrupted," which is used by the banks to politely get your card back and have you call them to confirm that the attempted transactions are valid.

If it states simply "transaction aborted" (forget the exact term), that is usually a bank-bank problem... what you would think is a communications problem, but that is too logical.

Other potential issues, not to state the obvious, but:

-Does the ATM use the network on your card -- PLUS, Cirrus, etc.

-Are you trying to withdraw more than your daily limit? Some banks have different limits for international transactions vs. domestic.

-For the Thai cards, are you using them at their bank's ATM, or another bank's?

-What banks are you using, and what ATM cards do you have? I had more problems with a US credit union than with a big bank, but usually that is just a function of not having a redundant network for the ATMs.

I'm still surprised working with banks just how fragile the ATM network is. There are a number of weak links based on 40 year old assumptions. One project now has an issue where they can't find one of the routers for the ATM network. It is likely buried under the raised floor as a part of a migration, and now nobody can find it. That little problem will likely cause ATMs from this particular bank to be unusable in half the US next weekend for at least a couple hours.

[bkkmick]

Used to be that if it was raining hard (or had just been raining heavily) then ATM machines had problems communicating. Not sure if it's still a problem, but it could be.

[bkkmick]

Sorry, dup.

Edited October 10, 2007 by bkkmick