Does Direct Debit of bills exist here? Is it possible to pay your bills (electric) automatically via D.D. or some other way in Chiang Mai? Cheers Mike

Kasikornbank online payments : K-Banking, i pay my cell phone bills with it all the time.

Yes. Wife and I direct debit most of our domestic bills.

Phone, Internet, mobile phone bills, etc

Yes but its not always smooth..

Kaskiorn web banking can only pay utilities etc that are set up as merchants.. Not all of them are..

I also cannot get the electric company one to operate as it insists on a ID number a different length to the one I seem to have.

Actual direct debit / automated payments can be set up with many utilities.. But beware, there isnt much of an ombudsman etc to back you up in a dispute. I was also caught in the crazy position of being told I could not cancel a direct debit, it has to be cancelled by the merchant, but TOT refused to cancel my direct debit with them as the phone line was in another persons name.. Catch 22.. I had to empty the bank account and let them fight it out.

I always run a totally separate household account, which only contains small money, so that if it was accessed or too much is taken its losses are limited.

I used my KBANK D/D card in Chinagmai last week to buy some furniture. No problem!

It's only after the purchase that I enquired the bank what the limit per day was on my D/D card. They told me it's B500,000 per day. Boy! I had the lady at the bank to change it down to B20,000 per day.

I advise others to change the limits to a level that you are comfortable with. Some people do get drunk once in a while you know?

I used my KBANK D/D card in Chinagmai last week to buy some furniture. No problem!

It's only after the purchase that I enquired the bank what the limit per day was on my D/D card. They told me it's B500,000 per day. Boy! I had the lady at the bank to change it down to B20,000 per day.

I advise others to change the limits to a level that you are comfortable with. Some people do get drunk once in a while you know?

No problem with Siam Commercial. Everything starts at 20,000 baht per day. You need to call their Bkk office to get it raised to any amount you want

Is it a real danger, direct debit messing up an SCB account? I arranged my bills to be paid this way just last week because I am sick of water and electricity bills landing in my postbox just a day or two before the due date, making it impossible to pay them at 7-11 if I am away for a day, and requiring inconvenient trips to the companies involved, of course strictly in working hours. Is it possible to put a limit on the amount the utility companies can take from my account at any one time? I need to check with the bank again

Is it a real danger, direct debit messing up an SCB account? I arranged my bills to be paid this way just last week because I am sick of water and electricity bills landing in my postbox just a day or two before the due date, making it impossible to pay them at 7-11 if I am away for a day, and requiring inconvenient trips to the companies involved, of course strictly in working hours. Is it possible to put a limit on the amount the utility companies can take from my account at any one time? I need to check with the bank again

I have been using Direct Debit with my SCB account for five years now, covering electricity, water, telephone/ADSL, UBC etc. Never a glitch (touch wood...).

/ Priceless

thanks :jap:

I've been using SBC direct debit for ages, also. Absolutely no problems. Even putting money in other people's accounts in other Thai banks can be done instantly, all you need is their account number. I pay all my house bills with it, mobile phone, cable TV, you name it.

I used my KBANK D/D card in Chinagmai last week to buy some furniture. No problem!

It's only after the purchase that I enquired the bank what the limit per day was on my D/D card. They told me it's B500,000 per day. Boy! I had the lady at the bank to change it down to B20,000 per day.

I advise others to change the limits to a level that you are comfortable with. Some people do get drunk once in a while you know?

No problem with Siam Commercial. Everything starts at 20,000 baht per day. You need to call their Bkk office to get it raised to any amount you want

You can do that yourself with SCB's easy net e-banking under edit profile..

Not to be a wet blanket, but sure direct debit is a convenience- provide a bank account or credit card or ATM debit card link, and have EGAT or True or whoever just take the money out every month. No fuss, no muss.

Right.

Let me now recount the horror story that I went through 4+ years ago, and why I still have ebill on every payee (they email me the bill), and why I now pay manually with a few clicks of the mouse, wherever I am, in lieu of direct debit.

I had an AIS 3GSM account set up with direct debit (along with various other payees) for a year or so with no problem about 4+ years ago.

Linked to my BBL Visa credit card.

(BTW, AIS doesn't allow you to cap your account/set a credit limit).

About 4 years ago, my promo/introduction contract, which had rolled over automatically 6 months before........didn't roll over as it should have.

Received nothing from them, no email, snail mail notification, SMS....nothing from AIS saying my contract price had expired.

I got a bill which should have been for ~350 THB- that was for more than 45,000 THB. Not a typo.

They investigated, and realized that it was a billing error on their part- my promo/intro price had already been rolled over once, and was grandfathered for all future billings.

Went though about a week of mega stress, before I got it sorted out.

Bottom line- if one can put a cap on the billed amount, direct debit is a boon.

If you can't impose a credit limit on a post-paid account, I would be very hesitant, after what I went through.

Exactly why I advise anyone to be very careful about automated billing in Thailand. Banks have little customer service and ways to address issues.. A friend was mysteriously having money taken via ATM and the bank effectively refused to even look into it, and the police refused to do anything. He ended up with no resolution except to eat the losses and close the account.

and why I still have ebill on every payee (they email me the bill), and why I now pay manually with a few clicks of the mouse, wherever I am, in lieu of direct debit.

I am unfamiliar with this process.. Which bank is it offered by and how does it work ??

I currently use a combo of pre booking fixed bills (true, TOT, etc) and ATM paying the variable ones.. Would love to automate the whole thing to an online experience but cant without using direct debit.

I use BBL and BAY. They both offer online bill pay services.

So how do you get the (say electric company as thats the one I havent sorted) utility to 'email you the bill' ??

I have a DD card from Kasiokorn bank

I have a DD card from Kasiokorn bank

Yes most ATM's here are simple direct debit cards as opposed to credit cards..

I dont know if other parts of the world use the same terminology but direct debit to brits is a system where the company can automatically debit your account for regular bills. Not you instruct the payment, but for variable bills like utilities they can be trusted to take the amount they bill.

Still very curious how companies ebill you by email ?? Considering the battle I had to go through to get the electric company to give me bank account number to one time pay.. They really really wanted it to be cash / 7 11 style manual pay.

I dont trust the direct debit much after bad experiences but travel and am sometimes in other parts of Thailand and even the country. Passing this to our security guard isnt ideal.