Credit Card Choices

[Tahmid]

Hello, not sure if this is the right place or not..so please forgive me if not. I recently came to Thailand..about 2months now as a undergrad student. And this lead me to open my 1st bank account in my whole life. So I don't really get a lot of it yet. The dilemma that i'm facing now is that how to get a credit card, or just about any card, that I can use for online shopping... main reason behind it is that i'm kind of a World of Warcraft addict and been playing in private servers all along, so now i wanna try going on the Retail. plus theres Star Wars: TOR and really wanna play that, and i need some sort of a way to pay online...i've always heard that people normally use credit cards for these transactions so I checked my bank's website and it had something like a 100000 Baht salary thing, which..well..i'm a student so i don't earn..my cash comes from overseas.

And then I went thru citibank, cause theres a branch in my country and all so its a known name, and I didn't see any sort of requirements there..so that got me even more confused..cause of the contrast between the two banks...so is there like any requirement for citibank cc??

So I was hoping someone could tell me how I could get a credit card without this salary deal and stuff...or best of all, how do i do online purchases [steam,WoW, Star Wars, stuff like that]??

ohh and...whats the difference between Visas and Mastercards?? :S

Thanks a lot

[Pib]

You can get a "secured" credit card from most any Thai bank, but it would require you to take some of that cash you get from overseas and allowed it to be secured in a Savings account as collateral against your credit card. You can not touch get that Savings account secured amount (the bank won't let you) until you pay off the credit card balance, cancel the card, and usually wait another 30 days in case late credit card charges come rolling in. To get a secured credit card line of credit say of 100,000 baht you would have to deposit 100,000 to 150,000 baht..it's usually a 1 to 1 or 1 to 1.5 ratio with a minimun secured deposit amount that varies....each Thai bank will have slightly different policies. But secured credit cards seem to be pretty easy to get as long as you have the money to open a secured savings account.

You can also use debit cards online as long as they have a CVV code on the card..many debit cards have such codes now days...and of course the online site accepts debit cards. Debit cards work to buy things online or at stores as good as credit cards BUT you must have enough money in your bank account to immediately fund the debit card transaction otherwise the transaction will reject.

The only real difference between Visa and Mastercard is they are different credit card companies....just like Toyota and Honda are different vehicle companies...Lotus and Big C are different big box stores....Visa and Mastercard are just competing companies in the same line of business.

[E1717007]

Kbank allows it range of debit card to do online shopping

You cant hold a credit card without a work permit and not meeting min salary requirement.

http://www.kasikornbank.com/EN/Personal/Debit/Pages/InternetshoppingbyKDebit.aspx

[djjamie]

You don't want to get a Citibank credit card. I have one in Singapore and you need a $10 000 security deposit to get the card. Can't get a Citibank cradit card in Thailand though as I don't have a work permit.

Kbank debitcard is good and if you open an account then you can request and be supplied the card details online. Very easy to get.

[Swiss1960]

From what you write about yourself - student, recently arrived, no job, no steady and provable income, no credit history since you never had a bank account - nobody will issue a credit card for you, as you are about the worst possible risk for credit default I can imagine...

If you need a credit card (if your online gaming sites would not accept debit cards), your best option is to convince your folks back home to get their bank to issue a supplementary card in your name and then they guarantee for the payment of your expenses...

Otherwise go to any bank, ask them whether they issue Debit Cards / Pre-paid Cards that can be used for e-commerce and go from there. With these cards, you can't spend more that you either have on your bank account or that you previously loaded on your pre-paid card.

And... don't worry about VISA or MasterCard... just a brand on the card which at the end of the day is irrelevant to you.

[Tahmid]

Thanks for all the replies!!

So what everyone's suggesting is that I get a debit card and it should work for online purchases just as credit cards..sweet. But like, I was googling around and found this on yahoo answers, a post from 4 years ago

Planning to do a little online or mail order shopping this holiday season? I have one very important piece of advice: Do not use a debit card. You’ll understand why when I tell you what happened to Carol D. several years ago.

Late on the Friday after Thanksgiving a stranger went shopping online with Carol’s debit card. To this day she does not know how he got the number, but that’s all he needed. He didn’t need a PIN or any kind of identification to shop his brains out at Target’s online store. He spent thousands of dollars on Christmas gifts, all paid for with Carol’s debit card.

should I be afraid of this now?? And how do I save myself from things like these??

Also, I have Bank of Ayudhya account[university mandated] so I don't want to make a KBank account for this, so I'll ask BoA if they have debit cards that I can use online tomorrow. Hopefully they got it...hopefully.

From what you write about yourself - student, recently arrived, no job, no steady and provable income, no credit history since you never had a bank account - nobody will issue a credit card for you, as you are about the worst possible risk for credit default I can imagine...

Ohhh GOD!!! I didn't know I had THAT bad a image as a 1st timer Seems its gonna be a long time before I can get a credit card then

[aaroniousdesigns]

A co-worker recommended getting a Citibank credit card, so I applied online. The office called me today to ask about my employers (of 4 years) and monthly income. After I told them my salary (which is the same as my friends *with* Citibank cards), the woman said that the minimum monthly salary is 80,000 Baht for any card.

I told her about my co-workers already holding Citibank cards and asked if this was a new policy. She mumbled unintelligibly and quickly wrapped up our phone interview speaking Thai.

So is there a requirement?... Yes and No. Typical.

Got a KTC card within a month of applying. Go with them.

[RubbaJohnny]

I tnink double standard started in 97 crash when aforeigner had the audacity to die owing aThai Hospital