Naive ATM mistake

[cooked]

Pretty obvious really, but I learned a lesson. Our electrician turned up on Saturday and we didn't have enough cash for work plus material. I went to a small ATM near the shop, got my money with a foreign credit card, that then was swallowed. I blocked the card of course, Bangkok Bank say they can't get the card back! Ordering a new card was ok but I don't expect to see it soon, assuming it gets through the kind hands of our postal system.

So now until about 4 October I have 1000 Baht (luckily our local village shop will give us credit).

So in future I will only use ATMs attached to a bank during opening times.

[kurnell]

Or get am local ATM card

[Pib]

It is indeed frustrating when things like that happen. If your only way of getting money from the home country is via your one each foreign ATM card, you really need another way because the next time the card may not work (blocked by your bank for some reason), you lose the card, an ATM eats it again, or gosh knows what could happen. Open yourself a Thai bank account, get that local debit card as recommended, and setup a wire transfer link between your home country bank and your Thai bank. I too get pretty much all my day-to-day living money via a couple of no foreign transaction fee debit cards....I haven't had to do a wire transfer in almost two years now but at least I have Thai bank accounts, debits card, and funds transfer links setup as Plan B.

Heck, one of my two foreign debit cards was blocked by one of my home country banks this weekend....the AEON ATM said sorry, there is a problem, contact your card issuing bank. Card had been in use for almost two years here in Thailand with no problems...used it about twice a month over the last two years to regularly withdraw money here in Thailand...but the bank out of the blue decided to block it because of the foreign withdrawal...I called them up...confirmed it was indeed me in Thailand....they said OK...they just wanted to be sure, removed the block, and I can use it again. Why after almost two years of using the card in Thailand why did they decide to block it due to a foreign transaction...just one of many foreign transaction I have made in Thailand over the years? Who knows...maybe an update of their fraudulent transaction system, maybe a new bank policy that you have to tell the bank when you are living travelling overseas, who knows. You just never know when something out of the blue will turn your ATM card into a useless piece of plastic. Get a Plan B if possible...good you have someone that will loan you some money/give credit. And hope your replacement card arrives soonest.

[yoshiwara]

Surely not reliant on one piece of plastic? The mind boggles.

[infinity11]

Why did it eat your card? wrong pin? 3 times?

[yoshiwara]

Why did it eat your card? wrong pin? 3 times?

Careful with assuming the 3 strikes and you are out process. Some of them count you out after 2 rounds of errors. Be warned!

[Will27]

Yep,

Using ATM's attached to banks is the safest way, but it's not always the most convenient.

Over the years I've had 2 cars swallowed by ATM's and have managed

to get them back.

The first one (forget the bank) advised the day they go to service the ATM

and requested I bring my passport to their head office the day after to retain it.

The 2nd one was Bangkok Bank and after phoning them received a "if it's a foreign card,

cannot help" answer. Asked to speak to a supervisor and was given the same MO as other bank.

Sometimes there's just a malfunction in the ATM so as others have suggested, have at least

one spare.

[dddave]

Most banks will now send you are security warning via Email so you know in advance that there is a question or problem before using the card. I had that with Bank of America because no matter how many times I informed them that I spent the majority of my time in Thailand, they would still sometimes arbitrarily close the card because of Thai transactions.....Finally fired them!!

Take note!; Sometimes there can be a problem activating a new card from your home country. I ran into this once. Local Thai ATM's only transmit a 4 digit PIN code. Some activation's require six or more digits. I had to send my card back to a family member for them to activate at a local USA ATM.

[Gsxrnz]

OP - if I were you I'd use your 1,000 baht to open a Thai bank account and have money wired to you from home.

The chances of your new card arriving by 4 Oct (or at all) are slim and then you'll have trouble activating it or maybe get it swallowed again.

Relying on a single foreign card in Thailand (or anywhere really) is dicing with danger.

[cooked]

OP - if I were you I'd use your 1,000 baht to open a Thai bank account and have money wired to you from home.

The chances of your new card arriving by 4 Oct (or at all) are slim and then you'll have trouble activating it or maybe get it swallowed again.

Relying on a single foreign card in Thailand (or anywhere really) is dicing with danger.

The reason I was using this card was that I had nearly emptied my Thai account buying electrical equipment, I still needed some more cash. Money is automatically sent to my Thai account every month, next payment around 4 October.

I didn't put in the wrong code as I got the 5000 Baht I requested as well as a receipt.

[Gsxrnz]

OP - if I were you I'd use your 1,000 baht to open a Thai bank account and have money wired to you from home.

The chances of your new card arriving by 4 Oct (or at all) are slim and then you'll have trouble activating it or maybe get it swallowed again.

Relying on a single foreign card in Thailand (or anywhere really) is dicing with danger.

The reason I was using this card was that I had nearly emptied my Thai account buying electrical equipment, I still needed some more cash. Money is automatically sent to my Thai account every month, next payment around 4 October.

I didn't put in the wrong code as I got the 5000 Baht I requested as well as a receipt.

OK - sorry, your OP implied that you sole access to funds was your foreign card and that the replacement would arrive on 4 October.

[Pib]

^^^^^Ditto.

[MichaelJohn]

There was a TV post in the last week or so about posting bank cards from the UK to Thailand and how inadvisable it was and how frequently they don't arrive :-( A lot of UK banks refuse to do it!

Having a UK card as a fall back is okay - having a UK card as the main method of cash is not reliable.

Like everyone else has posted I suggest a local account and wire money each month or quarter.

I hope it arrives safely for you.

[MeowBundit]

My foreign bank allows me to have four cards linked to same account for one monthly package fee, about $40 per year. In internet banking I can re-link cards to different accounts or temporary/permanently block them.

So, if ATM swallow it I just forget it, then block forever and use another card.

Do not use foreign card at ATM unless you have really urgent needs, go to Krungsri counter and them withdraw from your card with no comission 150 baht from amount 3000 thb up to your maximum daily limit, i.e. you can withdraw hundreds of thousands baht...