Is a Thai Bank CC available without a work permit?

[SheungWan]

A friend on retirement extension in Thailand has just been turned down from his local Kasikorn Bank after asking for a credit card. The explanation given was that he didn't have a work permit. Should he persevere with other branches or other banks or give up?

[Crossy]

Generally the banks want a work permit unless you are prepared to deposit the equivalent of your required credit limit in a security account (so it's not really a credit card then).

The exception is (or at least was) American Express, when I got my AmEx Platinum 5 years ago they did say that they were the only company offering credit cards to the retired without a work permit. Note that this is indeed a credit card, not the classic AmEx charge card.

[BangkokHank]

Generally the banks want a work permit unless you are prepared to deposit the equivalent of your required credit limit in a security account (so it's not really a credit card then).

I am also on a retirement visa, and this is how I got my credit card. I deposited an amount equivalent to the credit limit of the card, and that money is blocked from being used. So the card is not a credit card in the sense that the bank is not giving me credit. But it is a credit card in the sense that I can use it to buy plane tickets and book hotels online as well as pay for things with it in shops in lieu of paying in cash, which is what I was trying to achieve.

[boonchu]

Can do without work permit but as stated must have a fixed deposit equal to the amount of credit offered. You can change the amount of the fixed deposit eg when interest rates are up in some promotions but it still needs to be equal to the amount of credit offered. Use same as credit card internationally.

[bender92]

I have a platinum Visa card from Bangkok Bank. No work permit. I do have a separate locked account there with 200,000 baht to cover any excess charges. Monthly payments automatically come out of my ATM account.

[cassde]

I, too have a Bangkok Bank credit card, with a 100,000 baht deposit and no work permit. I am here on a retirement extension.

[glasswort]

I have a Thai spouse visa. I have a Bangkok Bank credit card, THB50k credit limit and no security deposit or whatever. I have to say that I do not use it that much, only for real emergencies.

[dominique355]

My Kasikorn Bank gave me the Premiere Visa credit card with a 500,000 baht limit but asked me to buy their life insurance. A second card was issued to my wife.

Now they offered me the Wisdom card, which apparently is very posh and HiSo, but offers otherwise little advantage over the Premiere, so I declined much to the discontent of my wife who likes this kind of things.

[phuketrichard]

I have a thai Platinum American express credit card and no wp

no extra deposit

just retirement extension

110,000 limit

Use it all the time as its tied to my thai airways reward card

[MobileContent]

Generally the banks want a work permit unless you are prepared to deposit the equivalent of your required credit limit in a security account (so it's not really a credit card then).

I am also on a retirement visa, and this is how I got my credit card. I deposited an amount equivalent to the credit limit of the card, and that money is blocked from being used. So the card is not a credit card in the sense that the bank is not giving me credit. But it is a credit card in the sense that I can use it to buy plane tickets and book hotels online as well as pay for things with it in shops in lieu of paying in cash, which is what I was trying to achieve.

You should have just got a debit card. I have a credit card and no Work Permit

[MobileContent]

My Kasikorn Bank gave me the Premiere Visa credit card with a 500,000 baht limit but asked me to buy their life insurance. A second card was issued to my wife.

Now they offered me the Wisdom card, which apparently is very posh and HiSo, but offers otherwise little advantage over the Premiere, so I declined much to the discontent of my wife who likes this kind of things.

I have 259k on my Premiere and use it very seldom. I too have a Life Insurance attached to it which goes into the name of my son.

After doing the insurance, we picked up the card from our local branch. My Lassie got a card as well but again we never use it or if very seldom as we prefer cash.

Krungsri too gave me a credit card. It was enough to show them our monthly transactions on our bank account (around 200k) and we keep transferring funds from one account to another plus I showed them the receipts of the Withholding taxes that are filed monthly with the Revenue Department.

[Baerboxer]

My Kasikorn Bank gave me the Premiere Visa credit card with a 500,000 baht limit but asked me to buy their life insurance. A second card was issued to my wife.

Now they offered me the Wisdom card, which apparently is very posh and HiSo, but offers otherwise little advantage over the Premiere, so I declined much to the discontent of my wife who likes this kind of things.

I believe to qualify for a Wisdom card, and that level of "customer membership" you need to maintain a balance of ThB 10m with Kasikorn.

Krungsri "exclusive" requires a balance of ThB 5m. They will issue a credit card without a work permit, or any money being tied up to exclusive customers.

[manarak]

credit cards are only interesting for high income but low cash.

The Kasikorn account manager girl first gave her phone number and then chased me for their wisdom card, but why should I pay interest on CC balances and also buy their life insurance or time deposit schemes that pay very low interest?

[mutha289]

Just curious, what is the benefit of having a credit card issued from Thailand versus a credit card from your home country? Is it simply the exchange rate conversion?

[phantomfiddler]

No problem to get a credit card, just go in and put 200,000 Bht in a fixed deposit account, and you can get a proper credit card that obviously will have an upper limit of 200,000 Bht on it,s credit ability. Very useful for car rentals, Paypal, Ebay etc, and you will get a monthly bill to pay off at the issuing bank. Pay off the total amount due, or the interest is rather excessive Plus you will get interest on your money to a much higher percentage than you would if you had the cash in a regular savings account

Edited November 14, 2014 by phantomfiddler

[SheungWan]

Just curious, what is the benefit of having a credit card issued from Thailand versus a credit card from your home country? Is it simply the exchange rate conversion?

The issue arose because my friend's Barclaycard was shut down through no fault of his own and I suggested he pop down to the Kasikorn Bank he holds an account with and ask for a CC. (No, he doesn't have any other UK CCs as backup). He's not too keen putting down a deposit to cover CC usage, so I reckon he shoulld go for the Amex option as suggested above.

Edited November 14, 2014 by SheungWan

[Crossy]

Barclaycard pulled my card a couple of years back citing "review of my spending patterns".

Since most of that spending had been in Thailand and around SE Asia I think they suspected I was living here and not in the UK.

[JimHuaHin]

This seems to be the standard reply from KBank!!!

I submitted my application at KBank head office in Bangkok in March.

I had not heard anything until July, so I sent an email asking what had happened.

Within a week I received an email saying my application had been rejected and that a letter was in the mail.

Waited until late August, no letter, so sent off another email.

Letter arrived two weeks later with reason for rejection - no work permit.

Thus, sent off an appeal, with copy of retirement visa, passport, a letter from Australian pension fund .... still waiting for a reply!!!

In the mean time, I went to CitiBank on Sukhumvit, where I have a small account. Filled out a credit card application form. They required a letter of residency from immigration, and luckily I had a scan of a recent one on my computer at the hotel I was staying in. As the CitiBank was about to close for the day, I went back next day with the scan. No problems. Credit card was available for collection within a week, with a healthy limit.

Did I mention, I am still waiting for KBank's reply?

[diggledunc]

Just curious, what is the benefit of having a credit card issued from Thailand versus a credit card from your home country? Is it simply the exchange rate conversion?

The issue arose because my friend's Barclaycard was shut down through no fault of his own and I suggested he pop down to the Kasikorn Bank he holds an account with and ask for a CC. (No, he doesn't have any other UK CCs as backup). He's not too keen putting down a deposit to cover CC usage, so I reckon he shoulld go for the Amex option as suggested above.

The other thing to mention is that for instance many financial service providers in UK will not post replacement debit/credit cards to Thailand, so they expire and that's it unless you go back.

It's much cheaper if you can use a credit card to book things like hotels and tickets online. No conversion fees as well.

[keithcresswell]

I have a gold Amex charge card with no work permit (have a retirement visa). Applied by downloading their online form and posting it off with a covering letter and copies of bank statements and pension. They did call me on my home phone to verify details.