Banking in Chiang Rai

[hiccups]

Do CR banks give you a Thai Visa debit card when you open an account? How do expats there handle banking? Do they have both a bank of origin , and a Thai bank, then wire from one to the other periodically?

[brianmarinus]

I daubt that they just give you a Visa debit card when you open an account-still get a good laugh when I think about it.The first year here they hardly noticed me every month when we went to the bank-after a year or so we bought a house-suddently they came home to us when we wanted to talk to them-and first then-whitout asking,they one day gave me a card when they visit us.

I did the mistake about having my Danish bank and the bank here for some time-until I saw how exspensive it was-pay in Denmark and here when taking money out from the ATM-bad idea.

Edited April 1, 2015 by brianmarinus

[hiccups]

Theres a lot of cross information when researching this stuff. Apparently, getting an ATM card with Visa logo is laughable, but I only thought this was the norm from this article, under the section on Thailand credit cards. http://www.thailandguru.com/thailand-baht-money-transfer-banking-accounts.html so its hard to know who to believe onsome stuff.

[villagefarang]

Newcomers often have a hard time coming to grips with the flexible nature of dealings in Thailand. It is not what I would call a rules based culture with everything written in stone, being either black or white.

It is not uncommon for two separate individuals to go to the same place, to do the same thing, armed with the same information and deal with the same people but end up with very different results or have very different experiences.

Expats will typically blame the Thais and offer some choice words of condemnation but in my experience the defining variable it the attitude, appearance and behavior of the expat.

My recommendation is almost always to go to the source rather than rely too heavily on the advice of other expats. Read things online and then actually visit a conveniently located bank to see what they can do for you or visit the immigration office if you have visa questions. Some things still require face to face human interaction.

[harrry]

Bangkok Bank cards have a visa logo and can be used online and at shops. If you get electronic banking too you can transfer between accounts and send funds to others as well as to make bill payments..

The office in Central is fairly used to foreigners and is also open long hours.

[pastafarian]

I daubt that they just give you a Visa debit card when you open an account-still get a good laugh when I think about it.The first year here they hardly noticed me every month when we went to the bank-after a year or so we bought a house-suddently they came home to us when we wanted to talk to them-and first then-whitout asking,they one day gave me a card when they visit us.

I did the mistake about having my Danish bank and the bank here for some time-until I saw how exspensive it was-pay in Denmark and here when taking money out from the ATM-bad idea.

Got a visa debit card from both BKK Bank and KTBthe same day I opened my accounts.

[JAG]

Krung Thai Bank gave me a card the day I opened my account. It works in ATM and I have used it ro pay in Big C so I assume it is a debit card. It isn't embossed or micro chipped like my UK card. I haven't tried it on the Internet banking push - but then KTBs website is so cranky that I'm hard pushed to get a balance!

[bangmai]

there is no consumer protection on debit card fraud in LOS; proceed with caution.

[smiles793]

yes it's common for banks here to issue a debit card with a current ("checking") account (which is sometimes called a "savings" account here).

a credit card is much more difficult for foreigners to obtain (and this is true of most countries, not just thailand) because the banks need a greater level of security than most foreigners can provide (ie you could rack up a lot of debt and leave the country, and the bank would find it hard or impossible to recover the debts).

in most countries credit cards are insured for fraud (as they are here), but debit cards aren't, because withdrawals via debit cards are limited to the amount in that account, and once that amount is reached further withdrawals are not possible.

i personally find the debit card system here to be very robust because i am notified by SMS of every transaction on my debit card account. if it's a transaction i do not recognise i can call the bank and they will immediately suspend the account. the visa debit card can also be used for many international payment and booking systems.

credit cards are a different story completely.

[sceadugenga]

The main office of the Bangkok Bank near the main market has a manager who worked in Australia for many years.

She speaks perfect English and is used to dealing with the more culturally challenged farang.

Edited April 26, 2015 by sceadugenga