Bangkok bank credit cards....

[B1TcoinLife]

Walked into a branch today and asked if they'd be able to get me a credit card

Long story short, they gave me 2 but I'm not sure if either are even worth having as they don't seem to include the "buyer protection" that the higher up cards have ......

I'm hoping someone already using one can clarify, are these real credit cards with all the same protections and advantages of a western credit card

The branch I went to had zero literature in English but maybe someone has the same cards, they are :

Bangkok bank platinum Visa

Bangkok bank titanium Mastercard (both low level cards I think but I don't keep money there anyway so I expected that)

I asked if I pay it off early each month will I get charged fees anyway and she says no no,it's free ..... But you must spend at least 5k a year

Anybody else using these cards or similar?

[Ks45672]

i have one and there is fees for just about about everything you might do with it ,whether the waive the fees or not is up to them

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/CreditCards/Pages/TermsandConditionsall.aspx

Fees and Conditions

Fees and Conditions for Bangkok Bank Credit Cards

1. Interest Rate

• 20% per year
• Interest rate on bill payments will be calculated from the date the bank makes the payment to the outlets or service providers until the payment is repaid in full. Cardholders making all payments on time are entitled to waivers on interest.
• Interest rate on cash advances will be calculated from the withdrawal date to the date you make repayment in full.

2.

Minimum Payment

10% of the total amount stated in the monthly statement or 500Bt, whichever is higher. 3.

Cash Advance Fee

3% of each withdrawal. Minimum withdrawal is 1,000Bt 4. Repayment term without accruing interest A maximum of 45 days from the transaction date Administration Fees (Baht) 5.

Principal

Supplementary

Entrance Fee

Annual Fee

Entrance Fee

Annual Fee

Bangkok Bank Visa Infinite Card Infinite

-

30,000

-

30,000

Bangkok Bank Platinum Leader Card

Platinum

-

4,000

-

2,000

Bangkok Bank Visa Platinum Credit Card

Platinum

1,000

3,000

-

3,000

Bangkok Bank UnionPay Card

Platinum

1,000

1,500

-

1,500

Bangkok Bank Titanium Card

Titanium

1,000

1,500

-

1,500

Visa/MasterCard

Classic

500

600

-

600

Gold

1,000

1,100

-

1,100

Visa/MasterCard’s Affinity

Classic

600

1,000

-

1,000

Gold

600

1,500

-

1,500

Titanium

1,000

1,500

-

1,500

Platinum

1,000

3,000

-

3,000

Bangkok Bank Platinum Bumrungrad Hospital Card

Platinum

-

4,000

-

2,000

Bangkok Bank Titanium
Ramathibodi Hospital Card

Titanium

-

300

-

300

Bangkok Bank Blue Wave Card

Classic

200

600

200

600

Rabbit Bangkok Bank Credit Card

Classic

500

600

-

600

Bangkok Bank American Express

Classic

750

750

-

750

Gold

1,250

1,250

-

1,250

Corporate Card

-

1,500

-

-

Purchasing Card

-

1,500

-

-

6. Payment Channels and Fees (Baht)

At any branch nationwide

-

Direct debit from your savings/
current account

-

Bualuang ATMs

-

Bualuang Phone 1333

-

Bualuang iBanking
(www.bangkokbank.com)

-

Bualuang mBanking -

At Counter Services nationwide
(maximum 30,000 Bt/transaction)

15Bt/transaction in Bangkok and metropolitan area; 20Bt/transaction in provincial area

At Tesco Lotus

10Bt/transaction
(maximum 49,000 Bt/transaction)

At Just Pay counters nationwide

13Bt/transaction
(maximum 30,000 Bt/transaction)

At JAY MART displaying a "Pay Point" sign

10Bt/transaction
(maximum 30,000 Bt/transaction)

At True Partner/True Money Express
(maxiumum 30,000 Bt/transaction)

15Bt/transaction in Bangkok and metropolitan area; 20Bt/transaction in provincial area

True Money Service
(via a True Move mobile phone) 15Bt/transaction nationwide

7.

Fee charged for a new card in case of loss
or damage

200Bt/card

8.

Credit card statement request
(older than 3 months)

200Bt/card/month 9.

Sales slip

100Bt/slip 10.

Checking transaction activity

100Bt/request 11.

Currency conversion risk premium

No more than 2.5% of spending 12. Auto Top-up Rabbit value
Rabbit Bangkok Bank Credit Card 5Bt/time Fees and charges are exclusive of VAT apart from the Auto Top-up service for Rabbit Bangkok Bank Credit Card.

Note: Cash advance transactions using an ATM in abroad will incur a fee from the bank owning the ATM. This fee will be displayed within your credit card invoice.

Effective from February 27, 2015
Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited

Edited April 22, 2016 by Ks45672

[speedtripler]

this is the best one ,it covers you for 1 million dollars (not baht ) in case shit happens,cant remember how much you need to qualify but farangs probably need more than thais

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/CreditCards/CreditCardType/Pages/VisaInfiniteCard.aspx

[new2here]

I myself have not found the fee schedule for my Thai-bank issued credit cards to be materially 'worse' than any of my other US-bank issued cards. Looking back at how i used my US-bank cards the only fee that one of my Thai banks would have levied in the same situation was a card reissuance fee because I damaged an existing card. Pretty much everything else mirrors quite closely the free structure of my US-bank cards.

Where I do find some difference is in the payment side. Most of my US-issued cards can't be paid outside of postal mail, online/app-based or at a physical branch of that bank itself. By contrast, most of my Thai-issued cards can be paid at a fairly wide range of places, to include branches of competitor banks, post office and some mass retailers - albeit with a fee of about B20/30

[speedtripler]

I myself have not found the fee schedule for my Thai-bank issued credit cards to be materially 'worse' than any of my other US-bank issued cards. Looking back at how i used my US-bank cards the only fee that one of my Thai banks would have levied in the same situation was a card reissuance fee because I damaged an existing card. Pretty much everything else mirrors quite closely the free structure of my US-bank cards.

Where I do find some difference is in the payment side. Most of my US-issued cards can't be paid outside of postal mail, online/app-based or at a physical branch of that bank itself. By contrast, most of my Thai-issued cards can be paid at a fairly wide range of places, to include branches of competitor banks, post office and some mass retailers - albeit with a fee of about B20/30

have you ever had to dispute a charge ? is there the same protection ?

in the uk this was very simple and if i got scammed whatever it was always fixed with a quick phone call and i got the money credited back and they pulled it back from whatever company

taken it

ive never been bothered paying bills manually ,been on direct debit since the 80s i think so i never get late fees either ..........

[B1TcoinLife]

Thx for the info in English, that's not exactly what she said I think but fairly close

Is there a charge of 10,15,20,25thb every time you use it?

And also 3% on cash from atms, is that from the date you take it out atm or like purchases where you have 30 days to pay it back "interest free" and avoid that 3% ?

My old card could also be overloaded with cash so if I really wanted to buy something big I could put cash on the card in advance and benefit from card protection services in the case it doesn't get delivered or something

[pieeyed]

I know my wife pulled 10,000 baht a couple times on a Kasikorn Wisdom card. 300 baht a pop.

[RBOP]

You should not own a credit card if you don't know how it works.

[RBOP]

Thx for the info in English, that's not exactly what she said I think but fairly close

Is there a charge of 10,15,20,25thb every time you use it?

And also 3% on cash from atms, is that from the date you take it out atm or like purchases where you have 30 days to pay it back "interest free" and avoid that 3% ?

My old card could also be overloaded with cash so if I really wanted to buy something big I could put cash on the card in advance and benefit from card protection services in the case it doesn't get delivered or something

The second you pull cash from an atm using a credit card you are charged interest. By what your describing a debit card would be more suitable for you.

[facthailand]

Part of the original question was "buyer protection". I presume the poster meant that, if you buy something that doesn't work, or, worse, if you break it yourself, the card would pay for repairs or cancel the charges on return to the merchant. My Canadian VISA card carries those protections.

[Pib]

Thx for the info in English, that's not exactly what she said I think but fairly close

Is there a charge of 10,15,20,25thb every time you use it?

And also 3% on cash from atms, is that from the date you take it out atm or like purchases where you have 30 days to pay it back "interest free" and avoid that 3% ?

My old card could also be overloaded with cash so if I really wanted to buy something big I could put cash on the card in advance and benefit from card protection services in the case it doesn't get delivered or something

Interest rate (probably 20%) on cash advances will be calculated from the withdrawal date to the date you make repayment in full. There is also a 3% cash advance fee.

So, say you get a cash advance of 10,000 baht...there is an immediate 3% fee of Bt300 and then you are paying 20% interest from that date until paid in full. No interest free grace period like for purchases.

[Ks45672]

You should not own a credit card if you don't know how it works.

everything in thai doesnt roll like it does where we come from

not understanding "thai" does not with absolute certainty make one stupid

in fact ,i would imagine that many if not most of the bank staff could tell you

all the terms ,conditions and associated charges of said financial products

without "having to look it up" from bank literature ....

[Ks45672]

Part of the original question was "buyer protection". I presume the poster meant that, if you buy something that doesn't work, or, worse, if you break it yourself, the card would pay for repairs or cancel the charges on return to the merchant. My Canadian VISA card carries those protections.

there is and there isnt .......

some cards (the top level ones) highlight this and lower level ones dont for some reason on that bkk site

in the scenario you describe ,even debit cards should afford some protection for online shopping if you get a broken product

and the merchant tries to screw you on the refund ........

they still bear the visa or mastercard emblem so i think you have the same basic rights to not be ripped off ,not only as a customer of bkk bank but also

as a customer of visa or mastercard ........

[Mudcrab]

BINGO

[jacko45k]

I have both of these cards (I only wanted one but for some reason they gave me both).

I am required to have a 3 month fixed term deposit account holding the limit...

Any balance I owe is automatically taken from my Savings account once a month so I only have the credit for a short period.

So far completely free excepting where retailer imposes a CC charge.

Some 'points' balance depending on usage which can be used towards some catalogue purchases.

Seems to be widely accepted and is useful, easier than cash. Can be used on the internet. eg Ali Baba, air-tickets etc.

No idea of buyer protection... the slips I sign normally have NO REFUNDS printed.

Edited April 23, 2016 by jacko45k

[Pib]

A No Refund on the slips doesn't mean the Thai store will not refund something. I've done it several times at Lotus, Homepro and a couple other places here in Bangkok.

[B1TcoinLife]

I have both of these cards (I only wanted one but for some reason they gave me both).

I am required to have a 3 month fixed term deposit account holding the limit...

Any balance I owe is automatically taken from my Savings account once a month so I only have the credit for a short period.

So far completely free excepting where retailer imposes a CC charge.

Some 'points' balance depending on usage which can be used towards some catalogue purchases.

Seems to be widely accepted and is useful, easier than cash. Can be used on the internet. eg Ali Baba, air-tickets etc.

No idea of buyer protection... the slips I sign normally have NO REFUNDS printed.

Hi, I am in the same situation, for some weird reason they were happy to give me a choice of either or both cards....

I asked how much do they cost yeaely? She smiled amd said free but you must spend at least 5000thb a year on them ...

I was wondering which one to take because more places accept Visa but I know a few places have discounts for Mastercard users and she said you can just have them both??

I said.... Ok..... Wondering why she was giving me them so easily because I expected a struggle to even get 1....

Is there some charges or something we don't know about??

Anyone know what benefit they're is for bkk bank to be giving away credit cards so freely?

In my home country they don't throw credit cards at people like this since the recession but even then you had to have a job /salary etc to even get 1

[B1TcoinLife]

this is the best one ,it covers you for 1 million dollars (not baht ) in case shit happens,cant remember how much you need to qualify but farangs probably need more than thais

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/CreditCards/CreditCardType/Pages/VisaInfiniteCard.aspx

That looks better than the two I got, I am unsure why she didn't tell me about it , maybe she thinks I'm not rich enough lol

I wonder what would happen if I cancel the visa platinum and ask for the visa infinity instead?

Anyone already have one?

Do you have to be a billionaire to qualify etc?

All. Info welcome......

[B1TcoinLife]

A No Refund on the slips doesn't mean the Thai store will not refund something. I've done it several times at Lotus, Homepro and a couple other places here in Bangkok.

I bought an "industrial" fan from big c for my condo because I wanted something powerful, on the box was printed in big writing 2 year warranty...

Less than impressed I carried it back to big c 5 months later when it stopped working

They said no no mister, 14 days is the gusrantee

I pointed to the box and showed them two year warranty in big writing

They said return it to the FACTORY and they will repair , I said YOU return it to the FACTORY,they were trying to fix it and called a guy with a screwdriver

I said no no no, we are not fixing this here, give me a refund or a new one, that's it

After half of an hour of "Mai Dai, Mai Dai" we got a supervisor and finally a manager on the scene and they finally agreed and went to the storeroom and got me a brand new one.....

As I was leaving they said my warranty is finished now ok?

I said No, it's still got 1year and 7 months warranty left

Don't worry, if it breaks again in that time I'll be back.... Thank you ...krap

[Pib]

A No Refund on the slips doesn't mean the Thai store will not refund something. I've done it several times at Lotus, Homepro and a couple other places here in Bangkok.

I bought an "industrial" fan from big c for my condo because I wanted something powerful, on the box was printed in big writing 2 year warranty...

Less than impressed I carried it back to big c 5 months later when it stopped working

They said no no mister, 14 days is the gusrantee

I pointed to the box and showed them two year warranty in big writing

They said return it to the FACTORY and they will repair , I said YOU return it to the FACTORY,they were trying to fix it and called a guy with a screwdriver

I said no no no, we are not fixing this here, give me a refund or a new one, that's it

After half of an hour of "Mai Dai, Mai Dai" we got a supervisor and finally a manager on the scene and they finally agreed and went to the storeroom and got me a brand new one.....

As I was leaving they said my warranty is finished now ok?

I said No, it's still got 1year and 7 months warranty left

Don't worry, if it breaks again in that time I'll be back.... Thank you ...krap

Yes, Lotus return/refund policy is generally 7 days....14 days for some items. 1 day for spoiled/contaminated fresh food products. That policy is usually printed on the wall/placard at their customer service section usually at the very entrance to the store. Other major stores have a similar policy. Return within that general 1 to 2 week time frame and chances of refund/replacement directly from the store is good "versus them handing you off to the manufacturer." However, outside of that 1 to 2 week, they will most likely refer you to the manufacturer's warranty. Pretty standard policy...not only in Thailand but other countries also. Below is a quote of Tesco Lotus Thailand return/refund policy from the website's Q&A section. And they have their warranty also printed on a wall/placard at their customer service section.

http://www.tescolotus.com/en/faq/all/3

[Pib]

I have both of these cards (I only wanted one but for some reason they gave me both).

I am required to have a 3 month fixed term deposit account holding the limit...

Any balance I owe is automatically taken from my Savings account once a month so I only have the credit for a short period.

So far completely free excepting where retailer imposes a CC charge.

Some 'points' balance depending on usage which can be used towards some catalogue purchases.

Seems to be widely accepted and is useful, easier than cash. Can be used on the internet. eg Ali Baba, air-tickets etc.

No idea of buyer protection... the slips I sign normally have NO REFUNDS printed.

Hi, I am in the same situation, for some weird reason they were happy to give me a choice of either or both cards....

I asked how much do they cost yeaely? She smiled amd said free but you must spend at least 5000thb a year on them ...

I was wondering which one to take because more places accept Visa but I know a few places have discounts for Mastercard users and she said you can just have them both??

I said.... Ok..... Wondering why she was giving me them so easily because I expected a struggle to even get 1....

Is there some charges or something we don't know about??

Anyone know what benefit they're is for bkk bank to be giving away credit cards so freely?

In my home country they don't throw credit cards at people like this since the recession but even then you had to have a job /salary etc to even get 1

Go to the Bangkok Bank website and look up the fees for your card(s). I expect what the rep meant regarding the "....free if you spend Bt5K per year" is correct as some Bangkok Bank credit cards have that provision such as below partial quote from their website regarding one of their credit cards. All depends on the particular card(s) you have.

*Note: Free entrance and annual fees first year. Annual fees for subsequent years are waived when spending more than 5,000Bt per year.

Getting "secured" credit cards as you got since you had to open a collateral/locked account to get the cards is common at many Thai banks...that collateral/locked account with line of credit falling within that collateral account and possibly also auto monthly payment setup has zero risk for the bank...they don't have to worry about you skipping the country or just not paying off the card balance as they have the collateral account for that if necessary....you can't access the funds until you pay off the card balance and cancel the card.

Now, getting an "unsecured" card is a different story...then you are generally talking Work Permit, Job, 6 months of salary slips of X-amount, etc.

[B1TcoinLife]

I have both of these cards (I only wanted one but for some reason they gave me both).

I am required to have a 3 month fixed term deposit account holding the limit...

Any balance I owe is automatically taken from my Savings account once a month so I only have the credit for a short period.

So far completely free excepting where retailer imposes a CC charge.

Some 'points' balance depending on usage which can be used towards some catalogue purchases.

Seems to be widely accepted and is useful, easier than cash. Can be used on the internet. eg Ali Baba, air-tickets etc.

No idea of buyer protection... the slips I sign normally have NO REFUNDS printed.

Hi, I am in the same situation, for some weird reason they were happy to give me a choice of either or both cards....

I asked how much do they cost yeaely? She smiled amd said free but you must spend at least 5000thb a year on them ...

I was wondering which one to take because more places accept Visa but I know a few places have discounts for Mastercard users and she said you can just have them both??

I said.... Ok..... Wondering why she was giving me them so easily because I expected a struggle to even get 1....

Is there some charges or something we don't know about??

Anyone know what benefit they're is for bkk bank to be giving away credit cards so freely?

In my home country they don't throw credit cards at people like this since the recession but even then you had to have a job /salary etc to even get 1

Go to the Bangkok Bank website and look up the fees for your card(s). I expect what the rep meant regarding the "....free if you spend Bt5K per year" is correct as some Bangkok Bank credit cards have that provision such as below partial quote from their website regarding one of their credit cards. All depends on the particular card(s) you have.

*Note: Free entrance and annual fees first year. Annual fees for subsequent years are waived when spending more than 5,000Bt per year.

Getting "secured" credit cards as you got since you had to open a collateral/locked account to get the cards is common at many Thai banks...that collateral/locked account with line of credit falling within that collateral account and possibly also auto monthly payment setup has zero risk for the bank...they don't have to worry about you skipping the country or just not paying off the card balance as they have the collateral account for that if necessary....you can't access the funds until you pay off the card balance and cancel the card.

Now, getting an "unsecured" card is a different story...then you are generally talking Work Permit, Job, 6 months of salary slips of X-amount, etc.

I didn't open any locked account.... My balance is unlocked and I wasn't asked to lock any of it....

I don't know what they do with other people but I don't get into debts anyway and I suppose they have access to my credit history in thailand because financial institutions likely share information.....

I was thinking the benefits of it for them are every time I spend on it they get 3-5% from the merchant, plus if I get myself into debt, they get to.change me all the extra money in late fees

There is no auto debit on mine either, I get the bill in the post and pay it.... Or not

They have no rights to auto debit my current account but as we know, the fees are never cheap if you use a credit card for things you can't afford

[Pib]

Where you said, "I am required to have a 3 month fixed term deposit account holding the limit..." sure sounds like a collateral account for a secured card.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

They said return it to the FACTORY and they will repair , I said YOU return it to the FACTORY,they were trying to fix it and called a guy with a screwdriver

I said no no no, we are not fixing this here, give me a refund or a new one, that's it

After half of an hour of "Mai Dai, Mai Dai" we got a supervisor and finally a manager on the scene and they finally agreed and went to the storeroom and got me a brand new one.....

As I was leaving they said my warranty is finished now ok?

I said No, it's still got 1year and 7 months warranty left

Don't worry, if it breaks again in that time I'll be back.... Thank you ...krap

You should consider yourself pretty fortunate that the store was willing to give you a brand new replacement -- 5 months after your original purchase.

In Thailand and elsewhere, it's typically not the retail store that's responsible for honoring the product warranty. It's the manufacturer who manufactured the product you bought.

The retail store's responsibility, as stated in this thread, is typically just a week or two after your purchase -- in case you bring the thing home and turn it on and it doesn't work or doesn't work properly. It's those kinds of immediate problem situations where the store will do a product replacement or exchange.

If the thing breaks or malfunctions months later while still under MANUFACTURER warranty, it's usually up to the manufacturer to handle it. All things considered, you got off pretty easy.

[B1TcoinLife]

Where you said, "I am required to have a 3 month fixed term deposit account holding the limit..." sure sounds like a collateral account for a secured card.

That wasn't me.....

They asked me if I want the bill in the post or by email

Didn't even mention holding any deposit over me.or taking it automatically...

[B1TcoinLife]

BTW - I know tit and every branch has different answers on different days from different staff depending who you get to speak to....

[Pib]

Where you said, "I am required to have a 3 month fixed term deposit account holding the limit..." sure sounds like a collateral account for a secured card.

That wasn't me.....

They asked me if I want the bill in the post or by email

Didn't even mention holding any deposit over me.or taking it automatically...

My bad....got your post confused with jack45k's post in a multi-quoted post.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I myself have not found the fee schedule for my Thai-bank issued credit cards to be materially 'worse' than any of my other US-bank issued cards.

Dunno what kind of cards you're familiar with, but in my entire life, I've never had a U.S. credit card of any kind charge me either a 1] up front issuance fee, or a b] annual renewal/maintenance fee, and both of those are pretty common among a broad range of Thai bank credit cards -- and not just the high-end ones where the fee is obviously going to offset the cost of various perks the card may have.

They may be waived in Thailand in certain situations. But for my cards in the U.S., those fees simply don't exist at all and are never charged -- regardless of how much or little I use a given credit card.

BTW, I also don't hold or use U.S. credit cards that want to charge me 20% interest on any running balance as in the standard Thai rate. I don't typically run credit card balances, but regardless, I wouldn't hold a CC that had that as its stated interest rate.

So, overall, considering those differences, I'd say the typical Thai CC is materially worse.

Edited April 24, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Pib]

Ditto for me for my U.S. credit cards. Now while there are plenty of U.S. credit cards that do charge high interest rates and annual fee, there are also plenty of U.S. credit cards that have interest rates of 10% or lower and do not charge annual fees. The latter is the only type of U.S. credit cards I use plus quite a few of my U.S. credit cards do not charge a foreign transaction fee.

A person just needs to shop around a little...and even switch cards occasionally as cards can go through stages of being great when you initially got them but years later they are not so great anymore as they slowly added fees and interest, did away with certain benefits such as cash back/rewards points amounts, etc.

[new2here]

I myself have not found the fee schedule for my Thai-bank issued credit cards to be materially 'worse' than any of my other US-bank issued cards.

Dunno what kind of cards you're familiar with, but in my entire life, I've never had a U.S. credit card of any kind charge me either a 1] up front issuance fee, or a b] annual renewal/maintenance fee, and both of those are pretty common among a broad range of Thai bank credit cards -- and not just the high-end ones where the fee is obviously going to offset the cost of various perks the card may have.

They may be waived in Thailand in certain situations. But for my cards in the U.S., those fees simply don't exist at all and are never charged -- regardless of how much or little I use a given credit card.

BTW, I also don't hold or use U.S. credit cards that want to charge me 20% interest on any running balance as in the standard Thai rate. I don't typically run credit card balances, but regardless, I wouldn't hold a CC that had that as its stated interest rate.

So, overall, considering those differences, I'd say the typical Thai CC is materially worse.

What I think the problem here is in the comparatives. The overall credit card market in the US is much, much larger. As a result, issuers are more able to offer products that are customized to that market.

Examples might be for those that are deemed (by the issuer using their proprietary scoring model) as being lower risk/higher score, the bank may offer up cards that may, as you cite, offer no annual fees and APRs that are much lower.. By contrast, those the issuer deems (again, by using an in-house scoring model) are higher risks/lower score, may be offered cards that do come with an application fee, annual fee and/or APRs much higher.

Under a US model someone with perhaps a mid-range score may still be approved, but perhaps with a card that carries a higher APR and/or annual fee; by contrast, in Thailand, as there doesn't yet seem to be as many card options, the same mid-range applicant may just be denied.

The market as I see it in Thailand is much smaller -- therefore as I see their just isn't a whole lot of product diversification or individualization (yet, as I think as the market and product matures, this will change). So if one looks at all the cards on offer, there will be much more similarity than not.

I also think with that comes the use of a independent credit reporting entity, like the NCB. With this, in time, issuers will be better able to determine risk profiles - and with that I suspect will come cards with differing initial APRs, floating APRs (like MOL +X%)

Based on how I know the Thai credit card market, I DO see a few aspects that are more advantageous than say a US-based system. For one is the difference in how credit scores are used. Under the US model, most scoring models (like FICO, Vantage, etc) do include the number of formal credit inquiries you have in the computation of your score - fewer applications gets you a slightly higher score. Therefore, if you want to protect your score, an applicant is mindful of how often and to whom they apply, as each application means one new "hard pull" and that stays on record for 24 months... As I know the system here, that's not the case - meaning you really can 'flood the market' and apply to all the banks, say 8 to 10, and that really won't have a material impact on your score..

So, my position that Thai cards are not materials worse is tempered with the reality that the market here just doesn't yet have the size or diversification as the US does, and as such can't yet offer products that are more "credit-risk" based. However, I do see here that a fair number of banks do in fact offer card come with no application fee and/or annual fees.. Interest rate I do cede seems to be quite similar across the board unless you're talking about an upper-tiered card...

One part where I do think Thai card are much better than US cards is in the promotional/promotions area... While US cards tend to be internal program-oriented (like rewards/points/miles-based or cash-back) Thai cards tend to be more merchant-based; examples might be the advertising for X bank and the various restaurants that will offer some kind of discount if paid by that banks card.

However in the end, what is deemed to be a good card is going to be hugely subjective depending on what you need or want and what you a qualify for.

Edited April 24, 2016 by new2here