All commercial banks start replacing old cards with smart chip cards today

[webfact]

All commercial banks start replacing old cards with smart chip cards today



BANGKOK: -- Beginning today, all commercial banks will replace all their magnetic stripe cards issued to customers with the securer chip cards.

At present there are still 60 million magnetic stripe cards in use.

They will be all replaced by chip cards by the end of December 2019.

According to the Bank of Thailand’s deputy governor Mrs Thongurai Limpiti, commercial banks have so far improved and replaced up to 80-90% of their systems and machines that could read the chip cards.

By the end of this year, she said all old machines are expected to be replaced with new machines.

She said the new credit and debit cards with chips would be more secure than magnetic cards which are vulnerable because once thieves get a copy of your credit card information, it can be quickly copied onto counterfeit cards.

But chip cards are harder to duplicate, she said.

All banks in Europe have already switched to the computer chip cards, while Malaysia switching to the new card in 2004, and Singapore in 2010.

However she said chip cards could not prevent duplication 100% because thieves also developed their techniques to catch up with the change.

Thai Bankers Association president Preedee Daochai, also Kasikorn bank president, meanwhile, said all commercial banks have now replaced up to 86% of their existing 60,000 ATMs for chip cards.

Fee for card change may differ for each bank, but it will not increase from the present rate, he said.

For Kasikorn bank the fee for debit card will be 200 bath plus 100 baht for first registration, he said.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/163450


-- Thai PBS 2016-05-16

[lopburi3]

By the end of 2019? Does not seem they have much concern beyond meeting requirements.

My US bank just advised all cards would be changed to chip type within 30 days.

[Prbkk]

Aside from the security issue the old style cards are very poor quality. The strip tends to fray and detach: easily replaced but , it goes without saying, at the blameless consumer's expense. Let's hope these new ones are better quality in all respects.

[rayw]

Tesco don't need a PIN for a transaction with any cards, don't understand that..

Good thing as some years ago when I was asked at a nameless shop to input my pin into their machine my card was apparently cloned and then they get your pin. Fortunately I check my account very regularly via secure internet access and quickly spotted some rogue transactions and reported it to the bank concerned. Of course I was immediately reimbursed by the credit card company who confirmed it was a clone so they had to cancel my card and reissue me with a new one which took over 2 weeks to arrive so a bloody nuisance and a lot of hassle. Sure it may still have happened without me using my pin but with them having my pin too it made things even more dangerous and indeed banks state that you must keep you pin secret as divulging it will mean they cannot indemnify you.

So I just will not use a pin and if asked to do so then I just go elsewhere, way too dangerous with so many cards cloned. So you see there is also a big down side to using pins.

[lopburi3]

Weeeeell, if you lose your card (Stolen wallet), the perps shoot off to Tesco and buy the place in short order..

Which is all on video. Not many masked customers in supermarkets.

[MrMo]

Why do Thai banks talk about credit cards ? There are no credit cards in Thailand. No credit is advanced by the banks against the cards. The cards are secured by twice the "credit" limit being held by the bank.

[Thunderbirds20]

I paid 800 baht to get my debit card last year. Banks make huge money and give terrible service. They should be providing all their customers with replacement chip cards free of charge!

[lopburi3]

I paid 800 baht to get my debit card last year. Banks make huge money and give terrible service. They should be providing all their customers with replacement chip cards free of charge!

It appears they are doing that - but only as old cards expire - you get new card at normal yearly fee. Most people do not pay 800 baht however.

[Retfed50]

Why do Thai banks talk about credit cards ? There are no credit cards in Thailand. No credit is advanced by the banks against the cards. The cards are secured by twice the "credit" limit being held by the bank.

That's only for foreigners. Any Thai with a job can get a credit card(or several), each with a credit limit of 2 to 3 times their annual income. My niece, a pharmacist at a govt. hospital has a credit limit of 4x her annual salary. Crazy, but true.

[ratcatcher]

I paid 800 baht to get my debit card last year. Banks make huge money and give terrible service. They should be providing all their customers with replacement chip cards free of charge!

"They should be providing all their customers with replacement chip cards free of charge! "

They could and they should, but that would cost them a lot of money. So they don't and they won't. After all they are banks.

[anto]

Lost my Kasikorn ATM card .Went to the Bank today .Replacement card with chip (which is also a debit card ) cost B350 .

[Suradit69]

Why do Thai banks talk about credit cards ? There are no credit cards in Thailand. No credit is advanced by the banks against the cards. The cards are secured by twice the "credit" limit being held by the bank.

That's only for foreigners. Any Thai with a job can get a credit card(or several), each with a credit limit of 2 to 3 times their annual income. My niece, a pharmacist at a govt. hospital has a credit limit of 4x her annual salary. Crazy, but true.

No crazier than all the banks in the US, at least pre-2008, lending money for real estate purchases to people who no one could ever imagine capable of making the payments. And then of course the rating agencies like Moody's and S&P allowed the banks to bundle these doomed loans into AAA rated packages of mortgage-backed-securities sold on to pension funds and charities, among others, using the AAA ratings to feel secure, shortly after which all this toxic debt nearly brought down the entire world economy.

[Prbkk]

Why do Thai banks talk about credit cards ? There are no credit cards in Thailand. No credit is advanced by the banks against the cards. The cards are secured by twice the "credit" limit being held by the bank.

That's only for foreigners. Any Thai with a job can get a credit card(or several), each with a credit limit of 2 to 3 times their annual income. My niece, a pharmacist at a govt. hospital has a credit limit of 4x her annual salary. Crazy, but true.

Yes, it's crazy on both counts: over-indebted locals and credit worthy foreigners effectively excluded from the system. While the debit cards work fine inside Thailand, they are utterly useless if you try to use it while outside the country, eg make an online flight booking. The "verified by visa" just doesn't work in that situation.

Consequently forced to use a foreign card with overseas transaction fees: not a huge amount but I wonder what good purpose it serves to have this arrangement? The banks will claim that foreigners rack up debt and disappear but reasonable credit checks should minimise that risk

[DrDave]

Tesco don't need a PIN for a transaction with any cards, don't understand that..

Quite common in the US. It all depends upon the card processor that the merchant uses.

We operated a business that accepted credit and debit cards, and we never required a PIN. Our processor used the "signature" method of verification, where the purchaser signs either the merchant's copy of the CC receipt, or uses a stylus on a touchscreen. The merchant is supposed to check the signature against the one on the back of the card to ensure they match. (That doesn't instill a lot of confidence, does it!). Many people print the words "Check ID" instead of a signature on the signature panel of their card, with the thought that if the card is stolen, the thief probably doesn't have the owner's other credentials (typically, a driving license).

[HampiK]

Lost my Kasikorn ATM card .Went to the Bank today .Replacement card with chip (which is also a debit card ) cost B350 .

I also was at Kasikorn today and became a Chip card.. but paid only 200 baht...

Is it possible you not have the standart ATM card? Or they asked for too much

[Pib]

Tesco don't need a PIN for a transaction with any cards, don't understand that..

Quite common in the US. It all depends upon the card processor that the merchant uses.

We operated a business that accepted credit and debit cards, and we never required a PIN. Our processor used the "signature" method of verification, where the purchaser signs either the merchant's copy of the CC receipt, or uses a stylus on a touchscreen. The merchant is supposed to check the signature against the one on the back of the card to ensure they match. (That doesn't instill a lot of confidence, does it!). Many people print the words "Check ID" instead of a signature on the signature panel of their card, with the thought that if the card is stolen, the thief probably doesn't have the owner's other credentials (typically, a driving license).

Yeap, if the card is encoded to allow Chip & Signature also versus just Chip & PIN and the merchant's POS machine/local processing bank prefer to use Chip & Signature mode then use of a PIN is not required for a purchase. I've been using chipped credit cards in Bangkok and surrounding area on almost a daily basis for years and I can count on 1 (one) finger the number of times I've seen someone have to enter a PIN to complete a purchase...and they were using chipped cards.

[Bangkokhatter]

Why do Thai banks talk about credit cards ? There are no credit cards in Thailand. No credit is advanced by the banks against the cards. The cards are secured by twice the "credit" limit being held by the bank.

That's only for foreigners. Any Thai with a job can get a credit card(or several), each with a credit limit of 2 to 3 times their annual income. My niece, a pharmacist at a govt. hospital has a credit limit of 4x her annual salary. Crazy, but true.

I have a proper credit card via UOB, with a credit limit of 3.5 times my monthly salary so not true.

Regarding the chip cards, Bangkok Bank have been issuing these for a while now but you could only use BKK Bank ATM's, maybe now i will be able to use other banks ?

[Lannig]

Why do Thai banks talk about credit cards ? There are no credit cards in Thailand. No credit is advanced by the banks against the cards. The cards are secured by twice the "credit" limit being held by the bank.

That's only for foreigners. Any Thai with a job can get a credit card(or several), each with a credit limit of 2 to 3 times their annual income. My niece, a pharmacist at a govt. hospital has a credit limit of 4x her annual salary. Crazy, but true.

Foreigners with a work permit can too. Although I did not want to have a credit card while I was working in Thailand (only debit), I know several people who do have one now.

[willyumiii]

Why do Thai banks talk about credit cards ? There are no credit cards in Thailand. No credit is advanced by the banks against the cards. The cards are secured by twice the "credit" limit being held by the bank.

That's only for foreigners. Any Thai with a job can get a credit card(or several), each with a credit limit of 2 to 3 times their annual income. My niece, a pharmacist at a govt. hospital has a credit limit of 4x her annual salary. Crazy, but true.

I have a proper credit card via UOB, with a credit limit of 3.5 times my monthly salary so not true.

Regarding the chip cards, Bangkok Bank have been issuing these for a while now but you could only use BKK Bank ATM's, maybe now i will be able to use other banks ?

I agree.

It can be a great inconvenience when I can only use my BKK Bank ATM card at a BKK Bank ATM machine.

In some areas, the BKK Bank machines are few and far between.

Over all, I am pleased with the service from BKK Bank...but they really should resolve this issue.

[Scouse Twoccer]

I paid 800 baht to get my debit card last year. Banks make huge money and give terrible service. They should be providing all their customers with replacement chip cards free of charge!

Bangkok Bank does provide free replacements.

[happynthailand]

you know that I hate to say this,but

there is a device on the market that will read and put any info on your

cards chip. its the same device that was used to hack Direct TV,back in the day

made a lot of money from those hacked cards

but what do I know

[hansnl]

Tesco don't need a PIN for a transaction with any cards, don't understand that..

Quite common in the US. It all depends upon the card processor that the merchant uses.

We operated a business that accepted credit and debit cards, and we never required a PIN. Our processor used the "signature" method of verification, where the purchaser signs either the merchant's copy of the CC receipt, or uses a stylus on a touchscreen. The merchant is supposed to check the signature against the one on the back of the card to ensure they match. (That doesn't instill a lot of confidence, does it!). Many people print the words "Check ID" instead of a signature on the signature panel of their card, with the thought that if the card is stolen, the thief probably doesn't have the owner's other credentials (typically, a driving license).

Several banks in the Netherlands have the option to include your picture on the debit and credit cards.

[Litlos]

I have two credit cards with Kasikorn, though I did get the first one when on a work permit. One a standard type and the other a virtual card with no physical card issued. The virtual card is ideal for online shopping as I can adjust the limit up and down over the internet. Want to buy something and I up the limit, once the transaction is complete the limit goes back to 100 Baht, good luck to any scammers getting access to that one.

Cheers

[timendres]

Why do Thai banks talk about credit cards ? There are no credit cards in Thailand. No credit is advanced by the banks against the cards. The cards are secured by twice the "credit" limit being held by the bank.

That's only for foreigners. Any Thai with a job can get a credit card(or several), each with a credit limit of 2 to 3 times their annual income. My niece, a pharmacist at a govt. hospital has a credit limit of 4x her annual salary. Crazy, but true.

Yes, it's crazy on both counts: over-indebted locals and credit worthy foreigners effectively excluded from the system. While the debit cards work fine inside Thailand, they are utterly useless if you try to use it while outside the country, eg make an online flight booking. The "verified by visa" just doesn't work in that situation.

Consequently forced to use a foreign card with overseas transaction fees: not a huge amount but I wonder what good purpose it serves to have this arrangement? The banks will claim that foreigners rack up debt and disappear but reasonable credit checks should minimise that risk

I have been using my KBank Debit Card (K-SME Debit Card / Platinum Visa) online for years with not a single purchase having a problem. Sometimes I have to put in the OTP, sometimes I just get the "verified by Visa" popup window with no OTP requirement, and for others I do nothing extra - the charge just happens (monthly subscriptions). Charges have been made in Thailand, USA, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland and New Zealand.

[The Usual Suspect]

This is just another "changeover scam" as far as I'm concerned. Why should the customer be forced to pay for a technical change made by the company? A similar "scam" is being pulled off by AIS. They are changing their sim cards over to 3G from 2G. The only problem is that the cards will not work on existing 2G phones. Due to this, the customer is required to buy a new phone for a minimum of 399 baht for a Samsung Hero clone, including the new sim card. Supposedly, 100 baht is a "service charge" and the rest is supposed to go towards minutes on your new phone. To add more aggravation to the situation, the clerk refused to sell me a phone using my Thai driver's license as I.D.. They told me I needed to bring my yellow book before they could sell me a phone. T.I.T.

Edited May 16, 2016 by The Usual Suspect

[kingalfred]

I paid 800 baht to get my debit card last year. Banks make huge money and give terrible service. They should be providing all their customers with replacement chip cards free of charge!

Bangkok Bank does provide free replacements.

anyone got a bangkok bank new chip card yet? Seems only kasikorn at the moment!

[kingalfred]

I paid 800 baht to get my debit card last year. Banks make huge money and give terrible service. They should be providing all their customers with replacement chip cards free of charge!

Bangkok Bank does provide free replacements.

so you got a free replacement card with a chip?

[AdamRich]

Lost my Kasikorn ATM card .Went to the Bank today .Replacement card with chip (which is also a debit card ) cost B350 .

And is it the same as the one with just the stripe which just says "Customer"? They told me if I want my name on it I would have to pay extra and it would take a couple of weeks. Whereas in the USA I walk in the bank and they print one out right then and there. Catch up Thailand.

[Beats56]

Back in my home.country if you need a new card they give to you right on the spot. They hand you a hand held device for you to input the pin you want to use. No fuss no waiting two weeks and no cost.

Tesco don't need a PIN for a transaction with any cards, don't understand that..

Good thing as some years ago when I was asked at a nameless shop to input my pin into their machine my card was apparently cloned and then they get your pin. Fortunately I check my account very regularly via secure internet access and quickly spotted some rogue transactions and reported it to the bank concerned. Of course I was immediately reimbursed by the credit card company who confirmed it was a clone so they had to cancel my card and reissue me with a new one which took over 2 weeks to arrive so a bloody nuisance and a lot of hassle. Sure it may still have happened without me using my pin but with them having my pin too it made things even more dangerous and indeed banks state that you must keep you pin secret as divulging it will mean they cannot indemnify you.

So I just will not use a pin and if asked to do so then I just go elsewhere, way too dangerous with so many cards cloned. So you see there is also a big down side to using pins.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Beats56

[Langsuan Man]

#1. Do we have to go into our bank(s) and request the new "chipped" card or are they going to mail them to us ?

#2. When and will they enforce the chipped ATM card requirement for foreign issued bank ATM cards ?

I saw the notice yesterday (the 16th) and was worried that it would not accept my US non chipped card but it did but who knows for how long !