Ministry launches lucky draw campaign aimed at increasing use of debit cards

[snoop1130]

Ministry launches lucky draw campaign aimed at increasing use of debit cards

By The Nation

 

The Finance Ministry on Tuesday launched a promotional campaign to encourage people to use less cash and switch to debit cards, in a major step aimed at driving national e-payments policy, permanent secretary Somchai Sujjpongse said.

 

The campaign, under which prizes will be randomly given to lucky debit-card users, is the second move to promote national e-payments policy, the first being the electronic data-capture (EDC) system for machines installed at retail outlets nationwide in March.

 

Through the new campaign, consumers will be encouraged to use debit cards more and more.

 

At the same time, shops – especially small ones – will be encouraged and inspired to install EDC machines, he said, adding that such concerted efforts would eventually change people’s payment behaviour, leading to extensive use of electronic payments nationwide.

 

The first of the lucky draws will take place next month, with those having made payments via debit cards in May being eligible to participate.

 

Prizes will be delivered every month for 12 months, with a total prize value of Bt84 million during the period, Somchai said.

 

To be eligible for the lucky draw, consumers must pay for goods and/or services through debit cards issued by Thai financial institutions – not including e-commerce and bank transfers – while shops with no more than Bt500 million in annual revenue that have installed or upgraded their EDC machines as authorised by the government are also eligible to receive prizes, he explained.

 

The latter excludes government organisations and state enterprises.

 

Each month, the winner among the top spenders will win Bt1 million, while lucky winners in the second category will receive prizes ranging from Bt2,000 to Bt100,000 each.

 

The ministry expects 1,001 customers to receive prizes worth a total of Bt5.6 million per month under the programme.

 

Participating shops will have the opportunity to win a grand prize worth Bt1 million and between five and 30 prizes of Bt30,000 each per month.

 

Lucky winners will be announced on the 16th of the month, with the first announcement scheduled for June 16.

 

The winners list will be announced through various media and on www.epayment.go.th, while each winner will be notified by the commercial bank that issues their debit card.

 

Any cardholders or stores that do not want to join the campaign can inform their banks to remove their names from the participants list, Somchai said.

 

In the future, these companies and individuals will however be able to rejoin the campaign by simply informing their respective banks of their decision to do so.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/business/EconomyAndTourism/30314033

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-5-2

[scorecard]

Which all means that Thai banks will get additional massive undeserved revenue for very little effort, so perhaps the authorities should also mandate that banks can only make very very small profits from usage of debit cards.

 

If the authorities push the public to move away from cash then more and more traders will add more mark ups in regard to card transactions. Perhaps it also means there should be laws allowing for a very low maximum mark up by traders.

 

Perhaps it also means that the authorities should make it law that traders get their payments from banks within say 48 hours.

 

Without all / some of the above the general public  will get fleeced for billions in bank etc., fees every month. 

[connda]

It's a little bit like coaxing an ox down the chute to the slaughter-house by leading it with a bundle of fresh hay.  

 

What the moronic public can't grasp is that they will eventually be charged fees by the banks who hold their funds, every detail of their transaction history will be available for sale, and the banks can seamlessly implement negative interest rates.  Bankers and politicians have found another way to rape the masses.

[alanrchase]

The only place I shop that takes a debit card is the small Tesco in town. Most places don't accept them.

Sent from my SM-A500F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[steve73]

I can just see the local markets and som-tam samlor accepting card sales...  

[colinneil]

OK GREAT IDEA, but very few places here will accept them.

Not only market sellers, but even some local businesses will not accept them.

Isuzu dealers in this area will not accept credit or debit cards, i have tried and failed to get them to accept.

Cash only.

[Knocker33]

They are not even accepted for payment on the net here

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Perhaps the Finance Ministry should get in touch with the BTS rail system in Bangkok, which just stopped accepting debit cards as payment for topping up cash balances on their trip cards. Now you can only buy trips using a debit card at BTS, and trip tickets only make sense on BTS for longer travel, not anything like 1-2-3 stations, where using the cash balance on your card is a better deal. But now, no more debit cards for topping up cash balances after BTS had allowed that for years (as does the MRT line still).

 

 

[Anythingleft?]

The system has a long way to go before they are more frequently used. Internet or phone payments, removing charges at places that take them under duress.
They are for the most part not welcomed by the venders not the end user.
Debit cards here get used for fuel and Tesco

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[Surasak]

1 hour ago, Knocker33 said:

They are not even accepted for payment on the net here

True. My debit card has 'For electronic use only',  but the times I have tried, it is always refused.