Can a foreigner get a credit card in Thailand. How to get a credit card in Thailand

If you are interested in the question, can a foreigner get a credit card in Thailand, then the answer to it is: “yes, he can, but he is unlikely to be interested in it”.

Why get a Thai credit card

In addition to the obvious and not entirely correct answer “to spend now and pay later”, many people get a credit card for other reasons.

For example, after receiving a credit card, your credit score in the credit bureau begins to be calculated.

If your credit score is good, it will make it easier to get a loan in the future.

Another argument for using a credit card is “you get the product and services now and pay later”. With regard to Thai credit cards, this is not entirely suitable, I will explain why below.

Credit banking in most cases do not have an annual service fee and SMS alerts fee. That is, a credit bank account can be cheaper to maintain than a regular Thai bank account.

See also: How to open a bank account in Pattaya

How to get a credit card in Thailand

My income has been deposited in a Thai bank account every month for many years. That is, the bank has the opportunity to check my income in recent years. Moreover, I have money savings in the bank.

For this reason, I thought that I have a chance to get a credit card from a Thai bank.

When I went to a Thai bank and asked if I could get a credit card, the bank employee quickly looked at my Passbook (hundreds of thousands of baht on balance) and said yes, I can get a credit card right now, without any checks.

But the conditions for obtaining a credit card are as follows:

• credit limit: 36000 baht
• 40,000 baht will be frozen from my debit account for issuing a credit card
• a choice of 2 cards, both with free service, provided that I really use a credit card; slightly different conditions, for example, one of the cards has an interest-free installment plan for 10 months to pay for sick leave and some other services

That is, the catch is that they can give a credit card, but they will freeze the amount greater than the amount of the loan! That is, they will freeze the amount in the amount of the credit limit + annual service fee.

The bank employee was not interested in the amount of my income and periodic transfers to my bank account.

It turns out that the only reason to get a credit card in a Thai bank is the formation of a credit score in a credit bureau. This aspect is still interesting to me, but the bank employee was not very good with English and I am afraid that I did not fully understand some questions about the credit card, and you should not become a client of any financial services without a complete understanding.

In general, I did not apply for a credit card in a Thai bank. But I do not exclude that one day I will do it.

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