chaspul wrote:Saw one of the new (to Thailand I think) Visa debit card chip readers in Asia books, Market village.
Only been aware of them since recieving my new debit card last week.
Seems the idea is that you can wave your card at the machine and it deducts directly from your bank account, it may require you to enter a PIN, I think this depends on the amount.
It seems the eventual idea is that you don't have to carry cash for small things like a cup of coffee, or a book, or newspaper.
Maybe Thailand is progressing faster than we think?
Chas
It wouldn't be the first time chaspui. SE Asian countries tend to sit back and watch before taking technological leaps which could cost them unecessarily. Telephones are a good example IMO. Thailand lagged behind with improvements to land lines just when mobiles were taking off.
True - as DannieBoy says chip'n pin wouldn't go down too well in the Night Market at the mo, but there's some very busy and well managed restaurants down there where I think they could very quickly become the thing to have. Then everyone will want them. Cut down on staff fiddles, reduce the risk of theft. How long before we see Hello Kitty swipe card machines then?
Please! CalGuy, I've never heard or read anyone who is less inclined to move to the place they keep asking about.....I think you should really rethink your selection.
If you're really talking about a legitimate concern, you can use cash, ATM cards, internet banking, Credit cards and probably Monopoly money just about anywhere in the world now. This ain't Kansas any more man.
I've been here six years, but with a fluent English speaker (even if it has taken her over twenty years to get good at it), which may be like the difference between an ice cream cone and a banana split. We have accounts with Bangkok Bank and Wells Fargo Bank. It took years to get there, but I have internet banking and pay my three bills (yeah, definitely not Kansas) online. TV, Phone & DSL, and the monthly maintenance fee for our condo. I transfer money to my wife's cousin when I want medicines from her friend at the pharmacy in Bangkok, I transfer money between our two accounts, I have an ATM card that I've managed to leave in the ATM machine three times now; a quick trip to the bank in Cha Am and three hundred baht later I've got a new card. I send money back and forth to and from the U.S. monthly and quarterly. The only thing I can't seem to do online is get free cash, darn it.
When you want something here you jump in or on your wheeled vehicle and head to the nearest store you want something from. They'll deliver it and set it up even if it's ten o'clock at night (see post on electrical equipment under current topics). There are ATM machines everywhere if you need cash, you don't have to go to the bank.....and please again, they're pretty darned safe.
Also, I've heard enough on that other Forum we're not allowed to speak of. Unless you've got a really big chunk of money I don't think the U.S. Government is going to be a bother to you. All that talk about making foreign banks do stuff for them is a bunch of baloney. There is a lot more activity than our small change in cross-country banking for business, and those guys would thumb their collective noses at the government so fast it would make your head swim.
So get over yourself CalGuy. I think we've given you enough information to write a book. Time to make a decision.
Ya you are right TIGR. All the financial machinations you go thru sound a lot like a job!
After years on this forum and 2- 3 week visits, books on retirement there, study of the language (reading, speaking and writing)for 3 years, exploration of the biggest cities and diving both coasts, getting 2 tatoos in Thai, and enduring the annoyance and insults of those on this forum I'm done. I love the food and the temples, monkeys and elephants but that's not enough.
I've decided at least for now to stay home. The quality of life there is below my standards and I don't much like the attitudes of some on this forum. Guess I'm not Euro enough to understand the sense of humor(?) Everyone seems so ready to take things out of context and be offended here. I am NOT trying to offend anyone. It is your own choice to be if you are.
Thanks again to all who responded. I may visit from my new home in Oregon up in the mountains by a river in the forest for the same price as there, but I doubt I will want to move there in the future.
Cheers
