@Jo *********

depends on the source of some of your income I guess. I have a mostly cash based business, so naturally I have cash at hand, and around the house, in shoe boxes, stacked up, in the loft, under the Mattress, In the glovebox, buried in the ground, x marks the spot. Clients like to pay in cash, believing they get a better price than paying by bank transfer. Accepting cash allows me to chose when to bank this, ie months or years of lower income, to maximise tax efficiency. Carwashes, convenience stores, laundry shops, vending machine operators, sunbed shops, market stalls, many retail shops and small cafes and coffee shops and drug dealers, all still accepting cash. Who's the chap with the 99p shops ? He's got 200 retail shops. The international drugs trade, approaching $1 trillion US dollars annually, largely in cash. Don't be fooled by each the governments addition of covid-19 as a reason to drive to convert to cashless, they are only thinking of themselves.

@Ruth ******

I don't need or want to prove you wrong, and it was more of a discussion, rather than 'fighting'. I'm sorry you felt that way, so I shall leave it right there. I wish you all the very best Ruth 🙏

@Ruth ******

well, maybe you are teaching me something, I'm open to that. But consider that a £6-7 GBP ATM fee would put any bank at a serious loss on even a maximum withdrawal. Others have claimed the same as you, but I've never seen it clearly marked

on a statement. So you, and everyone with your account, can go to an ATM and withdraw the minimum amount $10 or $20 and the bank will waive their own fee, plus reimburse you the 220 baht charge at the ATM. It would cost them $10 to give you $10 dollars, and leave them open to abuse of this. You could rent an ATM, automate it to make the minimum withdrawal over and over and collect the 220-250 baht ATM fee. That's not how banks work. Unless you are of course accepting their exchange rates, which might just about cover this loss, and in which case you are ultimately paying the ATM fee yourself, it's just disguised in any currency exchange, instead of ATM charges, as that is how the card is sold - "no overseas ATM charges" while their selling at currencies for 6% less than others. My bank in the UK is terrible for FX, and they'll do anything to get you to FX OR spend forgiegn currency on your card. Even with a platinum account for. £19 a month. There is no fee for using the card overseas, and limited to £400 a month cash withdrawals, but the local 220 baht ATM is there on the withdrawal. So if I take 1000 baht, my account shows a withdrawal of 1220 baht. It's not itemized on the statement.

@Ron ******

Interesting to know. I'll take a read of that later. thank you Ron

@Ron ******

is it that way around Ron ? I don't know myself, but I thought it makes more sense from an IT perspective for each country to send regular updated blacklists out to airlines, and for airlines to do the check themselves at the airline end. Imagine the amount of in/outs, requests, whatever. And if a system should go offline, you got planes grounded all over the world. Obviously this check can only be done 1-2 hours before flight time, incase of last minute bookings, and other passenger or airline changes.

@Lye *********

why ? It's a simple name check. One of the roles of an embassy is to issue visas or travel documents to those applying from that country.

@Jo *********

that doesn't change the fact that it's a written rule. If you replied, 'it is a rule, but I've never been asked in 100 entries' that would be a useful response. To just respond 'i've never been asked' just makes the actual facts difficult to come by. As I said twice already, I've never been breathalyzed driving my car by the police, so by your thought process, drink driving must not be illegal. imagine this post from a visitor to UK;. "someone told me that it's illegal to drink drive in the UK ?" And I reply, 'well I've never been breathalyzed". Can you see how unhelpful my comment is ? Worse than that, it's completely misleading and could land someone in world of shit.

@Martin ****

what are you on about ? 60,000. You are an idiot. A fool. You live here ? Live where exactly ? For how long ? You've passed immigration how many times ? You've been a member of this group how long ?

@Wayne ******

so do you say this is a rule, or is not a rule ? I'll give you a clue - I've never been breathalyzed by the police when driving. Your comment does nothing but add to the uncertainty.

@Carsten ***********

Thailand not a country dealing with cash ? It's one of the largest cash economies. Many businesss, hotels, restaurants, taxi drivers, boat drivers. And the more off the beaten tourist trail you go, the less places accept credit cards. Wether you have seen this, depends on the type of holiday you take. When was the last time you paid a fishermens boat or taxi boat driver by credit card ? Or street food (yes you can scan with a Thai account, but credit card ?)