Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, unfortunately we are doing another one of these videos on the nightmares coming along with this whatever you want to call it, "digital banking debacle" here in Thailand.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent email sent to us, quoting directly: "I am living and working in Thailand legally on a four-year Visa since January 2023. Back in March, I went to both phone operator, (and he gives the name of one) and Bank (he gives the name of one; I am going to leave them out) to ensure phone and passport details are up to date. Despite that, my access to my salary account was cut off without any prior notice and this left me stranded in Japan, unable to pay then pay the," - I think they meant the fee for the groceries - "and unable to pay my credit card balance. After unhelpful call with Helpline, my wife who is currently in Thailand, rushed to show the required documents in the branch but was turned away. I provided the scans of documents in there including ridiculous requests - latest visa to Japan, and bill in Japan with my name on it. I was told yesterday that issue will be addressed urgently, but 24 hours later there is still no resolution. Luckily my wife left me her debit card and I am able to buy groceries with little funds that we keep there but otherwise banking services are impossible. Is it reasonable..." Yeah, and he goes on, but I think that pretty well sums it up. 

I don't know what's going on here. I mean this stuff is really bad. It makes banking here look like something that is not easy to do. We have all been sort of nudged over or herded into the notion of digital banking: this is how you do things, this is the way to go, this is the future. And now people are getting knocked back where it is even worse than if they had never had digital banking at all. People are detrimentally relying on their digital platforms to be able to bank and it's all falling apart. I have seen emails from multiple people where they have said, "I have been cut off one day, I go in, I rectify it, I am cruising around, another two days, boom, it goes out again, and I have to go back." This is just bad. I truly think that a lot of this is coming from the OECD which is my understanding Thailand is not part of; they are just exploring it as an option. Meanwhile, all of this push some over the last two years, toward the Digital Wallet. Well imagine what it would be like if everybody's Digital Wallet went out. I mean this stuff is viewed like foolproof and better, but at the end of the day, it is not at the end of the day, as we are clearly seeing. 

I have got to be honest with you, I don't have any digital banking apps. I am just that much of a Luddite I guess. I just haven't upgraded to that, and I don't particularly need to. I have got people around the office that help me with that stuff, Thank God. But I wouldn't now, there is no point. I don't want to be on any digital platform. I would rather just do my best to operate out of the way I have always operated. Frankly, we still use paper cheques for certain aspects of payroll and things here in the office. Folks may find that backward but I am not having any issue with dealing with that. I take cash when I go abroad; I do have a standard credit card, but this is really ridiculous. People are detrimentally relying on these banking apps, they are relying on these banking facilities and they are being left in the lurch and the banks don't seem to particularly care. The telephone operators are just kind of ambivalent. It is the classic sort of neo-Soviet, everybody is pointing at everybody else saying, "oh it's not my problem", and then you are just stuck standing there with no ability to do anything. You are effectively unbanked. Hopefully this will improve and we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.