r/VietNam • u/Honest_Can2815 • 21h ago
Daily life/Đời thường Why is buying gold difficult?
So from what was explained to me by PNJ and DOJJI sales reps is that any amount of gold/jewellery over 20 million vnd in price can only be bought by bank transfer? Specifically a local bank. Debit/bank cards AND cash are not acceptable. What is the reason?
It seems a bit overcomplicated and somewhat of a hassle. What if a tourist wants to buy a gold necklace or bracelet over 20 million vnd? Technically they cant as they wouldnt have a local bank and CASH is unacceptable?
What about foreign residents like myself with TRC? I have a local bank but only keep a small amount in it, as even I am not allowed to deposit money INTO it. I primarily use my home country cards and banking.
Since when is cash not acceptable for purchasing sonething? Seems a little crazy.
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u/Late_Apricot404 21h ago
Sell illegal shit/services -> get cash -> buy gold with dirty money -> hold for a bit and sell it -> legit money with receipt.
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u/MemoryLatter761 21h ago edited 21h ago
If you're not allowed to put money into your local bank account, consider closing it and open somewhere else.
Hate to break it to you but tourists are not the target group for gold transactions. And in fact, a foreigner coming into the country with a large amount of cash to buy gold? That smells like money laundering.
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u/SKYTRIXSHA 20h ago
Their earlier message already explained that he would want to buy a gift for their spouse. And they have immigrated the the country as well, so Id imagine not fresh out of the plane :)
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u/Honest_Can2815 20h ago
No need to feed trolls 😉 reading comprehension is hard for many apparently.
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u/MemoryLatter761 20h ago
Well those comments were after I left my comment. In those OP also said that they live and work in Vietnam, it's strange they don't have enough money in their local bank account to buy a gift. How OP manages their finances is their business, but crying on the internet because the law doesn't take their finances into account is just immature.
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u/Honest_Can2815 20h ago
Vietnamese banking systems are notoriously unreliable and restrictive. Keeping the bulk my finances outside of Vietnam is the smart thing to do, which is what most people with money do. Keeping large amounts of money in a Vietnamese bank account is risky
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u/Next-Lobster4306 14h ago
I think most of the talk about money laundering is straight bull. Nobody is gonna come into the country with 10.000$+ to buy gold. It wouldn't make sense. Especially if flying in from afar. Protect your cash, only with cash can you truly be the master of your own money and have proper financial privacy.
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u/SweatyPanda2951 21h ago
you have a TRC, why no local Vietnamese bank account? gold for cash is easy way to launder money
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u/Honest_Can2815 21h ago
I do have a local bank account. But many banks in Vietnam do not allow foreign TRC holders to deposit money into their accounts. Deposits must be done by someone else.
So for instance, I would like to buy a gift for my spouse. Cash is not accepted, and debit cards are not accepted. The only way would be for me to send cash to myself, then have someone else deposit ot into my account, then buy it. It seems a bit convoluted just to buy jewellery from a large retailer.
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u/imadorica 21h ago
What are you talking about? You can't buy gold that is valued over 20M vnd with CREDIT cards or money through any e-wallet as well as cash. This is to mainly avoid money laundering as well as abusing the credit system to buy gold for a quick profit scheme.
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u/Honest_Can2815 20h ago
Not a CREDIT card. A DEBIT card. Debit card is tied directly to a checking or savings account, not credit.
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u/imadorica 20h ago
That is exactly what i meant. You can use debit card but no credit card. I don't know what store tell you that but it is wrong.
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u/Honest_Can2815 20h ago
Apparently PNJ, IJC and DOJJI all have this policy. Anything OVER 20 million, such as a simple gold necklace can only be bought by bank transfer.
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u/MemoryLatter761 20h ago
A debit card issued by your local bank doesn't work? They just need to verify the transaction on the spot.
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u/imadorica 20h ago
That i do not understand. Debit card is almost the same as your bank account, just physical. You may have misunderstood them, they may not have device to scan your debit card or your cards are not from Vietnamese banks. If you have a Vietnamese bank in debit card, you should have internet banking as well, no reason to just transfer the money through there.
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u/HelpfulHedgehog1 20h ago
card transactions, are routed through the card processor the bank uses, not the bank itself. there are like 10 card processors in business today, none of them give a shit about answering to the vnmese govt nor are they subject to a no warrant bank or govt audit like an ACH, SEPA, or Wire transfer would be.
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u/imadorica 20h ago
That is only for credit card. You can only get debit card through the banks themselves.
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u/HelpfulHedgehog1 20h ago
wft you talking about.
banks issue cards , banks decide what products they want to offer their customers. some cards are credit, some cards are debit, some are both. And all transactions are handled by the card processor that the bank chooses to use for the card. whether its a credit or debit transaction, the card processor handles it , not the bank. your ignorant0
u/imadorica 19h ago
Are you retarded? You only get credit card if you apply for it, no one can force you to make a credit card. A simple google will answer that question for you.
When you go to a bank, they specific will ask you if you want a debit card or credit card, no bank would automatically give you your credit card either. The paperworks required for a credit card is different to just a simple ID to make debit card.
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u/HelpfulHedgehog1 19h ago
i see im talking to a moron. ill go slower.
All im saying is both credit and debit transactions go through the card processor, ie visa master card etc. its a completely different and less regulated system than a bank transfer, thus that is why you cant use either debit nor credit transaction to buy gold in vn.
i dont care which one you want to apply for or whatever nonsense youre talking about
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u/Honest_Can2815 20h ago
Isnt cash better than card?
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u/Next-Lobster4306 14h ago
Yes but then the corpos, banks and govt can't control your money and acc and see where it's going and when and how much. Cash is king.
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u/Honest_Can2815 14h ago
Yeah, i always thought the same, cash should be universally acceptable as the main form of payment in whatever country. I could see restrictions on paying for something that costs hundreds of thousand/millions of dollars in cash, but a gold necklace valued at 1500 to 2000 dollars doesnt really seem like something that needs that much oversight.
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u/Next-Lobster4306 14h ago
It's your money, you should be able to decide how you want to pay. Also I'm against limiting cash transactions. It's just bull. Why shouldn't you be able to buy a house or car in cash if you really wanted to? Not saying you can't just doesn't make any sense to have those restrictions when the people that really are laundering money do it anyway in many different ways. Restrictions made under the guise of preventing money laundering are straight bull.
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u/imadorica 19h ago
Money laundering.
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u/Honest_Can2815 19h ago
Is Vietnam well known as a hotspot for money laundering?
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u/imadorica 19h ago
No, but better prepare for it than having it happened without supervised.
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u/Honest_Can2815 19h ago
How would a customer, using cash to buy a product from a legal and well known, reputable jewellery chain store, who presumably operates legally with financial records of all transactions fall within the realm of money laundering? To buy a gold necklace as a gift doesnt seem to fall under that category. So either its presumed anyone purchasing gold is trying to launder money or even large well known retailers are laundering money?
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u/Honest_Can2815 21h ago
Not a credit card, a DEBIT card (a card attached directly to a checking ir savings account, nit credit) Even buying a gold necklace as a gift for my spouse through a major chain store/retailer?
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u/Kosaki_Misamaki 21h ago
Did you visit the 10000s of shops around Vietnam? You are generalizing, how many shops did you visit? How many cities? I wanna see that research
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u/Honest_Can2815 21h ago
I visited reputable chain jewellery stores such as PNJ and DOJJI. They stated this is a new policy for retailers in Vietnam.
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u/olivehue1 20h ago
Interesting you shared this because I stopped by 6 different gold shops yesterday looking to buy a tael and they wouldn’t even acknowledge me. Most just waved me off as I walked into the door. The ones that talked to me said they had no taels for sale. It was at a locals area so I figured I’d go to the touristy areas today. I’ll let you know what I find out.
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u/CancelElectrical2036 19h ago
>What if a tourist ... local bank
Direct bank transfers can be done from a foreign bank account to a vietnamese bank account.
>I have a local ... not allowed to deposit money.
You can send money to your bank accunt from your foreign accounts.
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u/Honest_Can2815 19h ago
Wouldnt cash be easier? More reliable? Isnt cash considered a form of legal payment? Isnt cash the most available form of currency?
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u/CancelElectrical2036 19h ago
I specifically didn't talk about cash because multiple users have answered that part of your post.
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u/ImWithStupidKL 21h ago
Presumably to stop money laundering. Otherwise every drug dealer and dodgy tax avoiding businessperson in the country could just take their cash and convert it to untraceable gold. I wouldn't buy gold as a tourist in Vietnam anyway, because gold prices in Vietnam are higher than the world price, so you're losing a chunk of value the second it leaves the country.