Accessing Credit Cards and Personal Checks

[simonlaing]

Joint accounts not permitted in Chinese banks. No Chinese bank offers joint bank accounts for couples though new western banks are starting to enter the market. Most international banks require a large deposit (HSBC 100,000) for personal banking. This partly due to the undeveloped virtually non-existent credit history system.

[h3]Credit Cards[/h3]

One Bank account may be able to have two credit cards linked to that bank account. Most Chinese credit cards work like western debit cards where Chinese customers must first deposit a set amount of money the minimum is usually 6,000 Yuan and then the credit card can withdraw from from that account. You still need to pay back money to return the level to 6,000 yuan each month or you will pay interest on the difference.

Credit cards usually have a pin number that you will need to input. The exception to this in the Merchant's Bank, which simply requires the signature.

Credit cards are usually can be used in large supermarkets, upscale restaurants or hotels.Some big department stores also accept them.

[h3]Checks[/h3]

[h4]Personal Checks[/h4]

Personal checks are very rare and hardly used. In the case where you want to write a check to yourself and cash it at the bank. It will take at least one month to get the cash. The check must be authenticated by phone and then it is sent to the US bank. The US back then send the money to the the Chinese bank with processed check. The Chinese bank will call you to fill out some final forms and deposit the cash in your account. The same fees for exchanging money plus some banks have Check processing fees.

[h4]Cashier's Check[/h4]

Cashiers Checks are sometimes used to pay for big items such as cars and conferences. There are occassions when people use suitcases to carry cash to the dealerships to pay for the cars as well. Cash counting machines are common in banks to deal with the number of paper bills they highest denomination being the 100 yuan note.

[cdn_in_bj]

I already replied to your post in the thread for the "accessing cash" page. Here it is again:

One Bank account may be able to have two credit cards linked to that bank account. Most Chinese credit cards work like western debit cards where Chinese customers must first deposit a set amount of money the minimum is usually 6,000 Yuan and then the credit card can withdraw from from that account. You still need to pay back money to return the level to 6,000 yuan each month or you will pay interest on the difference.

This is not always the case, I would change the wording from "most" to "some".

Credit cards usually have a pin number that you will need to input. The exception to this in the Merchant's Bank, which simply requires the signature.

Again, this is not always the case. If you are making a payment using a domestic credit card that doesn't have a PIN, you can enter a bunch of '0's. Of course, it is safer to assign a PIN to the card.