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Money, Banks and Credit Cards in China


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Posted

I've browsed the forums, but haven't found much in the way of an answer to my questions; I'm headed to China this summer with the plan of staying for a good bit of time (potentially a year or more) to continue working on language study. As such, I don't want to carry around several thousand dollars in cash, but also don't really like the idea of holding a big stack of travelers checks. Some questions:

1- Can anyone tell me if they have had a good experience with any bank in China that I can use to connect with a bank in the United States (ie. if I have an HSBC account in the U.S., can I draw from an HSBC in China without incurring a huge penalty?)

2- I know credit cards are not widely accepted, but of the three big companies (Visa, Amex, Mastercard), which do you prefer?

3. - Any overall advice in regard to managing/protecting money during a long-term China stay?

Any thought are always appreciated!

Posted

Would like to know the same. Haven't got any credit/debit card yet, so will actually get one in India according to what will be said to be the best in China.

Posted

ATMs are easy to use. These questions have been answered before.

I suggest you guys do a search in the forums using the UPPER LEFT search and NOT the right hand corner search (that one's broken!!!) and you can find answers such as these for "Credit card"

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=partner-pub-5008220562729147%3A7zul9k-rsau&ie=UTF-8&q=credit+card&sa=Search&siteurl=www.chinese-forums.com%2Findex.php%3F%2Ftopic%2F32902-money-banks-and-credit-cards-in-china%2F

or this forum post

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/14722-accessing-cash-wire-transfers-travelers-cheques-and-atms/

Posted

1. Speaking from experience, if you have an HSBC card from North America, it will work flawlessly at almost any ATM in China (and I can guarantee any Bank of China machines). The fees are minimal, probably $1.50 or so above what your ATM fees would be be back home. As with back home, the fees are per transaction, so its abvisable to pull out money in larger chunks and make use of a room safe.

Also, six-digit PIN's are standard here, so ask for one when setting it up.

Most other banks should work if they have the Cirrus logo on them, but I cant speak from experience.

2. I brought a credit card and have yet to use it in nine months, with the exception of online purchases.

3. The vast majority of banks are completely useless at things such as replacing ATM cards while overseas, even if (as with HSBC) they have their own locations in China. Lose a card and expect replacements to either be impossible (until you return home) or so troublesome its simply not worth it. We got around this by having my parents opening a joint account (between them) and giving me one of their cards... They add money, I take it out and should it ever get lost/stolen I they just pick up a new one and mail it to me, all without the bureaucratic nightmare.

Quite simply, don't be fooled by the advertising BS of HSBC being "The World's Local Bank", getting full-service at branches here... You can withdraw money, but any other service is exclusive to Premier customers (minimum $100,000 deposited or invested through them).

Posted

The value of RMB is rising. Is this something to be taken into consideration (like the cost of withdrawing 100 RMB today is different from that if you do it 6 months later)?

I think the most widely-accepted credit card is the local UnionPay card, am I right? And using credit cards issued in foreign countries will incur cross-country transaction fees, handling fees and costs in exchange, I think. But this is not a China-only issue. Personally I have stopped using credit cards when I go abroad. And people found us strange when we insisted on paying for everything in cash. haha. But sadly I have almost exhausted my euro reserve. :)

Posted

thanks for the info, I never realized that there was a second search bar, and it does a far better job at returning results

Skylee-that is a very interesting thought, and I'm not sure what the longterm affect would be on the value of the currency held. Might be better than holding on to American currency and changing a small bit at a time.

As for credit cards, I completely hate using them while abroad as they are inconvenient and expensive, but ultimately I would like to find the one that will work best in the small odds of a major emergency. I will note that Capital One offers cards that do not charge a foreign service fee, however you loose any hope of good customer service.

Posted
inconvenient and expensive

?????

How are credit cards inconvenient? They are a lot more convenient than running to the ATM all the time, or running out of cash.

How are credit cards expensive? Sign up for auto-pay (to ensure you pay your bill on time), get an interest free loan for 2-6 weeks on all purchases, and get 1% cash back. Even better than cash!

P.S. I use Capital One, due to their no foreign exchange fee, thus far no issues.

But sadly I have almost exhausted my euro reserve.

I'm sure you can exchange HKD -> Euro in Hong Kong. If you need a recommendation for a good exchange place, let me know :P

Posted
I'm sure you can exchange HKD -> Euro in Hong Kong. If you need a recommendation for a good exchange place, let me know

Yes please let me know. I bought my euros when they cost less than HKD10 each. Any place offers a comparable rate now? :D

Posted

Haha, no help there. But I do feel your pain: 10 years ago when we were in Europe, we managed to be there when it was 0.82 USD to 1 Euro. And we thought things were very cheap. Now that it's about 1.46 USD to 1 Euro, we wonder why we even go to Europe as everything is too expensive.

Posted

Credit Cards- Inconvenient in that they are not widely accepted (outside of the major cities), and expensive in that very few companies (other than capital one) waive a service fee while abroad. But yes, when possible, certainly better than drawing from an ATM.

Posted

So get a Capital One credit card; it's not as if they are any harder to get than other credit cards.

Personally, I'm rather annoyed at the credit card companies for charging the 3% foreign exchange fee; their actual costs are much lower, and they do it just because they can. So I'm quite happy to use Capital One, as they aren't trying to rip me off as much.

Maybe things have changed, but personally I've found the places where I spend enough to want to use a credit card, usually takes credit cards. The places that don't take credit cards, well, usually they are cheap enough that I want to pay cash anyway. But maybe that's just me.

Posted
Quite simply, don't be fooled by the advertising BS of HSBC being "The World's Local Bank", getting full-service at branches here... You can withdraw money, but any other service is exclusive to Premier customers (minimum $100,000 deposited or invested through them).

Even with HSBC Premier, the service is less than full. I once won a substantial amount of money in Macau and took it to the main HSBC Macau branch with hopes of depositing it into my existing account so I wouldn't have to carry it across the border back into the mainland. Could not be done. They did offer to open a new Macau account for me, however, and accept the deposit into that account.

  • Like 1
Posted
P.S. I use Capital One, due to their no foreign exchange fee, thus far no issues.

Thanks for the info. I have never thought of applying for such a credit card, simply because I already have too many credit cards. It seems to be a good idea now that I have exhausted my euro reserve.

I've found this one, which offers overseas spending banking charge waiver. I don't like the bank at all (it is prejudice I am sure). But if it costs nothing, why not?

The Chinese UnionPay credit card also offers such waiver. But I doubt if it is widely accepted overseas. (But then with Chinese tourists being so rich and ready to spend their money, perhaps UnionPay is very popular overseas?)

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