Alipay/支付宝 account - changing to a new passport

[spiff]

I recently spent 3 hours (without queuing) at ABC bank here in Kunming getting my salary payment. Why? Because since I'd opened my account, I had got a new (UK) passport. So I had to open a new bank account with a new card which is linked to my new passport number and (since ABC mis-spelled it last time) even a slightly different name. 

 

But now I can't use 支付宝 because it's linked to the old card. I can't add the new card because it says that card isn't linked to my passport number. When I try to upload photos of my new passport to the app for identity verification (to change my existing passport number), it just reports an error because the numbers don't match.

 

I can find no way to contact 支付宝 other than FAQs or an automated chatbot that doesn't understand what I'm talking about.  They do have a phone number somewhere but my Chinese listening is terrible on a phone.

 

Does anyone know how to tackle this, either directly or by contacting 支付宝 somehow? I doubt I can open an entirely new account, at least not without having to buy new SIM and change my phone number - as my current number is linked to my 支付宝 account - and I'd like to avoid that.

[889]

This is a serious problem with banks, not only on the Mainland. Their systems often seem to permanently link your account to your original passport number, and it cannot be changed when you get a new passport with a new number. You have to open a new account, with all the attendant problems the OP is experiencing.

 

To avoid this sort of difficulty in the future, consider keeping your old passport number on your account, but asking the bank to simply add a remark to your records noting that the old passport has been replaced by a new one, with a new number. Whether your particular bank will do this or not, you'll just have to try.

 

As to 支付宝, my experience suggests resolving this with them is almost hopeless. I think you'll need a new account, but then you'll be stuck trying to use a phone number that's already on another account.

 

Finally, you'll need your old passport to do all this, of course. But if you've gotten a new passport because you've lost your old passport, then pray that you've got a copy of your old passport somewhere and that they'll accept it. Otherwise, you may be locked out of your account.

 

(I was able to change my passport number with one Chinese bank, but lost some functionality with online banking, which for some reason couldn't adjust to a new number.)

[abcdefg]

This is a serious problem with banks, not only on the Mainland. Their systems often seem to permanently link your account to your original passport number, and it cannot be changed when you get a new passport with a new number. You have to open a new account, with all the attendant problems the OP is experiencing.

 

I was able to change the passport number on my BOC account here in Kunming last year after I got a new passport, but it definitely wasn't easy.

[Lu]

I, too, have at one point changed my Bank of China account to a new passport number. It wasn't difficult per se, but it did take a lot of time (even apart from the waiting in line). Bring something to read, or a big Anki queue. I'm afraid I can't help with the Alipay issue.

[skylee]

I do not understand why people must link their accounts (PayPal or Alipay) with their phone number. When I was asked to do so I simply refused it. One of the HK bankers I use has its website and apps designed like this and I just have to not use them.

But of course I don't live in China.

Why must one link all the accounts (passport, mobile, email, facebook, google, banks, PayPal, etc) together? I just don't see the reason.

[889]

It's the mindset of the people who design these things: we've got the clever technology to link all these things together, so let's use it!

 

And on the Mainland in particular, your mobile number is now practically your public ID number.

[vellocet]

Yeah, it's the Quest For Real ID In Everything.  The Chinese authorities are eliminating anonymity from their country.  The problem is that the authorities think that they are ever so clever, and don't bother to think of edge cases.  Thus you end up in a bureaucratic nightmare.  Your only hope is kind-hearted staff who realize the situation you're in and change things in the system by hand.  Be sure to thank them with a gift after they've helped you so much. 

[ChTTay]

I'm in the process of changing my passport. When I get it back shortly ...

Any tips for when I go to the bank?

I also have an Alipay account so I guess it would be smart to just close the Alipay account before I go to the bank. Then just start from scratch with the new account once I've sorted the bank stuff out.

[vellocet]

Make sure and bring your old passport, even though it's been punched or clipped or what have you. 

 

This also lets you buy train and airplane tickets during the 3 weeks processing time when your passport is getting its new visa.  Nobody has ever checked the expiration date. 

[abcdefg]

Any tips for when I go to the bank?

 

Don't be in a rush. Go when you have plenty of time.

[Lu]

Bring your old and new passports and any bank-related paperwork and things (better safe than sorry). Be persistent, sometimes you need to make it more mafan to deal with you than to just do all the 手续. (Don't yell at them though.) It's possible many bank personnel never had to do this before and don't know it's even possible. When I did this, it was at a Bank of China in Sanlitun, right between all the embassies, so they would have had more experience with this. Take plenty of time for both the wait and the process itself (hours). And bring something to read, every step of the process takes a lot of time and the person at the counter will be working on her computer a lot more than interacting with you, so you'll just be sitting there studying the office behind her.

 

Good luck!

[ChTTay]

So this is something I have to look forward to! I'm definitely NOT going to the BOC branch where I went to change my phone number. That took 75 minutes. Maybe the branch in Wudaokou might be a good one, surely there are enough foreigners around there that someone has been there and done it there.

Will try remember to report back... During the ordeal... Live updates!

[abcdefg]

You are right, ChTTay. Picking a suitable branch bank is smart. If they have done it before, the process will go faster for you. The clerks won't be "reinventing the wheel." Might not be quite as slow and painful.

 

Take a bag of sandwiches, a thermos of coffee, a light blanket or poncho, mosquito repellent, waterproof matches, and a signal mirror for flashing the low-flying rescue planes dispatched by the British Embassy to hunt for you after the first 72 hours.

[Lu]

Can you do this at a branch different from the branch you opened the account in though? Perhaps you can, has anyone here done that?

[ChTTay]

I heard that you could only change your phone number at the branch you opened your account at but actually, I just went into a branch more convenient and near my work. Wasn't a problem. I'm hoping this will be the same.

Hopefully it won't come to that ABCDEFG!

[spiff]

Some good tips regarding bringing books, survival supplies etc to the bank. They said I could only close my old account at the same branch I opened it...so I guess I'll just add that to the list of obsolete accounts that I seem to accrue as I live in China (every employer/institution needs me to open a new account with their specific bank).

 

As regards Alipay - how does one close one's account? And once that's done, can you open a new account with the same telephone number and/or email address?

[rayne]

I'm on a z-visa so I have a foreign certificate... when I renew my visa, I don't need to get a new foreign certificate, right?

 

I'm glad I found this thread. SHould I take all my money out before I get a new passport? so when I open a new bank account I can just put back the money myself?

 

For alipay, I thiiiink mine is tied to my email, not my phone number. Alipay was super confusing and I think I made maybe 3~4 alipay accounts!!! One is tied to my phone, one is tied to my email, and one is tied to taobao... kind of confusing. I'd like to delete them all and start from scratch, actually. How can I delete my alipay account?

[spiff]

Here are some instructions for speaking to a 支付宝 customer service rep in English:

 

• (Calling from inside China) call 95188
• [options in Chinese] - press 1
• [the recorded message tells you to say something to describe your problem] - say something, it doesn’t really matter what
• [options in chinese] - listen for the option that is 以上都不是 - none of these - when I listened it was number 4
• Then I was transferred to a Chinese operator. Tell her in Chinese you need to speak to someone in English. At that point she tried to ask me something else but, as always seems to be the case with these helplines in China, it was like talking to a scuba diver through an electrical storm. I just 听不懂’d until she said she’d contact me with an English speaker. Then I was on hold for a few minutes until their English-speaking rep got on the line. It was still difficult to understand due to the line quality, but the rep understood my problem and sent me a link to upload my old and new passport pages to. (My zhifubao was already linked to my email.)
• Of course, when I tried to upload the docs I got “系统繁忙，请稍后再试” (system busy, try again), or it rejected my reserve email address, so I had to upload them 7 or 8 times, but eventually it seems to have worked. They said it should take effect in a day or so, so here's hoping.