Acquiring a credit/Visa vard in Chengdu…

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  • #8146
    Avatar photoBrendan
    Moderator

    I recently made a credit card application with CCB in Chengdu, only to be subsequently declined, and told that foreigners were not granted credit cards without having been resident for a period of 5 years, and with security deposited.

    Apart from the obvious question as to why my application was taken in the first place (!!), does anyone have any experience of credit card application in Chengdu?

    Have you obtained a Visa/MasterCard/other, and if so, under what conditions if any?

    With which bank?

    Have any of you managed to secure a Visa debit card in Chengdu?

    Also;

    Has anyone exchanged foreign currency in Chengdu, and if so, where is preferable?

    Has anyone transferred relatively large sums of money out of Chengdu to foreign held accounts, and if so, are there any limitations on transactions in place?

    Wise cracks as to why I might want this information are welcome!

    #12613
    Avatar photoSascha
    Participant

    all very interesting questions:

    as for credit cards, you dont want a chinese one anyway. the interest rates are unbelievable, charged by the day and you MUST pay off your balance by the end of the month. If you are over, the interest is calculated off of the total amount of credit o.O …. get one from a US bank and have them send it to you.

    transferring money out of here is a big pain in the ass and not really the best way unless its a very large sum. What I do is call my local money changer dude (Charles might direct you to a certain Englishman we both know who has that number, I lost the number unfortunately) and then take that cash to Western Union (no hassles, fees) or to Hong Kong (slight hassle, less fees).

    Transferring large amounts of money out of China will require a paper trail as to where that cash came from, plus fees that I can’t foresee. And don’t want to. If you (or someone you know) has a registered company, then the process is smoother, but still requires a paper trail.

    #12623
    Avatar photoRay
    Participant

    I got a visa debit card from china merchant’s bank, but it seemed almost impossible to get a credit card. The service and paperwork was much easier than other banks, so maybe give those guys a try. They even froze it when i used it in Colombia, for fear that someone had stolen it, skipped half way across the globe, and was gonna drain my meager finances. That’s customer service!

    Actually, alot of simple banking shit that in Chengdu is a headache is an absolute breeze in Hong Kong. Damn, HK seems to be the answer to every mainland problem these days (eg. buy clothes, get protein, books, shoes). Gotta love HK…

    #12626
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    A Visa debit card would work fantastically for me. Kuma, was anything special required to get the card at Merchant’s Bank? I already have a Merchant’s account so it’d be great if I could upgrade to that.

    Currently I have the standard Unionpay debit card which surprisingly works in other Asian countries, but Visa is what I’m really after for making overseas purchases. My US bank account is hurting badly because money seems to just come out and never go in!

    #12629
    Avatar photoJerryS
    Participant

    So putting money into a bank account home seems to be very implausible or allot of red tape?

    I been looking into this as well, some say do the Western Union route (which can be a hassle as described above) and going to the bank can be more trouble than its worth (if you dont have a bank account), but how about mailing the money home?

    Overall there are limited ways to send money back to ones bank account. This is a problem i’m looking deeply into as well.

    Has anyone have an account with Bank of China? Are they prevalent in Chengdu? Reason i’m asking is that they have a international sponsorship with my bank, Wells Fargo, which can make transaction (to and from with China) easier, wire transfer only. Damn those student loans and credit card debts!

    #12630
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    I’ve heard of a bunch of schemes to get money overseas but as far as I can tell, there is no way that’s easy and won’t cost you a lot. I’ve heard people suggest taking 10,000rmb in cash at a time across the border from Shenzhen to HK. I would feel like a drug smuggler doing that.

    I used to know a guy in Chengdu who exchanged RMB for dollars at a very reasonable exchange rate but the whole thing was pretty sketchy. He’d come to your house with a stack of cash and would inspect your bills before offering you crisp U.S. bills for one rate and tattered bills for another. I exchanged like 10,000rmb with him years ago but lost his number years ago and don’t know where he is now. I suspect there are others like him still in that business but personally I’d feel more comfortable (and would be willing to pay more) to have a bank handle this part for me.

    @JerryS Bank of China is everywhere in Chengdu. I haven’t heard of any association with Wells Fargo but if that is true that would be incredible. Somehow I’m skeptical that it would be that easy though. That might be because I’ve been conditioned to think that everything involving China currency and banks is designed to be an enormous pain.

    #12635
    Avatar photoRay
    Participant

    Oh yeah, i forgot to mention that my Chinese visa card is almost worthless o/s, apart from citibank ATMs. it never worked in peru or ecuador and i invariably have no luck when trying to purchase online. So not sure if its really so useful….

    #12643
    Avatar photoJerryS
    Participant

    https://www.wellsfargo.com/per/intl_remittance/asia

    Heres the link!

    Ill talk to my local bank rep within the next month to try to set this up. Check it out and see if theres something wrong with it.

    #12644
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    Does that work with transfers from China to the US? It seems to imply that it’s for sending money to China but I could be missing something. Getting money to China is easy but getting it out, not so much.

    #12646
    Avatar photoJerryS
    Participant

    Ill ask my rep within the month. Hopefully it works the other way, yea thats the issue i got too, goes from US to china.

    Bank of China has a branch in NYC, Bocusa. But the bad thing is that its a separate entity vs bank of china in china. Meaning cant have the account linked or able to exchange rmb to usd.

    #12647
    Avatar photoJerryS
    Participant

    Also same note, what are the methods of converting USD to RMB? My bank offers 0.1674, but the current rate is around .15 or something.

    Which means that for every 100 dollars i convert, they take 7.5! Too much really. Adds up quick! Ill try to convert 2k if not 1k.

    Is it possible to use my debit bank card in china as well?

    #12648
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    It makes sense that the Bank of China in NYC isn’t connected to those in China – since those in China aren’t even connected to each other. I traveled around Eastern China for 3 months last year and every time I got paid I couldn’t deposit the money into my Chengdu BOC account from other cities since they said that different regions are separate entities. Kind of defeats the point of calling it Bank of China if you ask me.

    Your US debit card should work here no problem. I haven’t changed money in a long time and have no idea what the current exchange rate is in banks but I think the official rate is about $1 = 6.5 yuan.

    #12653
    Avatar photoBen
    Moderator

    You can check the current exchange rate the BoC is using here.

    #12654
    Avatar photoRick in China
    Participant

    Agreed with the above re: credit cards, don’t get one locally.

    Re: money transfers out of country, I routinely send sums (previously limited to 5k USD per transfer) back to Canada via western union, never had any sort of hassles or challenge with it at all.. And the last transfer, I had my maid send it on my behalf, 7500 USD in one transfer without anything required. In fact, not only was it without hassles, but she wrote half the information either incompletely or incorrectly and it still piped thru, just give the correct MTCN for the other side to pick up. For larger sums, just send several times, I’ve never had to prove anything or provide any sort of paperwork *at all*.

    #12660
    Avatar photoBrendan
    Moderator

    Interesting responses, thanks all. Keep updating this thread with any info.

    #12670
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    @Rick, what’s the fee for sending 5k USD overseas?

    #12688
    Avatar photoRick in China
    Participant

    @Charlie: I think I threw out my last record, but if I remember right it was either $35usd or $45usd for sending $7500usd. I think it’s about the same for $5k. The fee is paid in USD, so if you want to send $5k, get like $5050 or something ready on your trip to send.

    Certainly more than wire transactions, but when I looked at maintaining a USD bank account here and/or transferring funds, the amount of paperwork required for taxation proof and other shit was just like….. f’ it, I’ll just use WU.

    WU has seriously given me absolutely no grief. The convenience is worth it in my opinion. I think there are a ton more WU locations than when I started first sending – used to be able to send from only one place at Bank of Agriculture next to Holiday Inn, I think most other BoA’s also provide the service now.

    #12689
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    @Rick: that sounds totally reasonable. Thanks for the info!

    #12749
    Avatar phototonybenz67
    Member

    Have you considered HSBC? They have have a presence on the east coast in the U.S. and they mostly a world bank. I found it easy to obtain a credit card from them, and I have several accounts with them. U.S. based and overseas accounts. As far as money transfers. As mentioned above, Western Union is the best. Not a lot of red tape and it is quick. I do know HSBC has a presence in China, but not sure if they are in Chengdu.

    #12755
    Avatar photoBertalan Farkas
    Participant

    I have had a Bank of China Mastercard (Guo Ji Ka) for 2 years now and have had no problems. I went to the provincial head office in Luo Ma Shi, paid a deposit of 5,000 RMB (which is put into a low interest account) as a security deposit. Your credit limit is basically this in the currency of your choice at the start. You can apply to increase this over time though. There is the usual form filling but the tricky part was that I needed to show that I had at least 1 year left on my work visa before they would complete the application. The card is issued in Shanghai and posted to a branch in Chengdu where you need to collect it at and activate it on the phone.

    I have used this card in Ukraine, HK, Ireland, Vietnam with no problems. Be aware this card cannot be used in the mainland. They have an English language speaker on the phone number provided if you need it. The balance of the card needs to be paid in the currency which the card is issued in NOT RMB.

    I hope this helps!

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