General Discussion and Useful Links > Ask An Experienced Member
Sending money to China
Pineau:
About prepaid VISA and other cards. They will work at most wesites and large chain stores and some banks will let you draw cash from the card. But forget about using them at local businesses and department stores. If ii's not a Credit card from a Chinese bank the will not even try to processess the transaction. Many times I have had the card just handed back to me without any explaination. That is why I have the ICBC and ABC accounts. AND the ABC account is tied to my wellsfargo account in the USA. And auburnkp
is correct. you can't sling a dead cat without hitting an ABC branch bank.
Mikael_Shim:
I have an Forex Exchange Visa Prepaid Debit Card, and Mastercard Credit Card. The prepaid one works everywhere in Beijing atleast (even small department stores). If they accept international creditcards, the prepaid will work. It also worked everywhere in Dalian and Hong Kong. And ofcourse, all ATM´s. It may be a different story in smaller towns i dont know. The Chinese cards are the safest bet though. I got mine with internet banking on BOC very easily and these cards are never a problem here. They wont work on websites outside of China though.
Pineau:
Mikael,
Yes Bejing is more accepting of foreign credit cards but I still had occasional trouble there. My wells fargo ATM card seems to work at all ATMs for cash withdrawals. But so far In Guangzhou I have had zero luck in purchases or restruants with my foreign credit card. In Shenzhen they sometimes take my USA credit card but copy my passport at the same time. I guess it is a matter of where you are and what you are purchasing. But they accept my Chinese credit card everywhere.
Pineau:
Today put me in a bad mood and I just want to gripe about the banking system.
So this is what I sent to Wells Fargo.
Dear xxxxx
Just thought I would write and clue you in to the Agricultural Bank of China.
Today is Thursday the 26th of May and finally I have access to the money you transferred for me some months ago. The money came here in US dollars which they would not move into my account or convert for me without me appearing in person with my passport and spend about 30 minutes making a record of the transaction. It has been terrible getting into the bank here. It is much different here than in the US. If you want to be successful in speaking with a representative of the bank you need to get up at the crack of dawn and get into the queue outside the bank and still this is not a guarantee that you will be seen. It all depends on the type of business the people ahead of you are conducting. (Then man in front of me took 30 minutes). This is typical of Chinese banks. Customer service is practically not existent. They focus on self service and stock market transactions. All other business is very low in their list of priorities. This is the scene in every ABC bank I have tried so far and I have been trying for weeks at different locations in Guangzhou.
I arrived at the bank at 8:30 and there was already a long queue waiting outside. When the doors opened there were 36 people ahead of me and people were pushing and shoving to get their appointment number from the machine. The door opened at 9:00 am and the crowd rushed in. There were 3 teller windows but only one was in operation. Finally I got my turn at 11:15 I finished my business at 11:45. While I was there I asked the obvious question and the response was. No I could not do this sort of banking transaction online. I must appear in person with my passport.
If a bank behaved in this manner in the USA it's customers would soon abandon it and it would shut down in a short time however the banks here have agreements and collusions with many large businesses and government agencies which makes them somewhat immune to customer pressure. Too bad the Wells Fargo had to negotiate an agreement with these guys. Maybe they can do a better job next time. I welcome you to forward this memo up to you superiors at Wells Fargo and I hope that it ultimately finds its way to the email boxes of the ones responsible for negotiating the agreements with foreign banks.
So if I must endure this sort of agony each time I want to move money from my Wells Fargo account, I think I will opt out.
Is there any way that you can send the funds in Chinese currency (RMB) directly into my account so the funds are not held in purgatory until I come in to the bank?
BTW I only set up this transfer agreement if I want to purchase something expensive like a car. Other day to day expenses I just use my ATM card. Luckily I only transferred 100 dollars to test the logistics.
shaun:
Wells Fargo answer,
We are sorry that you are having difficulties in receiving money in China. We understand how you feel. However we do not have any influence over or understanding of Chinese banking policy. I would like to suggest that you use extreme caution while banking with ABC. As you well know they are purchasing Wells Fargo and will be implementing their policies here in America. After looking at your account I see that there has been a freeze put on it. It appears that you have angered someone at ABC and they have frozen your ass...ets. In the future we might suggest that you dispense with knocking down old Chinese women to get to the ticket window first. We have been assured that the lock on your ass...ets will be lifted. If this kind of behavior continues the next step will be applied which will be to lock your ass...ets up.
Secondly. Why would you want to purchase and drive a car in China. You are one crazy American. Even Willy stays off the streets and rides his electric scooter. I must tell you that even Chinese people are afraid to drive in China. Only the people who have need to drive do. The others drive busses or taxi's.
Regards,
Wells Fargo. ;D
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