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China Banks
shaun:
I was wondering if someone else on this site is having the same problem as me. You see I have a Chinese wife.... No No wrong issue.
Really we are having a problem with the Bank of China. My wife has tried to access some money that I have in the bank for her in our American account with a debit card I gave to her. We do this monthly and for the past few years haven't had one problem.
The last 2 days we are. She can't get any money so yesterday I asked her to try a different BOC location. I've also asked her to try China Construction bank even though I don't trust them.
For the last 2 days the BOC says they don't have any money right now to come back in a couple of days.
Has anyone experienced this lately?
Willy The Londoner:
Shaun, is she going to the teller or trying to take cash from an ATM?
When I did my usual monthly transfer from my London Bank to my BOC account this month I was told that they had to retain 80 GB Pounds (about 130 US Dollars) as I had passed the annual limit per person for exchanging foreign currency to RMB. My wife's account has also reached the limit. That is the only problem I have come across.
I never use the atm's anymore as over the years I have experienced several problems including being told that the machine had no money available, closed down during a transaction but still charged my account the amount I had requested and once had my card gobbled up.
Willy
shaun:
Willy, she is using my card at an ATM. It has never been an issue before unless they have a new minimum to withdraw. My wife tells me that they are telling her that they do not have any money right now. She has tried 3 bank ATM's now with the same results.
Willy The Londoner:
--- Quote from: shaun on September 19, 2014, 10:28:56 am ---Willy, she is using my card at an ATM. It has never been an issue before unless they have a new minimum to withdraw. My wife tells me that they are telling her that they do not have any money right now. She has tried 3 bank ATM's now with the same results.
--- End quote ---
Were all these attempts on the same day? If this is the case then have you contacted your bank to make sure that there is no problem.
Also at certain times the machines do run short of money especially at busy times and last weeks Mid Autumn Festival is the second most important after Chinese New Year and the machines are used more to take out money. It could be that if a machine is empty then there could be a run on the nearer ones and they also run out. There is a limited amount of money that are put into these ATM's when they are refilled and I often found them empty around those busy periods.
I gave up trusting the ATM's when one machine gobbled up my card when in another part of the City. I was not able to retrieve it from the bank without travelling to that area again four days later with my passport, the name on which had to match that on the card.
I now make a monthly online international bank transfer from my bank in London to either my or my wife's Bank of China account. This costs 10 GB Pounds (approx 16.5 US Dollars) but the amount I transfer each month makes it more cost effective that paying the charges for withdrawing the same amount from ATM's which need many visits with the resulting total charges being higher. There is a restriction in that each account cannot exchange more than 50,000 US Dollars a year into RMB.
Willy
shaun:
Willy I am guessing it was the holiday issue like you said. She got the money a couple of days later. She doesn't know why but seems to think it is the holiday too.
Thanks for the help. It is much appreciated.
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