I just helped my mom open an account at a Taishin branch in Taichung. So it’s confirmed that Taishin will still allow accounts opened with just a passport, ID number and 2nd photo ID. They would not allow the account opened without a 2nd photo ID - a foreign driver’s license etc. is acceptable as long as it is government issued and has a photo.
yea the post office and bank i tried did not accept my california driver’s license. oh well, i guess i’ll try one of the western union branches.
But just to clarify again, i do NOT need to have an account open with the bank that has western union? All my mom has to do is fill out a form at a local western union in the states, and i just walk into any bank here in taipei that has western union services and i’m able to get money? I know i must be missing a step somewhere, sounds too good to be true!
[quote=“eligh”]yea the post office and bank i tried did not accept my california driver’s license. oh well, i guess I’ll try one of the western union branches.
But just to clarify again, I do NOT need to have an account open with the bank that has western union? All my mom has to do is fill out a form at a local western union in the states, and i just walk into any bank here in taipei that has western union services and I’m able to get money? I know I must be missing a step somewhere, sounds too good to be true![/quote]
To clarify you need 3 things: passport, ID number and 2nd photo ID. You also can’t just go to any bank, foreign banks are completely out - Taishin is definitely one bank where you can set up an account with no ARC. I know because I’ve done it 3 times now including today.
Western Union is a cash transfer service. You don’t need anything except photo ID to collect money. It’s very expensive for large amounts, that’s the catch. Unless you send the money online from the US with a credit card I think the fee is more than 10% to send and receive from a physical agent.
[quote=“llary”]
Western Union is a cash transfer service. You don’t need anything except photo ID to collect money. It’s very expensive for large amounts, that’s the catch. Unless you send the money online from the US with a credit card I think the fee is more than 10% to send and receive from a physical agent.[/quote]
Western Union should be only the last resort. The fee’s are impressively expensive and the service (at least what I experienced in TaiShin bank (who is a Western Union member bank)) sucks extremely. It took them like 40 minutes until I could pick up the cash. I refused the “receipt” with the words "naaahhh, I only want the money, bye bye 
". You should have seen their faces 
Dude, nobody minds helping you out because you’re clearly a bit lost and useless. BUT…
You did some research before you came here - ie you trusted people who didn’t know shit - and now you’re doing some more without doing any checking. To avoid further disappointment, the possibilty of getting screwed, and the plain awfulness of relying on strangers all the time, could I introduce you to my friend: Google
They can introduce you to the official Western Union site, which can answer all sorts of questions quite quickly. For instance, they have a handy tool that allows you to find all the agents close to you.
They cunningly don’t list their fees, because as someon pointed out they are very expensive. But before you wait for your ATM card to arrive in the mail, why not contact your bank and obtain a clear confirmation (and make sure you get the name of the person you talk to) that there is no restriction imposed by your bank on overseas use? They’ll try and avoid giving you a straight answer, because they have no control over foreign banks and have an all-consuming desire to cover their own backs, but on the other hand they could save you a lot of heartache by telling you that they don’t enable international transactions.
Finally, as llary has told you twice, you don’t need an ARC to open a bank account. You need to go to the immigration service and ask for an ID number. They will give this to you even though you’re a student. Then you can go to the bank (avoid Chinatrust) and open an account. Then someone back home can remit money to your account.
Some banks, eg Taipei Fubon, offer multi-currency accounts at no charge. So you can presumably receive US dollars and only pay conversion fees on the money you withdraw. In addition, you can presumably deposit the cash you have and they will hold the money until it has been verified as not counterfeit.
You sound pretty stressed, and dealing with banking in foreign countries can be a nightmare (as those of us who have tried being immigrants to the USA know), but it’s all solvable if you relax take it a step at a time.
yea i’m actually not that stressed about it. Although i recognize some sense of urgency, I usually do not worry over things both big and small, they always seem to work out in the end anyways. So thats why i decided just to pop onto these forums and propose some questions. True, i could have looked up western union on google once it was posted here but i naturally assumed it would be really expensive and thought that just getting my atm card mailed from the states would be the best option. So the information i was seeking on western union was secondary at best and i was not overtly concerned with it.
Also, perhaps i wasnt clear in a previous post, but i said that i already got my ID number paper from that agency that issues the ARC, it was one of the first things i did when i arrived in taiwan, but banks i’ve tried do not take it. They look at it, say sorry, shake their heads, and give it back to me. Same with my US identification. The post office also said no but some random stranger chose to get involved and made them give me an account somehow. There is obviously some work around but I’ve been to around 6 or 7 banks and no one speaks english so i dont know how to get my message across with my limited broken chinese. But as i said, i think i’m good for now and thanks to everyone who helped me with some information. Much appreciated! 
Welcome to the nightmare that is banking in Taiwan. You’re doing the right thing, and the idiots behind the counter don’t know what the rules really are. And they don’t care.
If you’ve got your ID number then it’s just a simple matter of going to the bank and banging your head against the counter until your brains splatter out all over the staff and embarass them enough to make them do their jobs properly. It might take five minutes (next time) or it might take weeks.
The question is, what’s the value of the time and effort you have to put in to get what you want? If you can’t get a bank account then you’re relying on Western Union, which is going to be expensive. (I’d be interested to hear what they charge.) Is saving that amount of money worth the hassle? Also, you may want to consider that this sort of crap is par for the course in this part of the world. Learning to deal with it is as important - if not more so - than learning the language. There’s no point learning Chinese if you can’t learn to do things like Chinese people do them. Why not look at this as an educational challenge while you’re waiting for your ATM card?
You’re at NTNU? You could try hooking up with a student who wants a language exchange. There are plenty of ads on notice-boards in the area. At least that way you will get an intepreter, although most likely he/she will be a complete waste of space at getting things done.
Alternatively, at the end of Shida E Rd by Taipower MRT there is a Fubon Bank. (You have to cross Roosevelt Rd.) Last time I was there the security guard spoke very good English. Try going in, being polite, explaining that the immigration police told you about the ID thing, and insisting that they provide copies of the regulations (issued by the government, not the bank) stating what you need to provide. Tell them you have friends who have opened accounts with just the ID number. Be absolutely certain that you’re sure of this, because they don’t know what the rules really say. Make them look. Once people actually start looking at things closely they often find ways and means to get things done. Just stick to your guns, and “it’s all in Chinese” is not an excuse. You will take them to your friends who will translate them, but it would be easier and quicker if the person in the bank just solved the problem.
Let us know how it turns out.
Dude. TAISHIN.
Patience, courtesy and perseverence will get you far in Taiwan’s banks. If you don’t get the right answer in one, persevere politely until they give you what you want or throw you out, in which case try another. They even vary in responses by branch, within the same bank name.
Or just tell them “you have a pretty smile” while waiting.
Problem is they must do things by the book (if there is such a thing) cause their faults (if it was at the banks expense) are taken from their salary. Anyways. me I have 0 issues now since Mega Bank has its Mega English Netbanking with all features (including wire transfers).
Just ran into the problem with the CB serial number notes today, tried to change some money at my branch and they refused to take the notes.
This is insanely frustrating and infuriating, as the bank claims that these bills are too easy to forge and as such, no bank in Taiwan accepts them. :fume:
I got paid cash by one of the companies I do business with and as such, I’m now screwed as I can’t change the money.
Thanks a lot stupid Taiwanese banking system :fume: :fume: :fume:
nah you can find a bank to transfer them. i forgot which one i found that would do it. try citibank
Huh? What are you talking about?
I got paid US$ by a US company, they came here and paid me cash.
Where am I going to transfer it?
I have my bank accounts here and I need the money to be exchanged to NT$ here…
yea my bad, meant exchange. try citibank
at least that is where i remember exchanging my US notes starting with the CB number. it was awhile ago, might have been another. just keep trying different banks and you’ll eventually find one that exchanges them, albeit with a higher fee
Hey guys,
I’m moving to Taipei really soon to study Chinese for 6 months. My plan is I won’t be working over there, I’m just going to be studying. I’ve already raised enough funds to live quite comfortably for 6 months by myself, with some money from mum and dad, money i’ve earned my self over a year, and also a small scholarship. So all I need to do is get my money over to Taiwan. Sounds easy doesn’t it? Well it is easy… Unless I actually want to see most of my hard earned at the other side.
Here’s my problem. I’ve got quite a bit of cash I want to take over with me, and I’ve been searching around for a really good exchange rate to convert my Aussie dollars into TWD. I found a mob who were willing to sell TWD to me at the rate of 26.6TWD per AUD which is very good (current exchange rate is about 28.5), and then I contacted my local Travelex who were willing to price-match and marginally beat it.
The only problem is, all of my local banks plus travelex will not put minor currencies on their travel money cards for use overseas - only major currencies such as USD, JPY etc. Not Taiwanese dollars. I can load a travel money card with a currency such as USD, but then when I suck my money out of the ATM in Taiwan, I will be charged at a very uncompetitive exchange rate, plus a currency conversion fee of at least 5%. I will get a similar deal if I access my Australian bank accounts from Taiwan by use of my EFTPOS card. I think either way, if I withdrew about 10,000USD during my time in Taiwan using one of these methods, I could expect to only see about 9,000USD after fees and charges.
I noticed that one of my local Australian banks ANZ bank (Australia & New Zealand Banking Corp) has branches in Taiwan. But as has been mentioned on other personal banking threads on Forumosa that just because XYZ banking corporation has branches in Taipei, doesn’t mean they are all apart of the same family. Basically the staff at ANZ here in Australia have told me there’s absolutely no help they can give me with setting up a bank account over there. sigh.
So what do you folks suggest I do? The only surefire way to not get ripped off is to take all my money in TWD Cash over there with me and go straight to ANZ (or HSBC, etc), set up an account and deposit it all quick stat. But then it is really really dangerous to do this, and not to mention it looks shady and customs would probably pull me over at the airport and ask me what I’m doing with so much cash.
So what do you folks recommend ?
Any suggestions will be greatfully appreciated. Thankyou!
Andrew
Andrew
Its not that much cash - seriously.
$10K is the limit under which cash transactions do not need to be reported for global money laundering standards.
What about using something like Transunion to transfer the money as cash to yourself? From memory Transunion is based in one of the banks in Taiwan so you could simply draw it and pay it in immediately.
Alternatively there are a couple of wealthy folk on this board from your homeland, maybe one of them would do an exchange for you where you put the money in their Aussie account and then they give you TWD…might sound dodgy but you don’t have to do it all in one go…and you might be doing them a favour too.
Final suggestion is that you find a bank that does have a branch network in Taiwan eg Citibank, Standard Chartered or HSBC and organise it through them.
If it were me I’d bring the cash.
It’s actually more like 20,000 USD! Are you sure it’s safe to be walking around the airport and hopping into taxis with that much on me? I know it’s not that much but it is if someone pinches it off me. My mum is saying forget all the charges, its better to be safe than sorry, but I beg to differ!
[quote=“Edgar Allen”]
Alternatively there are a couple of wealthy folk on this board from your homeland, maybe one of them would do an exchange for you where you put the money in their Aussie account and then they give you TWD…might sound dodgy but you don’t have to do it all in one go…and you might be doing them a favour too.[/quote]
That sounds like a great idea.
[quote=“Edgar Allen”]Andrew
Its not that much cash - seriously.
$10K is the limit under which cash transactions do not need to be reported for global money laundering standards.
If it were me I’d bring the cash.[/quote]
Ditto.
…or…bring 10K and leave the rest in your Aussie bank account. Sure, you’ll get jacked on ATM withdraw fees when you need it but 10K will last a fairly long time in TW, easily a few months, provided you don’t go apeshit at Carnegie’s every Wednesday night, by which time you may have sorted out another way to do it. On a side note, it’s a piece of cake to open a bank account in TW and wire money back and forth. I do it once a month, NT400.
I’ve brought large amounts of cash through customs several times and know its uncomfortable - all those “what ifs” running through your head - even worse when its someone else’s cash!
$20K is probably too much if you did get caught its above the permissable without permission to bring it in.
Have a look into the Transunion solution it may be the easiest, you can do multiple transactions and collect over several days I think, or have your mum wire it as you need it.
Having trouble digging up the transunion website on google…! Could you give me the website address?