Uhm, that’s why you DON’T write down passwords and even so, my dongle has a pin code, so no-one but me can use it.
And no, I don’t have a visa card from my current bank, as they don’t offer them… Besides, I can hardly use a visa card to pay one off bills that I get in the post.
That said, this is Taiwan, so I can take them down to 7-11… anyhow, the system here is really backwards imho.
This is kind of OT in this thread, but there are different ways to deal with the “security vs. convenience” balance, and it is certainly not news if i suggest that what is more convenient for one person need not be so for someone else. All you really need to do is find a bank whose way of doing that comes closest to your way of thinking. 
[quote=“cfimages”]Little update. Decided to try my cards in an ATM in Nepal last week.
Taishin - worked fine, gave me some cash.
First Bank - didn’t work at all despite it having a 4 digit pin and supposedly being ok for international use.[/quote]
Thanks for the added info!
Well, don’t we take it for granted (sort of) that VISA credit cards work? The issue that has been less than clear in some cases was/is in which situations VISA debit cards work. 
[quote=“roback33”]I got a Visa Debit from Taishin bank and:
works with 4 digits code in France if you pick up money from an ATM
wasn’t accepted by a taxi driver in France[/quote]
Since it looks like a regular credit card, the question would be whether the driver generally refuses credit cards or just foreign credit cards.
[quote]worked in every hotel/shop in France
wasn’t able to pick up money in Germany
was able to pay everything in Germany[/quote]
That’s interesting: were you able to get money from an ATM with any other card?
[quote]You will need to enable the function for abroad (4 digits call) before use it.
Got the card within of 30 minutes[/quote]
OK on the reminder.
[quote=“madracer”]Chinatrust update: finally got my verified by visa enabled, but need to test it out by buying something online that requires the security code. Will report back once I have tried it out.
Applied for credit cards as well, should arrive next week. Procedure was easy!
Anyone interested in trying to activate their verified by visa, i can post the procedure that worked for me. ( no gaurantee it will work for you, but worth a shot)[/quote]
So finally got to test my Chinatrust Debit Card on a Verified by Visa payment site.
Works perfectly, as per any other debit/credit card with the verified by visa authorisation.
You can attempt to activate it online, although i went to the bank and had them do it for me after many tries and persistence.
Link for online activation: http://www.visa-asia.com/ap/tw/cardholders/security/vbv_activate.shtml#中國信託商業銀行
Scroll down the list to find the sub link for China Trust Bank.
(Website in chinese, but copy/paste into google translate and you should be ok)
The problem for me when trying to activate online was the ID number used by the bank was not the ID number on my ARC - No idea why.
Chinatrust made up their own ID number for me, in the following format,
YYYYMMDDXX
YYYY: Your birth year - eg 1975
MM: Your birth month - eg 05
DD: Your birth date - eg 19
XX: Your initials - eg, JS (for John Smith)
Therefore as per example above, your id will be, 19750519JS
Also, your residential address is another key identifier, so ensure that is input correctly.
[quote=“madracer”]So finally got to test my Chinatrust Debit Card on a Verified by Visa payment site.
Works perfectly, as per any other debit/credit card with the verified by visa authorisation.[/quote]
Thanks for the update! 
My Post Office debit card (with a 6 digit PIN) worked at ATMs in China. It only worked in the ATMs for some banks, but I think that was because some banks just don’t accept foreign cards.
So far it’s worked in every country I’ve tried it, even without a 4 digit PIN.
Opened my bank account at Taipei Fubon Bank.
Needed ARC and Passport. My ARC is NOT valid for a year, ONLY 8 months. Still, no problems.
I received a bank book and debit card with the VISA logo on it but no name.
Still haven’t used the card. Will update when I do.
[quote=“zyzzx”]My Post Office debit card (with a 6 digit PIN) worked at ATMs in China. It only worked in the ATMs for some banks, but I think that was because some banks just don’t accept foreign cards.
So far it’s worked in every country I’ve tried it, even without a 4 digit PIN.[/quote]
[quote=“Lili”]Opened my bank account at Taipei Fubon Bank.
Needed ARC and Passport. My ARC is NOT valid for a year, ONLY 8 months. Still, no problems.
I received a bank book and debit card with the VISA logo on it but no name.
Still haven’t used the card. Will update when I do.[/quote]
Woohoo! I have managed to order stuff from amazon.co.uk with my VISA Electron (from MEGA bank). Works just like a credit card, enter your card number and it shows up as VISA. I think it is a change at Amazon’s end, not anything to do with my bank. Apparently, ebuyer.co.uk now also accept VISA Electron, too.
That is good news of sorts…
Thanks for the update (added the info to the post at the head of this thread: A guide to Taiwanese VISA Debit Cards)
I just opened an account with Yushan bank … go figure, they don’t have debit or electron cards … back to the drawing board!
That is good news of sorts…
Thanks for the update (added the info to the post at the head of this thread: A guide to Taiwanese VISA Debit Cards)[/quote]
slightly less: ebuyer rejected payment - will update if this changes
Went to Taixin and Mega Bank, they both propose Visa with the mention “Electronic use only” same as my BOT card. It seems you can’t pay online with those cards.
I spoke with Paypal (about an unrelated issue) and I asked them what the deal is about TW debit cards. They said they will accept cards that have Electronic Use Only on them and they explained to me what the deal is. Some clearing houses require Name and Zip Code data to verify usage of the card. When a TW card attempts to pay for something, there is no Name or Zip on file anywhere for them to verify, so it declines payment. Paypal said they only check the number, exp date, and code on the back. I recommend trying to use Paypal as a checkout method and see if it will take the TW card.
I’m gonna try to add Skype credit using my TW card and see what happens.
EDIT: Ok, Paypal wouldn’t let me add the card because the country of issue was locked on US and I couldn’t change it. But…I did manage to get to pay for Skype through their system after it redirected me to a Verified by Visa page from Chinatrust page (at family.chinatrust.com.tw/acs/payerAuth) and required entry of shenfenzheng number, english name, and mobile phone number (presumably for a text with a verification code?). I clicked “下次註冊” (Register next time) and it went through.
[quote=“mike029”]I spoke with Paypal (about an unrelated issue) and I asked them what the deal is about TW debit cards. They said they will accept cards that have Electronic Use Only on them and they explained to me what the deal is. Some clearing houses require Name and Zip Code data to verify usage of the card. When a TW card attempts to pay for something, there is no Name or Zip on file anywhere for them to verify, so it declines payment. Paypal said they only check the number, exp date, and code on the back. I recommend trying to use Paypal as a checkout method and see if it will take the TW card.
[/quote]
PayPal has worked as a payment method if I pretend that I have not got an account and use the ‘pay with card’ option. I was able to pay a subscription that way. But the same method got me a rejection notice when I tried it on ebuyer. I still can’t add funds to my PayPal account.
[quote=“trubadour”][quote=“mike029”]I spoke with Paypal (about an unrelated issue) and I asked them what the deal is about TW debit cards. They said they will accept cards that have Electronic Use Only on them and they explained to me what the deal is. Some clearing houses require Name and Zip Code data to verify usage of the card. When a TW card attempts to pay for something, there is no Name or Zip on file anywhere for them to verify, so it declines payment. Paypal said they only check the number, exp date, and code on the back. I recommend trying to use Paypal as a checkout method and see if it will take the TW card.
[/quote]
PayPal has worked as a payment method if I pretend that I have not got an account and use the ‘pay with card’ option. I was able to pay a subscription that way. But the same method got me a rejection notice when I tried it on ebuyer. I still can’t add funds to my PayPal account.
[/quote]
I have no problem moving funds between Paypal and my Taishin account. It’s instant if the money is going from the bank to Paypal and takes a few days to process if going from Paypal to the bank, but it always works fine.
Didn’t see it on the first post, but the Taiwanese Post Office Bank debit card doesn’t work everywhere. I remember specifically Costco not accepting it.
Costco (worldwide) only accepts American Express. It’s a deal they have for reduced rates on transactions. In TW they will also accept the Costco branded Chinatrust credit card they hawk at you as you enter and leave, as well.
But yes, the Post Office card sucks and I don’t know why anyone would choose to use it unless you work for the govt and get better interest rates.
In other news, I went to Citibank today to ask about their merchant services and they recommended that as an American I don’t use their bank because they are forced to report my income to the IRS (even though it’s an LLC, my name is on there as the manager or whatever). At least the girl was honest. 
quote:
n other news, I went to Citibank today to ask about their merchant services and they recommended that as an American I don’t use their bank because they are forced to report my income to the IRS (even though it’s an LLC, my name is on there as the manager or whatever). At least the girl was honest.
mike029
unquote
A lot of Asian Americans have bank accounts with their chinese names in Taiwan and HK, etc. They avoid the scrutiny of the IRS (so far) but non Asian Americans be careful hiding anything from Uncle Sam. It may all come to bite you in the ass.
Uncle Sam will let you out for murder in a few years but cheating him of his dollars and you gonna be in the slammer till you fess up and pay triple what you owe.
So you best play it up front with the Uncle.
If it’s an LLC it shouldn’t matter because the money doesn’t belong to anyone. It belongs to the LLC. However, Citibank’s policy is to apparently report that LLC account’s manager’s name to the IRS.