Man, first of all they make it damn near impossible to get a credit card, then after I finally get all the papers in order and half a dozen guarantors to sign their lives away, the bank calls me and wanted to do a phone interview and pretty much interrogated me on why I wanted a credit card with them.
The lady was nice on the phone but she kept questioning me on why I didn’t pick up my cell phone at all over the past week and how she had to get the secretary manning the operator phone line to relay the phone message to me because she was uncomfortable leaving a voicemail on my extension answering machine :S
I had to explain how I actually have 2 phone numbers and I gave her the prepaid line I used to loan out to visiting friends who needed a phone…then she asked me why I didn’t give her the primary phone number…blah blah blah…
They need the primnary cellphone so they can send important messages such as “Thank you for spending a gazillion nts at Spendrift Co. Ltd. We are grateful for your business. If you call us back at 888-888, you will pay only 0.3% interest for the next three months…”
I think it is better to get a secured card first, and once you build a credit, then push and pull even for non-guarantor needed ones. Or shop around. Seems to me they do not want your business anyway. What if you really need their help, if you need to extend the credit or lose the card? What kind of service can they give you with that attitude?
It’s all the result of credit card fraud. Banks have to be VERY careful or they rack up HUGE losses on this. Fraudsters can use stolen mobile phones when registering, for instance, whereas it’s hard to steal a landline, which can be more reliably linked to a physical address and therefore a person.
[quote]The lady was nice on the phone but she kept questioning me on why I didn’t pick up my cell phone at all over the past week and [color=#FF0000]how she had to get the secretary manning the operator phone line to relay the phone message to me [/color][color=#FF0000]because she was uncomfortable leaving a voicemail on my extension answering machine[/color] :S
[/quote]
This is a valid concern. As a matter of fact, I hardly know anyone who would actually leave/listen a voice message. By the way, don’t you have to pay extra to retrieve them?
I would be more peeved at the more than one guarantor or any other additional hassle.
I just figured that it’s probably safer to carry a credit card instead of a Visa debit card in case I lose my wallet…however this was a JCB diner’s card I applied. Apparently foreigners can’t get visa credit cards because they can be used overseas…and in the words of the bank clerk, “a diner’s card is just the same as a visa card. Why would you want those?”
You can’t really fault the banks seeing how there are no credit agencies in place in Taiwan so each bank has to screen its customers separately. Identity thefts are just so much more prevalent though, apparently, and that makes our lives so much more difficult and annoying.
[quote]The lady was nice on the phone but she kept questioning me on why I didn’t pick up my cell phone at all over the past week and [color=#FF0000]how she had to get the secretary manning the operator phone line to relay the phone message to me [/color][color=#FF0000]because she was uncomfortable leaving a voicemail on my extension answering machine[/color] :S
[/quote]
This is a valid concern. As a matter of fact, I hardly know anyone who would actually leave/listen a voice message. By the way, don’t you have to pay extra to retrieve them?
I would be more peeved at the more than one guarantor or any other additional hassle.[/quote]
Well, it wasn’t really half a dozen guarantors…more like 2.
I have noticed that people hate answering machines in Taiwan. This aversion is actually a strange concept for me, as I have always been heavily dependent to VM back home.
Fubon Bank was easy. You needed to prove you made at least 500K a year and then have a local sign on with you. If you cannot find a local to sign on you need to pony up the cash, up to your limit as a retainer.
They want your number because there is a lot of fraud and they need to check with you after a transaction. I travel frequently and almost without fail, the first time I use my card overseas they phone my cell immediately.
All in all it is a very easy and fair system. If I were you, I’d change banks.
This card offers a really low and easily waived annual fee though. It’s free for the first year and I think for subsequent years it’s $888 worth of purchase or something.
Plus the person I applied the card through (not the woman in the processing center who called) gets commission if it went through. And since a friend recommended her to me I figure I might as well get it through her, seeing how that friend happens to be one of my guarantors and all.
[quote=“catfish13”]I just figured that it’s probably safer to carry a credit card instead of a Visa debit card in case I lose my wallet…however this was a JCB diner’s card I applied. Apparently foreigners can’t get visa credit cards because they can be used overseas…and in the words of the bank clerk, “a diner’s card is just the same as a visa card. Why would you want those?”
You can’t really fault the banks seeing how there are no credit agencies in place in Taiwan so each bank has to screen its customers separately. Identity thefts are just so much more prevalent though, apparently, and that makes our lives so much more difficult and annoying.[/quote]
Oh, I see. JBC is the least used here, and actually, it is not that good to have as it cannot be used in many stores which only have deals with Visa and Mastercard, meaning American Express and JBC will have problems.
There is one central credit agency the banks consult. It is just that you have no creddit history at all here in Taiwan. And the credit agency cannot help in case of identity theft, they only know your rating vs card number.
Blah, how deceiving…and I can’t believe I fell for the JBC card offer. Oh wells, what about at major department stores (Shinkong, Sogo, Taipei 101, etc) , chain bookstores (PageOne, Eslite) and supermarkets (City Super)? Would they take JBC? It’s not like I shop or would use a credit card anywhere else…
Yep, but I was inquiring about the principal, like the Shinkong card, which is under Taishin, but can be Visa or Mastercard. Or Taipei 101, which is under Chinatrust.
Huanan is also very old fashioned bank. Oh, well, what’s done is done. And it is for starters. Once you get one, the rest flow in…
Not sure if this is possible for the OP, but I use credit cards from the states (Capital One and Schwab), both of which have no international fees, and I get 1% cash back from each which I don’t believe is offered in Taiwan? Everything is so easy to pay online these days I’m not sure why one would need to apply for a card here, unless of course you’re a permanent resident here now.
I think most foreigners here could get credit cards from their native countries. The issue though becomes how to transfer funds regularly to your native country to make the payments.
I use a Canadian credit card here quite frequently, which works for me since I get paid directly into my Canadian bank account. If I was earning money locally however, it wouldn’t be practically for me to have to transfer money each month just to pay the credit card.
My partner just gave me his credit card and I use that. Even has his name on it, but i signed the back. Only had one issue so far (have been using it for 7 months) and that was at sogo… i think.
dont worry all those department stores take JCB, as JCB is a japanese credit card and most of these places are japanese owned. Plus if you travel to Japan you won’t have to pay any overseas fees most of the time…haha.
Whoever mentioned secured cards is in the wrong forum, we aren’t in America.
Think the OP is confused, is it a Diners Club or JCB? Diners is a high end charge card with high annual fee and very hard to get approved for. JCB is a Japanese credit card network. Both of them have terrible acceptance both here and abroad.
If foreigners can’t apply for Visa cards then maybe someone can explain why I have two of them in my wallet along with a TW issued Amex - with no guarantors.
Oh and Taiwan does have cashback cards but air miles are way more valuable.
[quote=“llary”]Whoever mentioned secured cards is in the wrong forum, we aren’t in America.
Think the OP is confused, is it a Diners Club or JCB? Diners is a high end charge card with high annual fee and very hard to get approved for. JCB is a Japanese credit card network. Both of them have terrible acceptance both here and abroad.
If foreigners can’t apply for Visa cards then maybe someone can explain why I have two of them in my wallet along with a TW issued Amex - with no guarantors.
Oh and Taiwan does have cashback cards but air miles are way more valuable.[/quote]
It’s a JCB. And I don’t doubt that foreigners can’t get Visa credit cards. I was just told by the bank personnel that foreigners can only apply for the JCB one. I’m pretty sure there must have been some sort of bonus incentives she could get by pushing JCB instead of Visa.
And drvelocity, my US credit cards also offer on foreign transaction fees but their current conversion rates are terrible so it won’t be worth it at all for me to charge them here. And I don’t really want to risk point deductions on my credit rating for additional cards for foreign purchases that I have to pay with USD.
