Applying for a credit card is some serious business

Which banks give secured credit cards and how do you say you want a secured credit card in Chinese?

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.

Catfish,

Sorry for saying this, but you have not given all the data clearly. It may be that in Hua Nan Bank a foreigner cannot apply for a Visa card, but from the six bank cards I have, 3 are Visa. Heck, I have Visa and Mastercard from the same bank -Mega.

As said, JCB has limited use, no problem in department stores. Diner’s here in Taiwan? haven’t even seen it/noticed it.

Yep, the point system here works very well, you get nice, useful prices or discounts -My E.Sun card gives me back 1% with every purchase. :smiley: Oh, and the Costco card eventually pays the year fee by itself -meaning I make so many points I go over the anual 1200 nts fee, so it’s “free”. :blush:

So after you get that JCB card, you can get this one as backup: [forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … redit+card](Credit Cards for foreigners in Taiwan

and work your way up to a nice collection that takes best advantage of the perks.

I just booked a round trip first class ticket to the US courtesy of air miles earned from 6 months of business purchases charged to my Amex. Ticket is worth at least US$10k while the best cashback offer would only be worth around US$1400. Even if you only charge NT$20k/month on most of the airline cobrand cards you can redeem a roundtrip ticket to Hong Kong or Macau every year, not too shabby and again worth more than the $2400 you would get with a 1% cashback. Oh, and between the 3 cards I get 60 days free airport parking and 5 free limo transfers to the airport every year.

I think it depends largely on where you are/where you apply and which bank you go to. I’ve heard from several foreigners that they have this and that credit card that they got in Taiwan, but every single time I’ve tried to get one at a bank in Taiwan I’ve been met with the exact same response: Sorry, we don’t give credit cards to foreigners.

I’ve even tried to use my wife, her mother and her brother as guarantor, but I’ve still been denied every single time at every single bank in [color=#FF0000]Tainan[/color].
So perhaps the golden rule of real estate is in play here: location, location, location?

I’ve had very similar experiences to what Bismarck has had too. I’ll be talking to Mega Bank to get a secured card and contacting Partrick Coswell on how best to get Chinatrust to give me a credit card.

Maybe they just don’t like Vampires… :wink:

Let me just clarify the only things that are of interest to a Taiwanese bank when you apply for a credit card:

  1. tax statements - for self employed that would be last year’s income tax statement, or for everyone else your last 6 months withholding tax statements
  2. proof of employment and preferably in a large company (although I am self employed and still get cards)
  3. proof of regular income on the same date each month, preferably deposited at the same bank you apply for the credit card (caused me problems since I don’t get paid regularly)
  4. maybe proof of deposit or real estate in Taiwan but that’s not as important as 1 and 2

They are not interested in:

  1. foreign bank statements
  2. other credit cards
  3. references from your dog
  4. vague statements of earnings without proof as specified above

Banks that can and do give cards to foreigners without guarantors (e.g. banks that I hold/held cards with or personally know people who do):

  1. American Express (my personal favourite, super easy to deal with)
  2. Citibank+
  3. HSBC+
  4. Chinatrust*
  • banks that I know have given cards to foreigners in the past but have strange/inconsistent/strict requirements about income and employment
  • banks that charge service fees or refuse cards for people without a minimum income and/or deposit level

[quote=“llary”]Let me just clarify the only things that are of interest to a Taiwanese bank when you apply for a credit card:

  1. tax statements - for self employed that would be last year’s income tax statement, or for everyone else your last 6 months withholding tax statements
  2. [color=#FF0000]proof of employment and preferably in a large company[/color] (although I am self employed and still get cards)
  3. proof of regular income on the same date each month, preferably deposited at the same bank you apply for the credit card (caused me problems since I don’t get paid regularly)
  4. maybe proof of deposit or real estate in Taiwan but that’s not as important as 1 and 2

They are not interested in:

  1. foreign bank statements
  2. other credit cards
  3. references from your dog
  4. vague statements of earnings without proof as specified above

Banks that can and do give cards to foreigners without guarantors (e.g. banks that I hold/held cards with or personally know people who do):

  1. American Express (my personal favourite, super easy to deal with)
  2. Citibank+
  3. HSBC+
  4. Chinatrust*
  • banks that I know have given cards to foreigners in the past but have strange/inconsistent/strict requirements about income and employment
  • banks that charge service fees or refuse cards for people without a minimum income and/or deposit level[/quote]
    That is a very useful post! :thumbsup: When I look into this again in the future I’ll definitely be using this info. Cheers.

However, I think that no. 2 may be a problem, as buxiban/ESL employment may not be seen by many banks as “good” employment…

Unfortunately you are right, it’s the equivalent of walking into a western bank and trying to get credit as a temp employee. If you worked there for a long time and can prove you get paid a decent amount regularly every month then it shouldn’t be an issue.

I think the big company bit might hold water. I went to my bank just to get a Visa debit card and the manager kept asking me why I didn’t want a full credit card and that it would be no trouble to give me one today.

Bank name please?

Cathay United

Great. One more for the list. :slight_smile:

If you are earning money here, but using an overseas card to pay for your local purchases, unless you have a pile of money overseas to cover the bills, you will lose money each time you exchange from your hard earned NT dollars into US dollars to pay a bill where you lost money when the charge that was made in NT dollars was converted into US dollars. Then, unless you travel back home often enough to carry money with you to replenish your funds there, you will lose money again when you wire it back to cover the bills. That be the reason I wanted a local card.

It took me 3 years and as many rejections, even with a guarantor, to get my first card, ironically without a guarantor. It was with First Bank, mainly because I think the branch manager pulled strings for me. I recently applied for an aPower card (to get the discount on gas for my gas guzzling car), with a guarantor, and the application is being walked through the process by a friend who used to work in that department. The moral of the story is that you just have to find the right person. From my observation, there hasn’t been any bank that has stood out as one where there was a clear path for foreigners to get a card. Everyone seems to have had different results.

OK, I have gone without a credit card for many years, however I have tried to get one at my local bank for some time.

Note that I run a business with a turnover of double digit million NT$ per year, and my bank know exactly how much I earn. I complained a lot, and suddenly they gave me a snippet of info.

When the branch sends in your credit card application as standard, they will judge it as standard in the credit card department. At least Union Bank has 3 levels of sending such application, standard, department manager sending, and branch manager sending. If you like I did complain enough, and go there a few times every week anyways for other business so they know you very well, you wight get lucky and get one.

They sent in a standard application 2 months ago, it was rejected by SMS. This time they lodged one for a platinum card, and sent it in as a branch manager level letter, IE I did an interview at the branch where I explained my economy and they got a lot of extra info. The day after the credit card department calls and ask me when I go overseas next time, so they can expedite the into - one hour later they call and ask for a copy of my passport. I think I might have a chance this time.

Not true. My first credit card here was a secured credit card from Mega. They wouldn’t give me a card without a guarantor, and I didn’t want to use a guarantor, so we worked out a secured credit card instead. It’s simple – you take out a time deposit (CD) with the bank and fill out a form pledging it to the bank as security for the credit card. You get to keep the interest on the CD (they keep rolling it back into the CD), and you get a fully functional credit card from the bank. The only stipulation is that you cannot withdraw the CD until you are ready to cancel the credit card. (Which, in my case, I did when another bank agreed to give me an unsecured, no-guarantor credit card a few years later.)