Hi,
I dont know where to go for this issue but I had put money in an insurance while i still had my ARC and then went back to my home country.
My ARC has expired and that money put in the insurance can’t return to my bank account. ITs floating somewhere in the bank system? The bank said I need an ARC to reclaim my money back.
I dont live in Taiwan, work or study there anymore.
IS there a possibility they would give a temporary ARC for someone in my case? shouldn’t the bank have exceptions for issues like these?
I don’t know what kind of insurance they mean, but I suspect it’s a rare case that the bank (/bank employees they spoke to) don’t know how to handle, so they’re getting this nonsense.
Is it permissible to complain directly to the FOI without complaining to the FSC first? I thought there might be a defined order in which people are supposed to complain.
It’s probably an insurance savings plan. My wife had one where she put 60k in for 5 years and got a slightly better interest rate, or at least she thought she was. They are rarely a good deal.
The order is to complain directly to the bank first through the FSC and then lodge the mediation request with the FOI.
However the FOI will do the same as the FSC in the first instance regardless unless you file the official mediation request form that you need to print out and sign. Also using the FOI will give them more of a jolt because they know the FOI will help you with the mediation request where the FSC will just shrug their shoulders.
it was an insurance saving plan. I am i touch with an employee at the bank in Taiwan (through LINE) whom I’ve met with there. She is a friend to our friend who referred her to help me. I will go back to Taiwan but only for five days.
My ARC expired in 2021 and she said it’s of no use.
My bank is standard chartered if that info is of any use.
I guess they don’t allow non-residents to have active bank accounts, and transferring isn’t possible as it isn’t active? It’s definitely not a legal requirement that you have an ARC to have a bank account since post office lets you open with just an ID anyone can procure from NIA. Perhaps they’d give you cash if you came to close your accounts in person?
I am unsure what you mean… You can even open an account as a non resident with a “record of ID number”… What you cannot do as a “non resident” is make foreign currency exchanges or online transfers abroad but you can still make domestic transfers and even withdraw money from an ATM abroad…
Besides the very limited post office account, this hasn’t been easy since around 2017/18. Most banks don’t accept that piece of paper anymore. It might be possible to fight it at each bank, but I think it’d be an uphill battle.
Even as A(P)RC holders, we’re supposed to keep our A(P)RC details up to date, and I’ve read of people having their bank accounts locked when their ARC expires. It’d be weird if people without an A(P)RC had fewer restrictions on their accounts than those with one.
That said, I guess the bank is misinterpreting something here because it’s an unusual situation. Of course OP should be able to withdraw their own money.
I believe i am able to withdraw money from my bank account. My problem is that the bank will not remit the money I put in insurance savings plan(3 years, that is now over) to my bank account because i dont have ARC anymore. Sorry not very good at explaining.
I would phrase it as you currently being outside Taiwan without an ARC and not sure when you’ll return, rather than saying you’ve left permanently and will never come back (even if that’s the case). The bank, FSC, FOI, etc. might be less proactive in trying to solve something for some random foreigner who used to live here.
You could also tell the bank first that you’ll be complaining. I don’t know how much you’ve argued with the bank so far (?), but the threat of a complaint might be sufficient to get another person to look at the case and the bank to release the money.
No I wouldn’t phrase it as that. I would simply explain that I had left Taiwan so no longer have an ARC card. The investment had matured and I want my money.
Usually that does nothing as the staff often think you’re calling their bluff and most staff are unaware of the FSC or FOI
The only thing that will make them “proactive” and have a second person look into it is an FOI complaint against them that they have to also write a report to the FOI on what they did to resolve it.