Credit Cards for Foreigners - General Discussion

I have no idea what factors are used to determine the credit limit, but my cards with China Trust, Amex, Standard Chartered, Citibank and Cathay are all approximately 4x my monthly salary.

And no, I do not make an insane amount every month.

Yup, my first card was with Citibank and it was about 4x.

Agree, I have a friend who makes about 65% of what I make and his China Trust card is 300,000 which is doubled mine. but he only has 1 card.

What Fubon told me is that I should put my money in a national bank and not a foreign bank like Standard Chartered, but I love the awesome app in English.

I get payed through ChangHwa bank but I would never apply for a credit card there, that bank is trash.

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Well did you do something like a “global transfer” with Citi where they carry over your credit info from another country?

No it was a fresh local application.

In any case, I think for global transfers the credit limit doesn’t carry over as each country has their own banking regulations.

Credit limit won’t carry over. But if a good credit history carries over they’ll tend to straightaway give you a high limit.

That’s interesting, I did not know that.

How Global Card Relationship works:

  • Shop Cards avaliable in your new country
  • Sign in to your account, so we can access your account history
  • Apply using the address in the country you are moving to
  • We may use your account history to make a decision on your application

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/customer-service/global-card-relationship/

Each country has its own regulations but within the law, the bank is free to offer you whatever they want based on your relationship with them.

I didn’t apply through this route, but I guess it’s possible they might have done a global check and found my previous credit history with my home country.

Other than that, I really have no idea. I’m just a typical salaried employee.

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Its possible, I came here when I was 19, didn’t have a credit history, all my cards where secondary cards from my parents. My friend came here when he was over 30 already with a long credit history from back home.

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Btw how is the Cathay bank? I see they have an awesome EVA air card!

That’s the one I have :laughing:

No complaints! How many points you earn will depend on which tier card you get though.

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For me, only Standard Chartered, China Trust, and Amex gave me high limits like 4x my salary. The rest are about 1 to 1.5x

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I applied for a card at Chunghua bank for fun once, they are so anti foreigner it was beyond belief. They insisted on a deposit or a guarantor, and the head office refused to let me speak to a manager repeatedly. At most banks, a manager can and will override if you make your case

The only banks worse than that were Land Bank and Taiwan Cooperative. Ironically, all government banks that refuse to deal with foreigners fairly. I didn’t eventually pursue it since I had got cards from other places and didn’t want to deal with a place that didn’t want my business so vehemently.

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I have two:
Pi_blue
Pi Mastercard
E.Sun Bank
50,000 limit
Yoyo Card feature built in.
Must be paid off every month.
Good app for tracking and using points, great cash back, but app is only in Chinese.

combo-card
KoKo Mastercard
Cathay Bank
100,000 limit
Yoyo Card feature built in.
Can be carried over month to month. Interest is 15%. No deposit or guarantor needed.
The card’s App doesn’t work for ARC/APRC number. That’s frustrating. But the Cathay Bank app does work and you can see your credit used, bill, points, etc.

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What is really like is for banks to issue a combo debit and credit card. I don’t know why this is so hard for them.

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Every time I had a company biz trip, I had to play mission impossible with Changhwa bank trying to deposit the check the company gives me to reimburse the money I spent. Got so bad that now someone from our accounting department has me endorse the check and they do the deposit in person for me.

They also do not allow the company to give me a corporate card because I am a foreigner, so I use my own, get the points/miles and the company has to reimburse me via check. My boss had to wait 3 months to be approved for his corporate card.

I asked the CFO why they use that bank since there is also First bank downstairs. she said: less people at Changhwa bank so they don’t have to do long lines.

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So why did you continue with that bank? Paychecks can be deposited electronically with any bank. Did you company force you to use only that one ?

Company forces us to use that bank to get paid. 6 of us opened accounts with Standard Chartered and company refused to deposit us there. They have some sort of arrangement with Changhwa that we get paid on the last working day of the month instead of waiting for the 5th day of the next month.

I have some money automatically transferred from that account once a month to Standard Chartered for savings and just withdraw the rest from the ATM when I need cash.

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Wow. That should be illegal. It sounds like a leftover construct from the 80s where companies needed an arrangement with the bank. Today with electronic direct deposit it’s really not required.

Given Taiwan’s horrible financial services IT, I’m not surprised though.

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