Hello
In the UK there are a few credits cards (such as the Halifax Clarity) that allow you to spend money abroad (such as in TW) and get virtually the banker’s exchange rate, with no fee/surcharge per purchase which is pretty good.
Is there such a card in TW for purchases outside TW?
I’ve heard from HSBC one time that their foreign exchange fee is lower than the other banks, the branch lady advised. Never looked into it further though. As I recall, all the cards i ever owned had a fee, I never recall seeing a fee free card.
The HSBC Visa Signature cash back card offers 1.22% cash back on purchases in Taiwan and 2.2% cash back on purchases outside Taiwan. There’s still a 1.5% foreign transaction fee, so it ends up being 0.7% cash back for foreign purchases. But this is the best deal I’ve found so far. There are other cards with higher cash back, but they are more limited in the total amount of cash back the period of time this rate will be applicable for.
But I don’t recommend HSBC because their policies are discriminatory towards foreigners. They ask for a guarantor for all foreigner applicants. I wiggled out of this requirement by asking to speak to a manager on the phone, stating that I have a stable, good paying job at a well known company which I have worked at for over four years, that I spend over a million in purchases each year and have perfect credit, and that I would not apply if they would still require a guarantor. The response was go ahead and apply without one, and I was approved two weeks later. But then, they decided to tie the expiration date to the expiry of my ARC. Chinatrust, Citi, TC Bank, and Cathay United all gave me ~5 year credit expiry and the same credit limit with nothing about a guarantor. But I’m holding onto an HSBC card that expires 8 months after issuance which I wasted 20 minutes arguing on the phone to apply for.
I hope the cash back is worth it for the next 8 months, because if they only give me 8 months, I’m taking my business elsewhere in 8 months time.
HSBCs policy of tying the arc to expiry is quite annoying, I’ve had to send them a new arc copy every year and then they send out a new card with one year validity. You would think after many years they would save the reissue cost and just give me a normal card but nope.
And like you i also weaseled out of the guarantor requitement in the exact same way as you did.
Did you attempt to try to get them to make an exception to having the expiry tied to the ARC? Just because my ARC hasn’t expired doesn’t mean that I will not run off and disappear to a far away land tomorrow and leave behind a load of unpaid credit card debt. And just because it is going to expire doesn’t mean the authorities might not renew it and decide to deport me. It’s not like we are dying to stay in Taiwan for all the wonderful employment opportunities it offers and are holding our breath each time we send in the paperwork to renew an ARC, not knowing if a bureaucrat will approve us and if will be kicked out of the country.
So I have the following CCs w/ long valid periods:
Chinatrust x2 - 5 years
Cathay - 7 years
TC Bank x2 - 7 years
Citibank - 5 years
I also had a Union Bank card from the department store before. This one had crappy service and was tied to ARC expiry and caused me some headache when it was going to expire with unused iPASS credit and the bank offered no help (i.e. “why don’t you just go to 7-11 to spend the remaining balance…”). Now every time a Union Bank employee tries to get me to sign up for that one at Breeze, I have to tell them how terrible their bank is for foreigners.
Is there any downside to continue to use a credit card from home country (in my case US) in Taiwan - if the card gives good exchange rate and doesn’t charge foreign fees?
How are you going to convince an American bank to keep your credit card open if you move to Taiwan? I would think an American bank would close it if they detect that moved permanently outside the USA.
If you can keep a “billing address” in the USA it’s no problem. I’ve been living in Taiwan and HK for upwards of 11yrs and still have all my credit cards, but I use my parent’s address and go “paperless” with all documents/billing. As long as you have a bank account to pay your bill online is works great.
Hmmm… I just changed to HSBC (Neihu) recently, and was never ever asked for a guarantor. I showed my old bank book (no significant savings there) and work contract, and could finish the whole process on my own.
Well technically as per their website … says a Taiwanese sponsor is required
Q02. What are the criteria to apply for an HSBC (Taiwan)credit card? What are the documents required?
The HSBC (Taiwan) credit card application criteria are as follows:
Primary cardholders’ age should be 20 years and above. Supplement cardholders must be primary cardholder’s parents, in-laws, spouse, or children and sibling with age of 16 years and above.
Platinum cardholders require a minimum annual income of $220,000 and above.
Signature cardholders require a minimum annual income of $600,000 and above.
Infinite cardholders require a minimum annual income of $2,000,000 and above.
The required application documents are as follows:
For locals:
Completed application form
Photocopy of ID card (both front and back)
Financial supporting documents
Last three months’ paychecks or other relevant documents (i.e. last three months’ bank book record or term deposit)
For foreigners:
Completed application form
A Taiwanese sponsor is required
A photocopy of the ARC (both front and back), passport and foreign permanent residence address supporting document
HSBC (Taiwan) reserves the right to request for financial supporting documents or other relevant documents and to grant final approval
I don’t think so.
I have a billing/permanent address in the states and still have my credit card/checking account open.
I believe there’s some credit cards with no added overseas transaction fees and/or conversion fees. The main issue you bump into is having enough money in your bank account in the US if you’re unable to (or unwilling to pay the transfer fee) to transfer funds from TW to US.
jayp - US credit cards (if you look hard enough) offer better deals for sign on rewards, cash back and points. But the problem for most of us is that we get paid in Taiwan dollars. The costs of converting TWD to USD and wiring this over to a US bank account just about cancels out the marginal benefits.
And at some places in Taiwan (movie theaters, restaurants, department stores etc.) there are significant discounts for ringing up the transaction using credit cards issued by certain banks.
olm - I think you just opened a bank account? The guarantor is requested for applying for a credit card.
It also helps if you got connections with the bank you opened up an account for. I got lucky and skipped the guarantor step when applying for my CC because a friend of a friend of a friend knew someone high up.
My main credit card is issued by Fidelity Investments, and they have no problem with me living outside the US. Same with Citibank. I use a billing address in the US, but I’ve talked to both and told them I live in Taiwan. No problems yet.
This is a good reason to also have a local card. I also found that some supermarkets only accept card for very specific local banks (e.g. CTBC Bank)
IIRC the Fidelity card still charges 1% on foreign transactions which cuts into the 2% they’re offering. Capital One has a 1.5% card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees and they’ll even let you use a foreign billing address.