Another question for people who have more experience with Taiwanese credit cards/banks:
I’m 80% intending to apply for an APRC within the next couple of months, and before I do that I want to apply for another credit card from one of the three other banks claiming to offer special services to gold card holders. I’m assuming, possibly incorrectly considering we’re talking about Taiwanese banks, that they don’t have a problem with people keeping these cards when they switch from a gold card to an APRC (my current gold card is valid for another 2.75 years anyway, so I might not even rush to tell the banks immediately – I’m not sure whether we’re obligated to).
I assume that applying for two credit cards within this kind of timeframe is totally fine but probably shouldn’t apply for many more than that (?). I might also apply for the Costco/Fubon card at some point too (probably after I’ve got the APRC – it seems like that would be easier for this card).
The options are as follows:
Bank of Taiwan: Two of the three cards listed on that page don’t seem attractive – I’m not particularly interested in donating money to the Taiwan Guide Dog Association or the Christian Tribune News. The iPass Co-Branded Titanium Business Card (1.2% cashback on domestic transactions, 2.2% cashback on overseas transactions) doesn’t look too bad though. That might be an option?
First Bank: I seem to remember reading bad things about First Bank on here, and none of the four options listed really stand out to me. The iPass co-branded one (1% cashback) looks not terrible but not amazing, and I suppose the travel insurance on the Taoyuan Affinity one (no cashback that I can tell) might be useful.
Huanan Bank: This is probably the one I’m leaning towards. 1% domestic cashback (1.3% promo rate) and 2.5% overseas cashback and also includes travel insurance (not sure how good the cover is).
Additional information:
I’m not really interested in any iPass/icash/EasyCard/Line Points functions. I might be missing out on something here, but I already have a separate EasyCard that I’m totally fine manually topping up and using, and I’ve never subscribed to any of the other schemes. If there’s something really attractive about one of these schemes, I might consider it, but for the most part I’m happier not complicating my life with stuff like this because I find all the various offers confusing.
I’m not interested in anything like airport lounge access. I don’t travel enough for this to be an issue, and when I do I’m a cheapskate and flying with budget airlines and a backpack anyway.
Overseas cashback isn’t a major concern because I’ll mostly be using the card inside Taiwan, and I have other cards I can use overseas that don’t charge me for international transactions.
I’ve mostly been a cash person up to now, but I can see the attraction of getting cashback on domestic purchases, so I feel like that’s probably the joint most important factor.
The other joint most important factor is minimizing the amount of bullshit I have to deal with applying for the card, especially considering I don’t have a local employer and stuff.
All terrible! Get an hsbc premier card or cashback card
Or get the Citibank 2% cashback on both domestic and international, will always be continued by DBS) and includes travel insurance. (Also has a linked easycard! And yes 2% on easycard purchases)
As for international… get the CTBC one that offers 2.5% on all international (not a promo rate either) - ctbc will fix the numbering system too following my complaint
Neither am I. But the mega bank card I applied for offers lounge access for 800ntd a pop with no minimum spend. Handy to have the option (especially when traveling alone with my daughter) and get the sign up bonus of a free carry on suitcase
I’m quite sure I don’t have the money to qualify for the HSBC premier or Citibank accounts tbh. The money I do have is overseas and I wouldn’t transfer it here for this, so those aren’t an option.
2.5% seems pretty standard cashback for international transactions, no? That looks the same as Huanan and Mega Bank, and then you need to deduct the international transaction fee too? In any case, like I said, I’m not too interested in using the card abroad so overseas cashback is less of an issue. I’ll just use my UK cards for this (no cashback but no fee, and I also don’t need to transfer money to Taiwan to use them).
I already have an account with CTBC actually but I’m not sure how they’ll be for a credit card without local income, which I why I want to stick to the gold card ones for the time being until I have some credit history here.
Yeah, see, for something like this I wouldn’t really get the benefit. There’s pretty much no set of circumstances where I’m going to pay NT$800 to access an airport lounge (I’m guessing that’s supposed to be cheap?), so it isn’t really going to be useful for me. Like I said, I’m a cheapskate.
Anyway, it’s rare that I’m organized enough to have time to relax at an airport – I’m generally rushing there to check in before the desk closes then rushing for the flight. I might slam a double espresso on the way, on the rare occasions I’m willing to pay airport prices, but I’m not paying NT$800 to access the lounge for that!
It’s essentially an all you can eat buffet with some having really good food. (Not so much the Taiwan ones though)
But think about it. 800NTD for both my daughter and I (or $400ntd each!) and… Unlimited food, alcohol, and can have a shower and a comfortable place for my daughter and I to nap.
(If it is just me then most likely not! I am a cheapskate too!)
800NT for any lounge or only certain ones? I have chase reserve, venture X, crypto dot com, they give free lounge access + 1 guest to Plaza premium, priority pass, capital one lounge, some select airport restaurants. I usually hit up every lounge in the airport and show up 8 hours early before my flight, work at the lounge and eat more, grab bunch of drinks to take on the flight. But I don’t have access to the best lounges like Emirates, Eva, etc., which I think you need to buy business class and up to access.
I have an APRC when I applied for a CTBC credit card. But since the application was done at our office, it was very convenient. Approval was pretty swift too, took just a week to get approved.
Last week of June I tried to do a couple of walk-in applications at HSBC and E.SUN. I was surprised that they processed me without asking for a guarantor. What they asked instead was how long I’ve been here in Taiwan and if I have an ARC (because they didn’t know yet that I’m an APRC holder). They asked for my passport, APRC, and salary account passbook. Pretty pleasant experience, hopefully I get approved for either one.
Definitely better than when I had an ARC and was constantly told by banks that they only give VISA debit cards to foreigners. Or that I need I guarantor.
Yes maybe that’s because members here took those two banks to the FSC and Ombudsman over requesting foreigners to have a guarantor breaching anti discrimination laws?
It seems HSBC did really change the procedure after I whopped their arse with the FOI, good!
I would check carefully, is it via priority pass, dragonpass or MasterCard loungekey? It for sure doesn’t allow to access airline operated lounges.
Emirates lounge r good yes, Eva’s r disappointing, only decent one is in BKK!
Don’t bother with BoT, their cards r quite useless.
First bank the only card with some use imho is the icash cobranded card ehich can be linked to line pay and give u some decent line pay points. But first bank is very shitty with online banking. Besides that no major complaint.
Huanan haven’t seen anything of interest, like BoT.
A good card if u r not interested in any travel perk can be the fubon J card, among the best rebates via line pay, or the hsbc signature cashback.
For hsbc u don’t need the account there and for the card mentioned the minimum income requirement is 250k nt p.a. u can even use the cashback point to convert to miles with a few airlines instead of cashback, not too bad. And no annual fee if u opt for the estatements!
Haha true. Thanks to @Mataiou for fighting the good fight for us all! Not gonna lie half the time I was seated at HSBC I can’t help but think back to all the credit card stories I’ve seen here especially from @Mataiou
Yeah personally I am not affected as I stopped being a foreigner in Taiwan around 25 years ago. They cancelled my ARC and told me no more foreigner nonsense from you anymore.
Still I did learn from Comfy and Mataiou to use the FSC. Now my wife calls me a trouble maker ready to pick quarrels with banks over other things, like CTBC giving me a very low credit limit.
What do you mean by “useless” here? I assume that their cards can be used in the same places as other Mastercard cards, no?
I don’t really get the Line Pay/Line Pay points thing as I’ve never used it. What advantage do you get out of this, and is it worth me looking into…? (If it’s just about saving a couple of hundred TWD or less per month, I probably can’t be bothered tbh.)
Two different things: one, with Line Pay set up, you can pay with an app on your phone, and the app connects to your credit card. Many restaurants and shops have a little sign showing they accept Line Pay. Fairly often I’ll use Line Pay when I wouldn’t (and maybe can’t? Unsure) use a credit card: breakfast places, tea stands, 7-11, vending machines, etc. Main advantage I suppose: I need cash a lot less.
Second, Line Points: you can use them as cash equivalent at anywhere that takes Line Pay. When you pay with the app, you toggle a little switch and tell the app to pay with any accumulated points instead (or, for example, all 47 points you’ve got, plus 3 extra on the credit card, for a $50 tea). Advantage: occasional free stuff. (EDIT: on my CTBC credit card, the Line Points accumulate whenever I use the credit card, whether I’m using Line Pay or not - you don’t need to be using the app to collect points, although as far as I know you do need to use the app to pay with points.)
I was initially very skeptical of paying with an app for things, but I’ve become more of a convert.
By useless I mean they don’t give any appreciable perk, tbh unless u take a lot of HSR, BoT cards don’t have any nice perks, u just pay and don’t get anything. So why bother? Just use cash at that point.
I use line pay only where I can’t use cards or where I know I can’t accrue miles when spending (all cards which give miles or points to be exchanged with miles issued in TW don’t give such things when u spend at convenience stores for instance or at fast food places). Line pay it’s just fast and convenient then, it linkes directly to the e-invoice account for the receipt lottery, it links directly to convenience stores memberships and u get when linked to the proper credit cards line points which work as cash back, so when spending at 7-11 for instace K get double points as 7–11 points and line points, so every now and then I get free stuff at 7-11 (like my coffee or ice cream) and I can use the line points to settle against general spending.
Why would u be bothered then to apply for cards which give u nothing back? Just use cash. Using credit cards without exploiting the perks issuers give is stupid tbh, and as an issuer myself (I manage the credit card department at my employer) I truly enjoy this game since issuers still make money in other ways and clients are encouraged to use our card instead of someone else’s.
Saving a couple of hundreds of TWD for using a card instead of another or cash is still something. U r going through a tedious process of applying for cards as a foreigner in TW, so at least get something out of it, otherwise just keep using cash or debit cards (the most stupid imho, at that point really just keep using cash, debit cards should be used only for withdrawing… No perks at all)
Not gonna lie half the time I was seated at HSBC I can’t help but think back to all the credit card stories I’ve seen here especially from 