I was rejected twice, however the staff that dealt with me were very nice and helpful.
They asked for the same documents as everyone else (passport, arc, passbook)
My aunt who is a Fubon VIP, took my wife to open a Fubon account. They took really good care of her (in that it was a perfectly normal, quick process at a location that has horrendous reviews online) and even told her she would qualify for a few different credit cards if we transferred NT 300k into her accountā¦the backdoor process mentioned above (Neither of us are employed in Taiwan, btw. I am here on a gold card, she has a dependent ARC)
So we transferred the money, then she applied for the credit card, a few days later they told me I could add myself to the application as an authorized user so I did that, and then several days later we received a call that she had been rejected. Without us needing to return to the bank, my aunt went and signed as our guarantor, and now we have been waiting for about a week. Supposedly the cards should arrive any day now. These are Momo-branded, and offer 5% off on Momo purchases. I do not believe there is any other type of reward/bonus for this card, but it should make it easier for us to pay for cable/internet, cell phone, and a few other things. Iāll let yāall know if any other surprises, good or bad, come up.
Guarantors turn me right off. Makes you realize how the bank thinks about you as a client.
An interesting story for you all!
Today me and my wife both opened Citi bank accounts and applied for Citi credit cards.
I work, my wife doesnāt.
In regards to getting a credit card the process was much easier for me, the foreigners than my Taiwanese wife. I just supplied my bank book and payslips, that was it.
For my wife they want her to transfer 150,000 to her Citi bank account since she doesnāt have a job. Itās not a fixed deposit, just regular deposit. They said after her card is accepted she can just take the money back out if she wants.
My wife probably still has a higher chance of getting accepted than me, but the experience was very good overall
So they let you guys open a normal savings account without making a fuss? Bank Sinopac gave me a hard time opening a Savings account citing āMoney Launderingā laws that all Taiwanese banks must follow (e.g: must open an account in a branch closest to where I live, probation period of 1 week). Glad to hear things went smooth for you and your Mrs.
Iām with you on thisā¦they will probably give her the CC after she makes the 150K transfer and then ask you to apply for a éå” (Spouse card). Well, something is better than nothing eh? 
Which branch you went to btw?
Xinzhuang branch, near Xingfu mrt station
I donāt really care for their credit card long term since Citiās consumer section will eventually turn into DBS, so it wonāt bother me if I get declined. As long as one of us gets the cash back card so we can offset the 1.5% foreign transaction fee that all Taiwan credit cards seem to have with the cardās 2% foreign transaction cashback. It will leave us up 0.5% when we swipe our card abroad during our CNY trip back to the UK
This is the same branch I go to tooā¦my office is just a 5 mins drive away.
ę°č 4 Life
I never swiped my Cash back card (nor any other CC) while abroad so I wasnāt aware of this featureā¦Will we get the cash back if I make an online purchase internationally? I swiped my Cash back card in 2018 for Flight Tickets (around NT$40K+) and donāt remember getting any cash back. I got 0% installment for 2 years though which was great 
Not sure but I would imagine so.
When I asked about the 2% cashback, one of the staff there reminded me that since there is a 1.5% fee for international transactions, you are really only getting 0.5% cashback. Iām not sure how you see or use the cashback points though.
Another good thing about the cash back card is that as a sign up bonus we are both getting $1000 in PX Mart gift cards. There were other rewards that looked more valuable, but werenāt of use to us.
You can check your points accumulated through their website once you have setup Web Bankingā¦Once you have Online banking, all your accounts (Savings, Fixed Deposits, Credit Cards etc) will be lumped together and you can access each of these and get a quick glance in one interface at the same time. You can also apply for different CCs as well as Spouse CC online.
Once you have logged into your web banking account and clicking on the rewards program link (é»ęøå
ę), you can check your points and check what you can exchange with those points (need a hell of a lot of points to exchange some good items). You can also use those points to offset your CC bill with 1é» = NT$1.
My Colleague applied for the Cash back card a few mths back when they were giving away Airpods as a sign up bonus! He got the pods and sold them and made a nice profit!
I just used my accumulated points through their Website
I have 2 Cards with Citi, one is the Cash Back (ē¾éåé„) and the other is the Rewards Card (ē“ å©é»ęø)ā¦I found I had accumulated 330å in my Cash Back card while my Rewards Card accumulated 1586é».
Below are some of the items you can exchange with points:
Since I donāt have that much points and will probably never collect that much anyway, I decided to deduct points/cash off my next CC bill. With 1450é», I can deduct 50NT$ and 5000é», I can deduct 200NT$ā¦Since I had only 1586é», I went with option 1
For my Cash back card, I deducted 300NT$ since I had 330 cash back!
Moral of the storyā> Cash Back Cards are always better than Rewards Cards! 
No fuss for my wife, but probably because of my auntās intro. When we were at Costco I explored opening a credit card with Cathay for use at Costco. They were really excited but turned out they couldnāt do it until I could show my Taiwanese paystubs, so they asked me to stop by next time with them (if you followed my story youāll know those wonāt be forthcoming lol).
Iām not too fussed since I donāt really think Iāll have any need for a Taiwanese CC, especially if I do end up getting the one with my wife. Weāll see.
How much are you planning to swipe during that trip that its worth it to go through all the trouble of applying, opening an account, depositing 150K, then taking it out againā¦
you will have to swipe 200,000 nt to get back 1000 ntā¦ is it worth it?
We opened the accounts cos it will save us about $20 US dollars each month on transfer costs when we deposit to our US investment accounts. The credit card was an extra ten minute step. The card is also great for inside Taiwan too, with a 2% cash back nationwide, including PX Mart which most cash back cards donāt include.
Has anyone encountered any fuss regarding applying for Carrefour 's card? I have E.Sun, applied ā¦a month ago. Followed up:they do not know what Iām talking about. Sigh.
I believe @comfy123 has down the rounds with E.Sun
I already have E.Sun credit card, just that it is not the Carrefour card. I want that 40%off Thursdays!
@comfy123 any advice?