Haven’t received one yet so guess I’ll wait and see…. Or they just won’t give me one.
Try calling and ask. They are usually quite helpful over the phone.
Many years ago I signed up at Taishin. I wanted the free gift as well as it was an expensive appliance. Well after a few weeks the gift never came in. Called the sales rep at the branch and he called back and admitted he filled out the form wrong and no free gift was coming. He offered to buy it for me but it would come out of his own money, the bank wouldn’t pay as it was his mistake. When I found out I just said forget it
That’s actually really sweet of the sales rep.
I would’ve done the same though.
Yea it was. I was sad I didn’t get the gift but didn’t want the guy to be out of pocket for a mistake
Just got approved for the Icash JCB card by First Bank.
I applied to this card to try their “special process” for Employment Gold Card holders. So downloaded the forms (all in English and well made, I have to admit that) and posted them to their card centre.
Received the message on 27-Oct acknowledging the application (in Chinese) with a link to check the application status (one of the few banks letting you do it, only Cathay United and Fubon so far let me do it).
On 9-Nov the bank called me and advised I had to go to an English service branch to sign some more documents. Had to fight a bit to let me go to a branch closer to my office than my house (living in Neihu, working in Songshan, not a short stroll). Went to the branch the following day, took me 10 minutes to explain the situation, they called the card centre, after a good 10 minutes on the phone they basically made me submit a new application (the lady at the counter was super helpful and kind though, and her English pretty decent). Didn’t need to give again my passport or other documents, just sign.
14-Nov the bank called me again to confirm with me my residence address and provide them with a local TW contact person (very random, not a guarantor, just a contact person, I gave them my fiance’e’ number).
Got approved on 15-Nov.
If it wasn’t for that visit to the branch, it would have been one of the smoothest applications I made, in particular thanks to the application form in English.
Maybe an emergency contact. Did they specify it needed to be a Taiwanese?
Yes, they said 本地人。at least, that’s what I heard and understood (still working on my Chinese). But I could have given any number with a random name tbh, they didn’t really check (thry didn’t call my fiancée)
Some banks like to have a local they can call when they are afraid you wont understand them when they need to call you
True, but I always made it through with my Chinese (somehow). Anyways, went smooth besides that hiccup visit to the branch. Now waiting for Mega bank to review another card applied via this special process for Employment Gold Card Holders. Doing it for science!
Mega used to force a secured deposit and then they would give 80% of the value as a limit or something like that. Curious if that is still the case.
Once you get a few cards it gets harder as the new excuse will be that you have enough credit
I wonder if this “special process” applies to APRC holders too
Seems that these “special” cards for gold card holders don’t stack up compared to the ones for “locals” 熱門卡片 - 信用卡 | 第一銀行
I called up and and they said that I am free to apply for the gold card ones on my APRC and said they aren’t limited to gold card holders at all! But recommended I get the business titanium one as it offers 3.5% cashback on foreign currency transactions.
so, they recommend them, however you can apply for whichever you want. My understanding, based on the discussion had with people with knowledge on the matter, is that they basically either straight approve the recommended cards if you apply via a Gold Card or do not ask too many questions since the “government already approved them as special”.
With Mega I didn’t apply to the recommended card, but it doesn’t seem there are issues.
So far 4 banks have “special arrangements” for Gold Card holders: Bank of Taiwan, Huanan, First Bank and Mega. Only decent cards are the First bank ones, since some are the Icash cobranded cards, so can have good deals with Icash points. Others not very interest tbh.
Don’t you have a cashback card?
not interested in cahsback tbh, only focussed on miles. The only cashback card I have is the Fubon TW mobile card for cashback (which I interpret as discount) on my mobile plan (5%) and cashback on refuelling (5% at any gas station).
I concentrate all my spending on the Cathay United Eva Air card, then if any special offers on the Amex Eva Air gold card.
The CTBC line pay card I use it only at places where the spending does not accrue miles, like convenience shops and fast foods (exception stated in the card T&Cs)
Now will use the First bank Icash card at 7-11 since gives a much better points rate.
Do you find the miles accrual here is very slow? takes me ~ 3 years of point accumulation to get anything worthwhile.
Not at all, there are 2 cards which are very good to accrue miles for different airlines: HSBC Travellers visa infinite and the DBS Travel World Mastercard. Very good accrual rates tbh, better or comparable to HK or UK ones, the US are unbeatable, but that’s another story.
If you want to stick to an airlines, the Cathay United Eva Air card is very good to accrue miles fast.
Since I moved here I already collected enough miles for a roundtrip business class upgrade on EVA taipei to milan!
How many percentage of cash back would these mile cards equal roughly?
That’s a tricky question, but let’s try to put some figures down:
For my round trip to Milan I purchased the ticket in premium economy (I’m 188cm, need some space for my limbs😂), price was basically 55k NT. The business class for the same itinerary was 150k the day I booked. I spent 70k miles to upgrade both legs of the trip.
So, 150k-55k= 95k difference, 95/70=1.35NT value per mile.
To accrue those miles I spent around 30-40k per month for 5 months (plus the welcome bonuses and some 15k miles already on the account). So 40k*5=200k, we can reckon then, very approximately, that for this very specific instance my cashback rate in miles was around 47.5%. not yoo shabby for my spending in Taiwan.
However, the miles can be spent only on flights and some purchases on the “online duty free” shops of the airlines, so they are not cash like a real cashback. Since I fly quite often (finally) again, it is a good value for me.