[quote=“kelake”]Just typed the same info in another post. :s
Another pain in the ass.[/quote]
I’ll quote you here:
[quote]
My wife and I both have credit cards from China Trust - she recieved in the mail today a notice concerning new rules for “banks engaged in foreign currency exchange”.
“When issuing credit cards for natural persons over 20 years old who hold the foreigner’s resident certificate in Taiwan, the persons resident certificate should be valid for more than one year, and the expiration date of the credit card issued to the person should not exceed the expiration date of the card holder’s resident certificate.”
We have fax China Trust a copy of our arc whereby they will then reissue the cards. For my wife this will be a yearly necessity.
Apparently this is a government regulation (?).[/quote]
I’m not sure this is a regulation. It says it’s a “guifan 規範”.
ChinaNoTrust have not quoted the “authority” responsible for this “regulation”. I suspect the “authority” is themselves. Well, whatever, another pointless burden added on to everyday life for foreigners which underlines the speed at which China is going forward and Taiwan is going backwards.
I am afraid this isn’t just China Trust. I had applied for a credit card from ABN AMRO and they had said that my ARC must be valid for at least a year in order to comply with this regulation. I thought it was just their bank being a pain in the arse.
However, yesterday I received a letter from ChinaNoTrust, my current credit card issuer, stating the same thing as quoted in the post from hexuan. Of course my ARC (on marriage grounds) runs out at the end of June. I attempted to get a renewal but was told by the cops that the ARC can only be renewed one month in advance. The current card therefore will be discontinued at the end of March, and I won’t be able to get a new card until the end of May.
No big deal I suppose, but as I am traveling overseas at this time it is always nice to have the card just in case (and hotels always want an imprint of the card when you check-in).
Can anyone propose a course of action to find a solution to this problem? It’s not just credit cards, it’s access to all sorts of banking facilities. This crap with ATM cards not working overseas, for instance, is ridiculous.
My suggestions:
Someone takes the time and effort to find someone in the higher echelons of some bank that will actually listen and establish a procedure for foreigners to get fair treatment.
Try and get media coverage, including a forumosa petition, to shame someone into taking action.
Approaching parent companies of international banks, organisations like Visa and Mastercard, and complaining. Enlist elected representatives in your home country to help too.
[quote=“Loretta”]This crap with ATM cards not working overseas, for instance, is ridiculous.[/quote]I’ve always been able to use my Changhua Bank ATM card overseas. Didn’t have to ask them for this service either. It was on all the time.
Do many people have problems using ATM cards abroad?
[quote=“qproy”]However, yesterday I received a letter from ChinaNoTrust, my current credit card issuer, stating the same thing as quoted in the post from hexuan. Of course my ARC (on marriage grounds) runs out at the end of June. I attempted to get a renewal but was told by the cops that the ARC can only be renewed one month in advance. The current card therefore will be discontinued at the end of March, and I won’t be able to get a new card until the end of May.
No big deal I suppose, but as I am traveling overseas at this time it is always nice to have the card just in case (and hotels always want an imprint of the card when you check-in).[/quote]
Amazing isn’t it ? I mean, who drafted this regulation? Who issued it? How many xenophobes are there in the government, or do they have a special department?
What’s next? No ADSL? Can’t rent a flat beyond the end of your ARC? I’m struggling, but the Taiwanese government will think of something.
Well the situation seems as clear as mud; the usual SNAFU.
I had " her indoors" call the cops about this (on the grounds of needing to get the ARC renewed earlier). Apparently they have had calls from people all morning on this matter. They have stated that as far “as they were concerned”, this regulation should apply to applications for NEW credit cards only, and that existing cards should not be required to be terminated (with extreme prejudice).
This would at least make a bit more sense I suppose.
Would be interested to see what other banks are saying to people. Is this a case of ChinaNoTrust interpreting the regulations to suit themselves?
Hartzell, do you have any suggestions on how to legally pursue the matter of foreigners not being able to get credit cards, or having to submit to these ridiculous restrictions? I would be willing to be a test case, because I’m tired of not being able to get a credit card, VISA debit card, loan or anything else when I have a good credit rating (in the US), a job, I’m a graduate student at NTU as opposed to a “back packer,” etc. This kind of crap is really unfair and I’m tired of it. :fume:
I doubt the legal avenue will yield much in the way of results.
I’d say the best bet would be to get AmCham or the European Chamber of Commerce to look into it. Whether they could be bothered to or not is another question (given that their senior members and the ‘expat package brigade’ have ways around most of these restrictions). In think that AmCham and ECCT are some of the few ‘foreigner’ organisations with any clout here.
Or what about, for example, an AmCham- or ECCT-cobranded affinity credit card (especially for foreigners) with one of the local banks with usage generating donations for some worthy cause locally? Wouldn’t that look nice in a newspaper or on TV?
I know everybody says that foreigners are not numerous enough to warrant any attention, but it might at least warrant an investigation. I think there are usually compnaies that will do business with us on relatively equal terms. But how can we find them? Some kind of white list? And how do they avoid being scammed by ‘bad’ foreign customers if it becomes known they offer services to non-citizens?
You know… this is 2005 and none of these problems should be insurmountable. But they won’t be adressed until someone believes it’s in their interest to solve them.
On a related note, I sometimes wonder why foreign spouses and partners are not more vocal on this, given that they are often pressurised into providing guarantees just because they married a non-citizen.
Is it as difficult obtain a credit card in other Asian countries for expats? If I move to Singapore, Hong Kong, or Bangkok would I expect the same difficulties or worse?
Well, you’ll have no problem in Hong Kong, but that’s pretty much what you’d expect.
Just got a Chinatrust credit card bill today. First month I haven’t paid the bill in full. Woweeee. I want to be a bank! They charge about 3% a month in interest. Oops. Won’t be making that mistake again!
I was just reviewing the interest rate on my wife’s UK HSBC Gold Card. It’s 14.9% - Chinatrust tell me their PLATINUM card is 20% ! HAHAHAHA!
Tickles me pink when people get all teary-eyed for the banks here when they suggest how those nasty foreigners might run away and not pay their credit card bills!!!
Fair play to the banks. Well done lads. Hats off. Borrow money for next to nothing (how much interest do they pay on cash deposits?) and lend it out at interest rates that would make Shylock blush. There is reward without risk! Stick that in your MBA and smoke it!
I got the same letter from Chinatrust. I called and they told me it was a regulation issued by the Central Bank and they gave me the number. I called CBC and eventually got to talk to the “section chief of remittance department” who apparantly is responsible for this rule.
Post his e-mail address so we all can complain. This way he’ll see that it’s a real pain in the ass for all foreigners, not just one or two. If enough people send complaints (better if they’re in Chinese), then maybe something will actually get done!
I think we should actually organise something. Doesn’t the central bank have anything better to do that shit like this? I reckon we could get at least 50 signatures.
Can you post the full citation of the law (my company blocks access to that url) ?
Can we ask these twats what in the hell they were thinking when they made this up? A slow Friday afternoon was it? We could also ask that xenophobic little wart in the Presidential Office what the hell we have done to deserve all this hassle.
Let’s organise a letter to the CBC. I’ll email you next week. Anyone interested in signing it could they post in this thread. I’m pretty confident the CBC hasn’t thought through this regulation fully. I am thinking of including the driving licence and telephone issue in the letter and sending it to the presidential office. Can anyone think of sympathetic legislators we could talk to? I can think of one only.
[quote=“hexuan”]I am thinking of including the driving licence … issue in the letter and sending it to the presidential office.[/quote]Which driving licence issue? The 6 year thing? The bitter pill has been sweetened a little recently by the waiving of renewal fees. But it would still be nice to have a 6 year licence.
I’d like to sign a petition. I’m tired of this bullshit. During the recent Chinese New Year break two of my workmates had a nasty surprise while overseas; they found that they could no longer withdraw money (their own money, we’re not talking credit!) from their Taiwan bank accounts outside of the country!!! :fume:
That happened to a friend of mine. He was stranded in HK without any cash. When he came back to Taiwan he called and yelled at his bank and they showed him in the contract he had signed where it said, in Chinese, that foreigners can’t use the Cirrus system to withdraw money outside Taiwan. He screamed at them until they ended up giving him 10,000 as a remedy.
I’d be more than happy to sign the petition, and anything else that you would like to delegate to me, Hexuan (since I can also speak/read/write Chinese). I think the credit card, telephone, and anything else involving “credit” should be included in the letter (we should be able to get loans too if we meet the salary requirements and pass the credit check, which should be able to check overseas credit history, which they’re just too lazy to do). Perhaps forwarding the letter to the media as well as Ma Ying-jiu would be helpful (he doesn’t really have control over this, but he does have authority and I think is more sympathetic and responsive to foreigners’ concerns).
Little Buddha TW wrote [quote]I think the credit card, telephone, and anything else involving “credit” should be included in the letter [/quote]
The crazy thing is that we are not just talking about credit. There’s also a problem with foreigners having access to their own bloody money. And as you mentioned in a previous post, it’s even difficult to get a bloody debit card.