So barring foreigners from credit cards automatically or preferential loans or even any credit whatsoever (even though they have salaries going in, money in their bank for years , not malice just ‘normal’ discrimination ).
Just like not allowing foreigners to be dual but Taiwanese to be dual citizens…Not malice just ‘normal’.
But let’s get into the real malice which is the treatment of blue collar migrants…
No, I’m not arguing for discriminatory banking policies and you’re right, some policies are exclusionary and annoying. I ran into issues with my local bank not wanting to do certain types of transactions for no good reason and being very stubborn about it even though I was a regular customer for years. Their banking system can be a pain in the ass.
To be fair to you here, you are right in that standard chartered does allow foreigners to get cards. It sounds like either that branch has no clue or perhaps the branch employees themselves are the ones that discriminate.
But that aspect sucks, ask 5 different branches and you get inconsistent answers.
Incompetence is never an excuse for racism or discrimination.
Totally agree. Im just saying that SC does issue cards, if an issue with them PM me for more info. That branch that MR deals with sounds horrible
The answers I’ve always received have been perfectly consistent through the years.
“You’re a foreigner, therefore you can’t have a credit card because we don’t allow foreigners to have credit cards.”
Which is actually a bullshit statement because I do know foreigners who have them. However, many of them are co-signed by their wives or co-signed or backed up by their companies, or someone has been doing business with them for 15+ years and the bank is willing to give them credit cards.
The horseshit discrimination is that when they don’t want to risk giving a credit card to someone like me, the answer which they always give and the answer which they seem to think is acceptable is that YOU ARE A FOREIGNER AND WE DON’T GIVE CREDIT CARDS TO FOREIGNERS.
They won’t even go through a fake process of allowing me to fill out an application or go through any fake vetting process by looking at my monthly retirement payments, my extensive investments, property holdings, etc.
The smart thing for them would be to give me an application and have me provide all my relative documents and feign going through the process and just simply rubberstamp it as DENIED DUE TO INSUFFICIENT BANKING HISTORY or some other lame excuse.
But, they don’t even try. They go straight to discrimination as if that is somehow an acceptable excuse.
Just copped a dose of it about 10 minutes ago. This guy does it yearly. And always around Chinese New Year time. It doesn’t matter how great most people can be it’s always the one dickhead that ruins your entire day in a matter of seconds by the way they think they can get away with it.
Nope. Copped it this morning too. That was what resulted in the new rules to be imposed on me. To be honest I’m with the OP on this one. I’m sick of it. Shitty people are just shitty people. Racist or discriminatory (or both) behaviour is so commonplace here it’s beyond a joke. There are just some types of people that think they can get away with whatever they want so long as they blame the weiguoren for a distraction.
@quandary You’re missing everything.
The main thing you are missing is that you are a Taiwanese citizen. Most likely with Han Chinese physical features. Therefore, you are the correct race and possess the correct citizenship in order to get a credit card.
I’ve got betelnut girlfriends who have zero declared income and are under the age of 26, but they are able to get credit cards. It’s all about citizenship. “If you ain’t Taiwanese, you ain’t shit!”
You will never know, realize or experience what a white American, with only US citizenship has to go through here on this island.
Why don’t you go with one of us worthless white crackers to a bank and observe how we are told that we can’t have a credit card because we are foreigners. Then, you can step in like a super hero and lecture them on their discriminatory practices, show them the relevant laws regarding discrimination and force them to give us a credit card. How about that?
Go with one of us to Costco and stand in line behind us and listen to what they say when we ask to fill out a credit card application.
Watch how other companies standing near the exits of their stores offer all Taiwanese passing by the opportunity to fill out a credit card application and then see them pull the clipboard back in horror as one of us goes to ask to fill out an application.
You will never experience anything like what we do because you are Taiwanese and if you “look Taiwanese” have that added benefit as well.
When I finally managed to score a credit card from CTBC they were really interested in who my employer was. When I was working for a buxiban I wasn’t allowed one, but once I started working for a uni I was. I can understand the business logic behind their thinking (although I think they are overestimating the risk of foreigners doing a runner), but let nobody kid themselves that it’s anything other than highly discriminatory. The few banks that might offer a foreigner a credit card are openly looking for what they perceive to be the right kind of foreigner.
I stopped reading there.
Go on…
Seriously? That’s when I’d start reading.
Lots of reasonable points that would be well worth following up on if the entire world wasnt falling apart at the seams 
THIS is the point. Every human being, regardless of race, colour of your skin, nationality, sexual preference, etc., has basic human rights. And in Taiwan, these right are (at least to a certain degree) codified in law.
Taiwan is doing its best to become a modern democracy. And with its track record with lgbt rights (marriage), and its attempt to be seen in the international community as a fair democracy promoting human rights overall, the argument against these things - it is shocking to me that there is pushback of any type found in this forum.
Arguing that some people have it worse than others serves no purpose, and ultimately undermines the rights that are being fought for.
I just don’t get it.
Well, this differs from my experience - I was granted a Costco credit card late last year. No Taiwanese connection, standard westerner, recently arrived, only one month in work here… you guys’ experience leaves me feeling priveleged
And anyone that has been in TW long enough and knows how to navigate the culture skillfully understands that what is codified in law and what happens behind closed doors in business there is very different. Publicly rigid, privately flexible. Those laws are pretty malleable, depending on whom, and what, and where its being discussed.
I don’t believe anyone is arguing against democracy here. I think they are calling for a sense of perspective as to what battles are worth engaging in and which ones aren’t.
What fights are going on? Maybe it’s a matter of better or more effective organization then. It sounds like there is a common sense of frustration with some of the rules and laws there.
I’m going to remember that discrimination is not a battle worth engaging in.
I believe it is, but how would anyone go about undoing that in TW? Appeals through the legal system? Newspaper stories? Unions? I have no idea.
Well, that’s the whole point of the thread, no?
Hey, if people are serious about this I’ll help make some calls from here.