Hi,
I’ll be coming to Taiwan shortly and will need to be able to access my US account with my ATM card. I lived in Taiwan a few years ago and I remember a friend having issues because his US ATM card has a four digit PIN, while the Taiwanese ATM’s require six digits. I seem to recall that we figured out a way around it (maybe we added two zeroes to the front?), but I can’t remember for sure. Anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks.
My ATM and my friends from US work here in Taiwan with 4-digit PIN. Some have had problems with ATMs that don’t disperse money, but debit the account back home.
Any banks that are more reliable than others?
Try adding two zeroes then your pin number. I have an HSBC account in the US and tried to withdraw money from their HSBC atm in Taipei. I kept punching in the 5 digit pin and it wouldn’t take. Tried it a couple of times over a 3 day period and wouldn’t work. Called up the HSBC customer service center and they confirmed it was a 5 digit pin. On my last day and last try, I used a 0 in front of my pin and it worked.
On a side note, I didn’t give it more than 2 tries per day…wasn’t sure if the atm would have siezed my card after 3 failed attempts like they do in the US.
I use my US ATM card from time to time (most recently in May) and it has always worked with only the four digit PIN. Taiwan ATMs should only demand 6 digits if it is an ATM card with a built-in IC card. The old magnetic stripe ones should still work with only 4 digits; at least it works for me.