I have a credit card issued by a sizeable U.S. bank, it has the visa or MC logo on it, don’t remember which, and in the rest of the world it works everywhere.
But not in Taiwan. PX rejects it. Carrefour is fine. Shopee is a no go, Momo is fine.
How can I find out whether it will work or not before filling up a shopping cart or driving to Nova to look at computers, etc?
The majority of places in Taiwan only accept local credit cards, it’s not even worth trying here. One of the many banking frustrations you will experience while living here. The only advise I can give you is either get a local card or start carrying around large amounts of cash.
Been here a long time, and yes, banking here is dominated by geriatric mentalities.
I want to use my funds in the US for many things. This is such a pain in the ass.
You probably can’t. I have had the same problem with Cards issued in Australia when travelling in Europe - UK and France specifically - some Merchants (the on-line variety usually, face to face and things worked OK) will not accept Cards issued outside of the Country, or outside the EU - and you only find out when you try and get some message about the Card being Invalid.
SNCF would not let me buy a train ticket from the machines at CDG Airport, but the humans behind the counter inside were OK with it. And in the UK, a Mobile Phone Company happily took my Card when I purchased a SIM Card and added some Value in a store at Manchester Airport, but a couple of weeks later when I attempted a top-up via the Internet on a weekend the Computer said NO.
Call your bank in the US. Make sure all overseas spending restrictions are fully unlocked.
I don’t get why websites will do this. Maybe the transaction fee is a little higher for them but they probably still get a nice profit, right?
They have a deal with the local bank. Chuanlian is like this.
That’s not it. Many merchants in Taiwan only work with certain banks. This is what we mean about the antiquated banking system here. It works well for old people who have never left the country, or young people who won’t ever be able to afford to.
Long-shot here but has anyone had this experience with the NOVA merchants?
I wonder how the PXmart/ local bank get around the terms from Visa/MC which I’m pretty sure have stipulations against the practice.
My guess was that it was Security related - fraudulent transactions - and they actually wanted to see the card, not some number on an otherwise blank Card with Mag stipe and Chip that had been generated and happened to work.
Fraud happens in ways like that, they generate numbers and try them out online with small transactions to see if the number is valid. if it works, then they generate a card and someone gets sent on a spending spree until such time that the Security area of the Card issuer starts seeing alarms. I have been on the receiving end of this a few years back - a second card that I had held for over 12 months, never used (as a backup card, no intent to use it), suddenly got used at a Supermarket in Sydney for a small amount, and an hour later at another Supermarket for another small amount. Not enough to trigger alarms apparently. Then the spending spree started, into the Apple Store they went, about AUD5000 in one hit (no doubt I-Phones to sell cheaply for cash later). That set the alarms off and I got a phone call from the Bank asking if I had made some purchases. Fortunately it cost me nothing, the Bank locked the Card, and sent me a new one with a different number. I don’t know who ended up paying, I suspect probably the Bank.
I’ve never had a problem using my TW debit or credit cards in the U.S. or anywhere online.
Many stores, especially supermarkets have deals with certain Taiwan banks to only accept their cards.
That is absolutely stupid.
Unfortunately, this is not possible. Compatibility depends on a strange combination of the payment processor of the store, whether your US bank supports older Visa/MC security features in use here, and even whether you are using a physical card or a digital wallet (e.g. Apple Pay).
That said, over time you learn which places are likely to support US credit cards, such as:
7-11 only accepts some credit cards. For example, they don’t accept Hua Nan cards. Also, it’s been a few years since I tried, but if I recall they don’t accept foreign cards whatsoever
If it’s any consolation (I’m sure it isn’t), you can suffer the same issues with a local credit card - Costco is the biggest culprit I suppose, but PX Mart is also annoying. I was stuck using cash at PX Mart for a while despite having a local credit card.
Our Costco credit card is our favorite, because it is Cathay United and can therefore be used in convenience stores, supermarkets, and obviously, Costco. Of all the cards we have, it is the one that is accepted in the most places, so it’s set as the default card on my Apple Pay, which I try to use for everything.
Now if I can just find a US version of that.
Yup, that’s true, but for me at least the rewards system is awful. If I’ve got this right, it’s 0.5% for non-Costco purchases, and 1% for Costco purchases, with what seems to be dramatic rounding down for the non-Costco purchases. On the other hand the ChinaTrust / Line card I recently got is 1% for any Taiwanese purchases, 2.8% for international. I’m now using the Cathay one for Costco only.
Not that the rewards systems are huge anyway, but the Cathay one annoyed me with purchase after purchase in PXMart in the $200-300 range, and zero points for any of it, whereas with LINE at least I’m getting a small accumulation of points for those.
Mind you, maybe that’ll change next week. I’m never sure how these promotions work.
Or am I missing some other promotion I should be using within Apple Pay?