What bank should a newcomer use for the first local bank account? Something like a checking account in the US. I’d like to use it for making transfers, paying bills, and making payments at grocery stores or restaurants where my US credit cards are not accepted. I have a checking account with HSBC US. I’m thinking to open a checking account with HSBC TW so that I can use HSBC Global Money Account to transfer money to Taiwan to cover my initial living expenses. From what I’ve read HSBC isn’t one of the most popular banks in Taiwan and many stores don’t take their cards. So I’m thinking I’ll need to open an account with another local bank that are more widely accepted, including at the smaller shops. Any suggestions which banks I should go with? And if the city make a difference, I’m thinking Taipei and Kaohsiung. Thanks!
I use HSBC Premier for the fee free global transfers and fee free ATM or online transfer.
I use credit cards from Fubon Costco card… CTBC china Airlines card or Cathay Cube card…
Checking accounts are a thing of the past as no one issues checks anymore. You can link Line Pay or Google pay etc on your phones as well.my HSBC branch is in Taichung
Thanks @Satellite_TV. Sounds like if I open an account with HSBC TW, link it to LINE Pay or Google Pay and I’ll be OK in most places? I won’t have a job or income, at least not initially. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get a local credit card. I have US cards that don’t charge exchange fees but I heard a lot of stores don’t accept them. If LINE Pay and Google Pay are widely accepted it’ll probably work fine. I can always carry a small amount of cash for smaller stores. Are online stores more friendly with US credit cards?
If still in US, get Capital One Quicksilver.
No fee on F/x. I can confirm that after so many times swiping and checking spot NTD rate with what it charged account in USD.
Thanks @CTaitung . I’m still in the US. I have a couple of cards that don’t charge foreign exchange fees. My main concern is that the US cards are only accepted at the larger shops. The small shops only accept certain local cards. I’m not sure how bad it is, maybe not a real issue if I always carry a small amount of cash.
Nope, I’ve made purchases under NT$100 (under US$3) with that card at all kinds of shops.
The Post Office bank is usually the easiest to deal with but they don’t offer as many services. If you just want a transaction account with branches everywhere then I’d go with the post office.
Also my Australian credit and bank cards have worked everywhere I’ve tried to use them.
If you want to withdraw cash, Cathay Bank ATMs don’t charge as much to use an overseas card.
If you have an employer here, they will likely insist you open an account at their bank anyway to get direct deposit. From there you can take out the money if you don’t like that bank and go with whichever bank you prefer.
I like E. Sun personally but they have long lines at the branches I go to. Taishin isn’t bad either. I would not say any of them make foreigner lives easier so pick a colour of bank you like better
Get HSBC premier US now, then as u come here get HSBC TW premier for free to just use as “transfer bank” to move money in and out of TW. As local bank I like Cathay United, but tbh I was impressed by the speed of account opening and good quality of the app of Bank of Taiwan.
As @justintaiwan said the post office is probably the easiest account to open, but requires u to get a personal seal.
English?
Yes
@Mataiou has an ARC but no local employer. He has managed to apply for and been approved for many credit cards.
Here’s a thing for online shopping, I have a credit card from Australia but the address for that card is in Taiwan. So I can use it without issues. If you do online shopping and want to have goods shipped to a Taiwan address your own card provider may flag it as a suspicious transaction as the billing address is not in Taiwan.
Anyway my wife mainly does all the online purchasing for local goods. I use my Fuban Coscto card only at Coscto and my China Trust China Airlines cards for everything else. If I do go to a PC Mart I use the Cathay Cube card which has 3% cashback. I live in a remote area away from the cities so having stuff delivered is easy in Taiwan.
My wife has a Bank of Taiwan account for her local savings.
Taiwan is not credit or debit-card crazy (yet). I’d argue that having cash in your wallet is actually approaching essential, for payments for utility bills at convenience stores, etc.
Cash is/was certainly faster than swiping the voucher, the membership card and Google Wallet *(I’ve been stood behind customers as they fiddled with their phones to do that).
In fact, it’s often cheaper to pay bills at the convenience store than to use an ATM transfer. And things like adding $$$ to Easycards, though local CCs have that function to auto-add, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to add via an overseas CC. Cash is the only other choice AFAIK.
The amounts being discussed are too small to really care about of course, but I haven’t paid a fee for any bill payments for maybe a year now. I usually do it using either JKOPay or from my Mega Bank app (with or without TaiwanPay) or automatically from my CTBC account. That includes electricity, water, NHI, and internet. Convenience stores still charge a small fee.
Yes, that’s my plan.
Good suggestions. Since I am not planning to get a car, I’ll probably go with one (from the suggested banks) that has a branch near wherever I end up living.
Most of times, those r actually the only branches which will allow u3to open the account. Nearly impossible to open an account at a random branch unless u don’t have a connection to that area (house or office usually)
Good to know. With a HSBC Premier checking account (US, will open one in TW), is it going to be easier to get a credit card approved with HSBC TW (if having an HSBC TW credit card helps when I apply for other local credit cards (with better rewards, benefits)? Without a local employer, what supporting document do they look for for a credit card approval? I don’t have any regular income at this point but I have occasional (on & off, not regular) schedule K-1 distributions from the US businesses I invested in.
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This is mainly so that the card issuing bank won’t flag the transactions as fraudulent, and has nothing to do with if the cards will be accepted by the online stores, right?
Adding them to my list of credit cards to look into. Thanks.
Oh I see. So they’ll need utility bills, etc. to prove that you live in the area? What if I stayed at a hotel for a few months? No local employer so no office location.
Nah, just the address printed on your ARC, that’s the address proof here.
Hmm. That’ll be the address of the hotel 