aqua8lung Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 ATM: Probably the cheapest way to send money is by giving the Chinese fiancée an ATM (automatic teller machine) card for an account on a bank in the U.S. The ATM card must be good on a network like Cirrus or Star, and the Chinese fiancée must be able to find an ATM on the network. For example, in Beijing, Star and Cirrus ATM's are available. My SO is in Xian and has no problem. In addition, the U.S. fiancé should check with his bank which networks work internationally. The ATM card may bear symbols for several networks, but not all of them work outside the U.S. Make sure the PIN number is only 4 characters ( numbers or letters). Mail the ATM card and the PIN at separate times, or give the PIN number over the phone. I have sent my SO an ATM card and when she got it I text messaged her the pass code.The U.S. fiancé deposits money into the account. It is available to the Chinese fiancée a day later. The fee is typically $3.00 It seems that most ATM's in China are at bank branches, not free-standing. The Chinese fiancée can get yuan. The exchange rate is reasonable. The Bank of China is one of the best to use. Link to comment
cosmiclobster Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 If you do this, you need to carefully check the fees that your bank will charge. I opened a Citibank account after my first trip to China because there were Citibanks in Shanghai. But I found out they were different "Citibanks" and there was still a high % transfer fee, or a long wait to get the money. Citibank has since changed the fee schedule and it's better now, but there still is a fee.I used another one of my accounts and there was a $7.50 fee for each withdrawal in China. Link to comment
amerchin Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 This is good if the amount your SO needs is small. They will allow a certain limit to withdraws just like the US. If you're in a small town it will be tougher to find the ATMs. I will agree the service charge is cheap for a small amount of cash. If you need to send a large amount SO's bank account and WU would be better. Link to comment
warpedbored Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 All of my trips to Nanning I had nothing but trouble with trying to use bank cards. I bank at US Bank and am on the cirrus and star networks but ATM machines would either not give me any money or only give me 100 RMB. I ended up having to go inside and see the teller where of course I was charged a 3% fee. At one time I got Bing this prepaid IKOBO bank card. Major hassle. It would only let her have 1000 RMB a day and charged 3 dollars everytime she used it plus the transfer fees. Once she tried to use it twice in one day and it wouldn't let her have the money yet the Bank of China processed it anyway. Took me 2 months to straighten it out. I have heard many say the bank card route worked well for them. For me it was nothing but headaches. I went back to reliable WU. Never any problem. Link to comment
aqua8lung Posted June 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 At most banks you can take out 2000 yuan a day, and the fee from Washington Mutual is only $3.00, As I siad I like the Bank of China, but even they say on the screen before you accept that you should keep your record. Do they not trust the people in the bank? I have never had a problem with them. Link to comment
david_dawei Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 I took out the limit one day, think it was about 2500 RMB.... and then had a heck of a time explaining why I had to wait 24 hours to do another withdraw !! Link to comment
aqua8lung Posted June 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Hey, David, that is a lot of money in China...you must be living the "high life."What did you spend 2500 yuan on, may I ask? Link to comment
david_dawei Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 we withdrew money over a few days.. we were buying our wedding rings ! But believe me, Baoding is a very poor city.. and most everything is very cheap... so that money would normally go very far... She had no hot water, so also a hot water tank was bought so they could now take a shower in their apartment... Link to comment
aqua8lung Posted June 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 My lao po lives in very much the same conditions in Xian. She only has cold running water but I hope she will be here soon...Ni hui shuo Zhongwen ma? Link to comment
david_dawei Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 My lao po lives in very much the same conditions in Xian. She only has cold running water but I hope she will be here soon...Ni hui shuo Zhongwen ma?yea, no hot water, no shower, no frig, and on the sixth floor ! I got a lot of exercise !! I can speak only very little.. I am studying myself and hope to learn under Zixuan. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now