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Changing Money

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Glasgow Kiss

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #15 on: August 27, 2007, 10:37:15 AM »
I just changed mine at the airport in shanghai....


It's not convenient at all (as far as location) but the rates when I did it were the same as standard Market, and the exchange part was cake, just passport.
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ybielsalohcin

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #16 on: August 27, 2007, 10:09:09 PM »
USD to RMB-

I happen to be lucky enough to be a member of a credit union back in the US.  I use my ATM card here in China (so far at HSBC, Agricultural, Industrial, and Bank of China) with absolutely zero fee and near ideal exchange rates.  This has worked to varying degrees in different countries.  The exchange rate is always good, but in Greece there was a $2 fee and in Venezuela $1.  It definitely beats Bank of America and the like, which hit my girlfriend for $5 per withdrawal in Greece. So if you happen to have the credit union option open to you I highly recommend it, at least for here. 

RMB to USD-

I haven't tried this, but can you set up online payment using Chinese bank accounts?  It's a slower process, but if you can pay foreign credit card bills with your Chinese bank then that's another back door route.   

Credit Card-

On a tangential note, credit cards tend to get ideal rates, but then they charge you 1-3% on top.  Some credit card plans are better for this than others.  In the US at least, Capital One doesn't charge this exchange fee at all, so I have a nice shiny Capital One card sitting around waiting for me to figure out a way to use it in China.  The fee is always listed in the fine print of your agreement under 'foreign currency transaction' or something along those lines.
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NOYB

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #17 on: September 16, 2007, 05:13:16 PM »
Quote from: contemporarydog on July 13, 2007, 03:45:06 AM
Quote from: non-dave on April 26, 2007, 03:35:51 PM
Set up an account at Bank of China, or any other bank that issues cards that have Maestro access.

Send the card home and tell them the pin number via e-mail, phone or something (i.e. don't send it with the card).

Put money into the account whenever you eed to. Others can withdraw cash from ATM's at home, in local currency.

The money is changed. Hey Presto!

But the pin code for a chinese account has six numbers.  UK ones only allow for 4.  So how does this work?

In China, most ATMs will facilitate using only 4-digit PIN codes for those with foreign credit / debit cards.

I'd imagine that in the UK you can also get cash on a foreign card with a 6-digit PIN.  I remember getting cash from ATMs in the UK with my US cards and they all have 6-digit PINs.
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James the Brit

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #18 on: February 02, 2009, 02:15:01 PM »
Does the cash have to be in USD to send it via western union?

I know this was the case pre-olympics. Is it still the case?
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AMonk

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #19 on: February 03, 2009, 12:07:59 AM »
YES.  Even here, where our currency is on par, a BD$ cheque will be subject to a fee (10-20% extra, if memory serves me). 
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ericthered

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #20 on: February 03, 2009, 06:58:55 PM »
James, it is indeed. I was travelling with a friend who had to send money home through WU. It had to be in USD.
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paddyfields

Re: Changing Money
« Reply #21 on: March 13, 2009, 11:55:19 PM »
Be careful when dealing with the "currency exchange consultants". A recent post on a Wuxi "expats" forum was as follows.

Quote
Men Exchange money outside Bank of China ROBBED ME I was robbed of RMB 1,400. I needed $200 and going to Bank of China, the men asking to exchange money, I told them no thanks because it will be fake, they told me, we can go to Construction Bank they can test to make sure. The teller inside Construction Bank told me it is real dollars. That means we should be careful who we trust. Needless to say Bank of China took the money because it is fake money.

Having said that an ex colleague of mine used these consultants all the time. But what she would do when wanting to buy Euro was ... Having agreed a rate she would take the Euro into Bank of China and lodge the money into her account. Thus having verified that the money was not fake she would then pay the "currency exchange consultants"
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Nolefan

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #22 on: March 14, 2009, 12:08:48 AM »
it's only safe if they actually deposit the money in an account.. once the bank takes it, you can relax. then withdraw it afterwards.

If they ask to go to a different bank, then they might have an accomplice there
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Guangzhou Writer

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #23 on: April 02, 2013, 05:25:45 AM »
Recently sent some money to Canada with Western Union and they would only allow me to send USD. There was a flat $15 fee and it took the girl behind the window, no lie, it took her over 30 minutes of shuffling papers to get it done.
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Pashley

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #24 on: April 02, 2013, 09:30:35 AM »
Quote from: gzwriter on April 02, 2013, 05:25:45 AM
Recently sent some money to Canada with Western Union and they would only allow me to send USD.

At one point a foreign friend in a different Chinese city wanted to borrow some money & he suggested W Union, so I toddled round to their local office. They would only send US dollars and could not even do the exchange; they wanted me to go down the road to Bank of China and bring them US cash.

I walked away, asked my borrower for his bank account number, and made an rmb deposit there.
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rongwei

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #25 on: April 03, 2013, 04:37:32 PM »
I recently was surprised to learn that Citibank will accept UnionPay in the USA. There is actually a long list of countries (105) where Unionpay is accepted; check out Wikipedia. I know everyone may have slightly different money exchange requirements, but this information may prove useful to some on this site.
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roadwalker

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #26 on: April 04, 2013, 05:20:26 AM »
Quote from: rongwei on April 03, 2013, 04:37:32 PM
I recently was surprised to learn that Citibank will accept UnionPay in the USA. There is actually a long list of countries (105) where Unionpay is accepted; check out Wikipedia. I know everyone may have slightly different money exchange requirements, but this information may prove useful to some on this site.

In the US, Citibank (includes 7/11s); Wells Fargo; and Chase now spit out US cash from China Union Pay cards (some sources say the account no. must start with 6 or higher). I used all three at some point the last couple of summers.  Chase charged $3 a pop as of last summer where Wells F. and 7/11(Citi) charged $5.  There may be others besides too big to banks but I'm not aware of them.
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Escaped Lunatic

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #27 on: April 04, 2013, 08:54:32 PM »
And on the flip side, Discover is trying to grab market share in China.  To get started, they are now accepted anywhere in China that takes UnionPay and they aren't charging any fees to merchants (yet).
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Canadapanda

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #28 on: April 06, 2013, 08:20:38 PM »
My friend who sends his cards home says Agriculture Bank of China has a much lower international service charge than ICBC for the conversion from RMB to USD.  I am not sure what the actual numbers are, but you might want to consider checking out their charges.  I think he said something like 5% for ICBC and 3.5% for ABC.
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aninvisiblehand

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Re: Changing Money
« Reply #29 on: April 06, 2013, 09:51:37 PM »
I also sent an Agricultral Bank card to the US for someone to withdraw money for me. Ag Bank's exchange rate is excellent (6.21 actual vs. 6.22 your exchange rate), however they also charge a fee of about 1.3% of the amount you take out.

You can use any ATM in the "Pulse" network. https://www.pulsenetwork.com/atmcal/search.do
« Last Edit: April 07, 2013, 02:29:18 AM by aninvisiblehand »
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