jetsfan1457

Just got off the phone with Chase. They claim that my debit card will not work at all in China, though I have heard
From people who are there that it may work. Does anyone have any experience in this department?

vmsea

tag - curious to know as well.

wanion

I used my chase BA card in china last summer. works fine.

vmsea

What bank's ATM did you try?
China commerical? bank of China?

lin821

See if this sticky credit card thread over China Forum helps:

Using Credit Cards in China

stevenshev

I think the point may have been that the debit functionality won't be there. You can use it as a credit card, as an atm card, but not as a debit card.

JY1024

As this question is specific to a destination, let's shift this over the China forum for further discussion. Thanks! /JY1024, TravelBuzz co-moderator

jiejie

This is the correct interpretation. More specifically, and assuming the card is on the VISA/MC network:
1) A Chase Credit Card can be used as a normal credit card (watch out for DCC, see sticky at top of China forum), or get a cash advance out of an ATM or at an in-person bank teller counter.
2) A Chase Debit/ATM card may be used to get cash out of an ATM (Chase will normally levy a fee for this). But it cannot be used as a debit card.

I rarely used my Chase ATM card because of the fee hit, preferring to use an alternative instead. But it certainly worked fine, as I recall I used it variously at ATM's of Bank of China, ICBC, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications.

deltame

Best ATM option for withdrawing cash (in China) is to use BOA Visa debit card, no fee from any ATM that belongs to China Construction Bank (widely available in most cities in China). If you don't have an account with BOA, you can open a basic no fee checking account (eBanking) then use online ACH at the BOA site to transfer in some money from Chase before you fly out to China. Keep in mind that there is a daily ATM withdrawal limit and the amount could vary, e.g., up to 2500 or 5000RMB/day in Shanghai.

Best credit card option is Discover card (processed via UnionPay in China) or other credit cards that have no foreign exchange fee (but do watch out for DCC as eluded by another poster).

johnathome

I'm a Chase bank customer. You can certainly use your Chase card at any ATM (unfortunately Chase takes a big bite) but can't use it as a debit card there. I rarely use my Chase ATM card due to the cost but had no choice once when my Schwab card wouldnt work at a BOC ATM.

I personally always just carry cash in China and try to avoid using my credit cards except at hotels.

trueblu

Note that the daily withdrawal limit on almost all chinese atms is not a daily limit, but rather a 'this withdrawal just now' limit. I often withdraw 10k from an ATM where the limit is 2500, but just 4 times -- don't even need to take my card out, but it won't spit out more than 2500 in one go. For the BoA card, you can set what daily withdrawal limit you want -- and it's fairly generous if you want it to be.

tb

jiejie

Many Merchants Bank ATM's around China are preprogrammed to give you RMB 3000 per transaction option. There are not as many of them around China as the Big Four State Banks, though. Foreign cards usually work well in them.

deltame

Despite having set a higher daily limit (USD$1500/day, verified in online BOA account profile), my experience is that I can only withdraw up to 5000RMB per day (i.e., 2 transactions) from China Construction Bank ATMs in Shanghai. If I try to take another 2500RMB, it fails and tells me that I'm over the limit. Not sure if its because there needs be a larger buffer between USD to RMB daily limits for foreign withdraws, as I don't maintain a high balance in my BOA account -- I use it only to channel thru the cash amounts that I might need while traveling. If I need a larger cash amount for later use, I'd just take cash from the ATM each day for a few days. That said, many purchases in China can be made by credit cards, and my Discover card has been quite useful (I also carry with me the Chase Sapphire Preferred visa card as a backup).

trueblu

I can't recall what my ratio of 'withdrawn' to 'allowed to withdraw' was: I now earn in RMB, so don't use my BoA visa for those purposes. But I'm pretty sure that I withdrew more than 5000RMB in one day from my BoA account at least once, when getting my rental deposit.

tb

mnredfox

ATM - fine
Use as credit card - fine
Use as debit card - don't expect it to work