Originally Posted by
travelinmanS
I'm not sure why the $500 limit would apply to WeChat and Alipay use abroad as I can definitely use my Union Pay card to buy things for far more than $500 a day outside of the Mainland. I think it's just something that they could fix but don't want to at the moment as relatively few people are affected by this inability to use their payment apps outside of China. I'll just use Apple Pay when I'm out of the Mainland for the time being.
I tried using WeChat pay in Thailand, and it didn’t work at all. Although, it is useful when I am abroad, if I want to book a flight in Chinese currency, as Ctrip accepts WeChat now, as UnionPay requires a tax message code to use online.
I find Alipay basically useless, I have used it about 3 times in the last year. Delta and AirBnB accept Alipay, but when I tried to pay with Alipay, I got a message that stated that the transaction was prohibited for foreign users. Foreign airlines like Aeroflot that accept UnionPay Debit are pretty great.
And yeah, no $500 day limit on Union Pay. That is my work around for the banking situation. I put my mom’s name on my U.S. account, and opened an extra Chinese account and gave the bank card to my parents, so I can easily and quickly send money home.