Originally Posted by
Kkwong4
I have heard that it is very difficult to find stores that will accept visa credit card in China. I plan to take taxi, eat out and try out a hair salon in Hangzhou or Shanghai. Is that the case for you all?
Also, is the Charles Schwab debit card exchange rate same as any other visa card exchange rate? I once used Charles Schwab debit card to withdraw money in Canada and the exchange rate was horrible.
You'll probably get better answers in the China forum, but my experience from living in Hangzhou a couple years ago went like this:
- Most mid-range restaurants and shops (including western fast food) will accept Visa. Hole-in-the-wall joints and street food are cash-only or some local version of "Apple Pay"
- Again, I've found that most mid-range hair salons do accept Visa, but it's best to ask beforehand.
- I've yet to find a taxi that accepts Visa. If you use Didi you should be able to link an int'l Visa card.
- Schwab was and still is my go-to card for getting cash while overseas. The FX rate fluctuates, but I've found lately it matches what Google shows most of the time, although in fairness I'm not sure where Google pulls their data from. I noticed it was almost the exact same rate as my USAA debit card.
Personally I'd just take out a stack of RMB from your Schwab card since you can rest assured you'll never have problems with it being accepted anywhere. Occasionally I've had issues with foreign Visa's being processed...sometimes credit requiring a PIN, and weird things like that.