Henry82

Under the Global ATM Alliance, Bank of America account holders can use their debit cards at China Construction Bank (CCB) ATMs in China to withdraw RMB with no fee. Does it go the other way around?

I have money in my CCB account here in China and would like to be able to access it when I'm back in the states. (Links from searching: #1, #2)

Aside from the CCB-BofA pair, how do Chinese debit cards with UnionPay work in the US? Are there foreign transaction fees? ATM cash withdrawal fees?

China Everbright Bank's customer service gave me the following info:

• Debit purchases can be made directly at the merchant (point of sale) with no fees and limits.
• ATM cash withdrawals incur a 15 RMB fee per transaction and are limited to 10,000 RMB equivalent per day.

*I have not tried the above personally, so can't confirm or deny accuracy... but it seems to be in line with info on UnionPay's site: LINK.

trueblu

There is a thread on here somewhere about ATM fees, and which banks have low ones.

As far as my understanding goes, CCB charges ATM withdrawal fees in all foreign banks (incl. their own branches in HK) -- and since this includes a % component, it can become fairly pricey. Huaxia bank (I think) doesn't charge for the first withdrawal of the day (China time). A 15RMB fixed fee is pretty reasonable, since that is essentially only 0.15% if you can withdraw $1600 (admittedly unlikely!).

However, I'm wondering whether the 6 digit PIN becomes an issue in Europe -- where many ATMs only accept 4 digit PINs. Anyone tried that?

tb

tauphi

I've successfully done so in Germany. As all Chinese banks use 6-digit PIN codes, I would presume that any ATM that handled a UnionPay card would be able to cope with a 6-digit PIN code.

You can find a list of UnionPay-compatible ATMs on unionpay.com.

Henry82

What kind of fees were you charged? Exchange rate?

Henry82

I phoned BofA customer service twice and also chatted with "live specialists" twice regarding our question above.

At first, the reps (except for one) did not acknowledge the China Construction Bank and BofA's alliance and partnership (as expected), but after some research, they confirmed the relationship. When I asked about what fees apply for "using a CCB debit card at a BofA ATM", they gave the usual response that "I would need to contact CCB to find out what fees they would charge (blah blah)...", so I asked specifically for BofA's side of the equation. Their response: the ATM withdrawal fee for non-BofA customers is $3 per transaction. I asked if this includes "foreign banks" and they confirmed "yes". I then asked if BofA assess any foreign exchange fees, and two reps said "no" but one said "1%" (this same rep, who sounded more knowledgeable, mentioned that the international ATM fee is waived for alliance customers). I then asked if there were any daily or per transaction withdrawal limits for such transactions and they said "they would adhere to the limits of the other bank".

In summary

• [*]
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trueblu

Unless things have changed very recently, this isn't true. BoA certainly never charged me a fee for using my UK-issued debit card in their ATMs -- and I did this literally hundreds of times for the several years I lived in the US. And my 'bank' wasn't part of the alliance -- they had v. good terms for foreign ATM withdrawals.

The fee schedule is decided by the issuing bank usually. I just think the reps don't know there is a world outside the US, and were trying to extrapolate the fees a typical US consumer encounters to international customers.

tb

Henry82

trueblue, thanks for the input. I suspected the reps weren't telling the real story. From your experience, did your issuing bank charge any fees? Did BofA charge any foreign exchange fees? Did you have any daily or per transaction withdrawal limits?

trueblu

My bank levied the standard charges for overseas withdrawals. Note, this was a UK 'bank'. I've not used my CCB card overseas, because I know that it charges a lot for withdrawals, so it's not worth it for me. The limit is set by the issuing bank.

I'm not sure who calculates the forex spread -- BoA or the issuing bank. But at any rate, the issuing bank decides whether to levy a charge on forex withdrawals or not (CCB does).

tb