But like Alipay do they suddenly block your non-Mainland card for "security reasons" until you provide copies of the card, your passport, and a recent card statement?

And something else I've learned with Alipay. If you can't link your Mainland bank card for any of a number of reasons, you can still pay for things with your Mainland bank card through online banking, if you have a PC handy with IE installed. Saves the Alipay 3 percent credit card fee, plus your bank's foreign-use credit card fee.

(I see I can now bring up a QR payment code on the Alipay app with just a non-Mainland credit card linked, but don't know whether it works for payment.)

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No they don’t seem to have done that. I had a card attached for awhile to WeChat as I used it years ago to validate my account. But it has since expired. I haven’t been able to use that. The card I added yesterday when I noticed JD allows foreign CC to pay went through no problem and I used it today a few times no problem. Then today I added another visa after I had reached a daily transaction limit. I charged four or five times within 30 minutes and assumed it could be a flag as too many charges in a short time.

In my case, I used the card for a bit then Alipay suddenly blocked it. Only way to unravel the problem was to call CS.

I don’t remeber issues with Alipay as I’ve had that going since 2007 and Add cards all the time. I use the Wai Mai (food delivery) feature a lot so I can pay for dinners with my credit cards.

As we're on the topic, I'll mention another recent development.

If you can't use Alipay or Wechat for swipe payments because of problems linking your Mainland bank card, there's a new alternative: UnionPay's QuickPass. The procedure may vary depending on your bank, but I activated QuickPass very quickly on my bank's mobile app; no need to download the UnionPay app. To pay, open the bank app, click on the QuickPass logo, and enter your bank PIN. A QR code will appear, which the cashier scans, and you confirm payment with your PIN again.

This is new and not too widely used at the moment: mostly supermarkets and larger stores and restaurants, the sort of places that accept bank cards. Maybe over time it'll extend to taxis and fruit vendors.

HK, Macau and Taiwan only? Is this the HK-only, HKD version of Wechat Pay?

It's useless in the Mainland.

Well, who knows. One of the things that makes these payment wallets confusing is that they have different wallets for different regions, but they all go by the same name.

The story's worded to suggest that you'll be able to swipe in the Mainland even without a Mainland bank card, but until someone tries it out we can only guess.

This could be a very positive development if true.

Here's another story today that gives more details from the Tencent press release. "Tencent yesterday said it has expanded its user base to Hong Kong residents, who now will not need to have a Chinese bank account or credit card to take advantage of the Mainland’s popular cashless payment system. . . . Besides Hong Kong residents, Tencent opens WeChat to expatriates living in China as well as to Macau and Taiwan residents."

https://www.enterpriseinnovation.net...ount-574816538

I'm a foreigner who spends a lot of time on the Mainland. When I first established my wechat a few years back there was the option to add a VISA/MC card but after adding the card it always said not supported and I deleted the card. I've had a Chinese bank account for a while that's linked up. However in December, I noticed the wallet had changed a bit since last time I checked. The card entry looked a little different and I was able to add a US Visa card. I checked my card account and a small credit $0.05 from WeChat was there.

Since then, I've been able to choose that card as a payment option in limited scenarios. I can't select the VISA when using the pay app (i.e. QR code) or transfer but buying things with JD or Meituan when they bring up the payment selection on WeChat allow me to choose the VISA card for payment. I am guessing it is vendor specific but all the charges are applied to the card as WeChat and not the vendor.

This is all in mainland. I’m in chengdu and use it all here.

I did try try and get my wife’s WeChat connected with a visa credit card and had an issue. So I am in process of verifying. When gave me an error I sumbitted my passport and visa page and then credit card and local phone number. It didn’t ask for all that as it asked me for chinese ID so we will see what else for her needs to be done.

I have wechat with a chinese debit card linked. I'm not living in china, and just added my american visa credit card in wechat wallet successfully. I'm not sure if any payment will go through my credit card when i try to pay in china. I will have to try in couple weeks when i go to china again, will report back.

I wish they'd let me use the WeChat pay function outside of Mainland China. They seem to take this or Alipay everywhere in Asia now but for some reason foreigners aren't allowed to use it outside of Mainland China.

Alipay HK doesn't work in Singapore taxis or Charles & Keith either.

Chinese WeChat accounts will take foreign issued cards, and I use that while I am in China. Works in HK as well.
My HK WeChat account is linked to my HK bank cards, doesn't work in China. I use this account for communications mostly.