I got an e-mail from ICBC saying that the minimum balance for their checking account is increasing to $1,500 to avoid a $15 monthly fee. A monthly direct deposit of $250 continues to serve as a fee waiver too.

This is the only card I have that doesn’t support Apple Pay. Makes sense given the website still looks like it’s from 2005.

I’ve been using it for EV charging as the slow chargers only cost a few bucks and I don’t have a card with a permanent category (cards with gas multipliers generally don’t count for EV). Amazon Reload GC is also a good idea, though the min amount seems to have been raised to $5 recently.

I haven't made a charge on this card in quite some time. I probably should so that it doesn't get cancelled. I had to contact ICBC about my checking account a couple of months ago because my account was in an inactive state due to no activity. (It wasn't an issue getting it reactivated.)

The (somewhat) recent update to the website annoys me. They blocked password managers from directly inputting in the password, so I have to copy paste the password somewhere and manually type it in character by character. Also if you click out of the password box it deletes everything you've typed in.

I just use FaceID on the app and don’t need to enter anything. It still works, unless you want to access it on a laptop.

It would be great if they allow us to add this card to WeChat pay or Alipay. In China, the use of this card is very limited. Major retailers that have POS machine, you can use the card. But some of them still hesitant, because nobody use physical card. Most places only do WeChat pay/Alipay. It’s been 6 years now since I last used this card in China.

I’ve been asking for years now to ICBC to have the card connect with Apple Pay as well. Perhaps then we could top up transit cards in the Apple wallet.

The replies I’ve received have been to the effect of “we’re not considering that at this time.”

Just for info ICBC Asia (not quite ICBC Mainland but certainly better than ICBC US) allows adding Unionpay to Apple Pay

Well turns out I forgot about this again and my card is expiring this month. Of course I didn't get a replacement card automatically. It looks like my current card only had 2 years validity rather than the 3 years noted above. I messaged them (sans DL) and let's see what happens.

Since WeChat and AliPay now accept foreign Visa/MC, this card no longer has a real use. I probably won't bother to close it since there's no AF and I'm grandfathered into not having a bank account but I would close it otherwise.

Coincidentally, my card expired in December, and I'm still in the process of renewing it! (The replacement cards have already been shipped.)

There was a delay for more than a month because the UnionPay card design had changed. By the time that I received the updated replacement cards, the activation time had expired. ICBC had to ship a second pair of cards for myself and my authorized user.

I still have a bank account, which has a minimum balance of $1,500 now. Despite no planned trips to Mainland China in the foreseeable future, I'm still hesitant to close this card. :D

My last trip to Mainland China was right before the 2020 shutdowns, and Alipay had no fees on its Tour Pass. I used that predominantly, but there were a few establishments that took credit cards, including UnionPay, and so that's where I used the card. (There were almost always strange looks that were curious how some random laowai had a UnionPay card.) Strangely, The Fairmont Peace Hotel did not accept UnionPay or Alipay, but I had no issues with DCC on a Visa card.

Oops, false alarm. They actually mailed it and I received it, I just misplaced it. The new card is valid for 3 years.
I tried to readd it to Hulu which worked with the old card but the new card doesn't work. It also can't be added to PayPal or Apple Pay. The quest continues

In the meantime I ended up getting a HSBC China debit card (posted a lot more details in this thread https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chin...iscussion.html) so I'm all covered

The one that ICBC US previously shipped was also valid for 3 years, but I couldn't activate it. I'm hoping that the one arriving this week doesn't have any issues.

I do a small charge at least once per year to keep the card from going inactive, but all renewals I've had since 2020 have not been automatic. ICBC US says it's due to having to update my driver's license, but I've still had to request new cards even though my driver's license hasn't changed.

Update: I was able to activate the ones that arrived today. The validity is also 3 years. Compared to the cards issued in 2022, the only difference is the chip is a bit smaller.

I was able to add this card to WeChat Pay. It has “international bank card” restriction, and >$200RMB still have 3% fee. So, still very much useless. You’d be better off just adding any flat 2% cash back credit card instead.

To add: For Alipay, the card is not subject to 3% international card fee for transaction >$200 RMB.