tmiw

Normally I'd agree, but UnionPay has to know that PBOC acceptance in the US isn't all that great. You'd think they'd provide some guidance to issuers to ensure a good customer experience insomuch as possible. Of course, such guidance might not actually be mandatory for issuers to follow.

reclusive46

I agree. Discover has no issues with all the fallback transactions abroad because they know that Discover's EMV acceptance is poor internationally.

Majuki

UnionPay and Mainland Chinese issuers might know this, but I still maintain that most people are using this card in Mainland China where the PBOC protocol would be widely supported. It doesn't even need to be the issuer blocking transactions. Merchants who realize they might be liable for fallback transactions now could opt to decline a chipped card when the chip fails.

As expected, Walmart worked with PBOC without a PIN or signature:



It's interesting that the receipt still says DISCV TEND. I then went to my local Safeway where the chip card failed to read. I swiped the card, was prompted for the PIN, and asked if I wanted cash back. This transaction went through as a debit purchase. I'm drawing from my memory, but I remember being able to press cancel and run over the Discover network as well.

HGHUA

Anyone else finding it harder to use this card with the rise of wechat pay and alipay? Not just do some places not even take credit cards any more but new terminals designed for qr codes that just happen to have cc swipe too don't work reliably.

Hui lau shan in shenzhen card didn't work, but then again neither did a visa. Had to resort to wechat pay in the end as I had no cash.

Magic Pickles

Majuki

Mine is expiring this morning as well, and I haven't received another card either. I imagine there might be a few people whose cards had an October expiration date? (Applications opened at the end of October 2016.)

Magic Pickles

Majuki

It looks like mine is arriving too based on USPS Informed Delivery. The return address matches the PO box on the account statements.

Jamester

Hi fellas, just now diving into this whole UnionPay thing after an unpleasant trip to China with only my U.S. Visa card. (yikes!) I can go to a local branch here in the Bay Area to apply for the ICBC Union Pay in person, but with all the recent news that WeChat now accept "foreign credit cards" for its wallet (and subsequently plenty of expat websites out there debunking that theory), has anyone recently tried inputting your U.S. UnionPay card into your WeChat wallet?

And the way I understand it with the Chinese-based UP card, it is linked to a current account (so it acts like a debit card over there I suppose). Would there be an advantage to open a new checking account with the US based ICBC or is this UP card operate independently of a checking account?

I am currently running into a situation where my WeChat account needs to be validated (I use a China SIM card to register) and seems like I need to set up a wallet (and of course NONE of my credit cards work!)

Thanks so much in advance for any pointers!

Majuki

I haven't tried inputting the card into a WeChat wallet. There was an example somewhere - I forget if it was here or another forum - of either WeChat or Alipay, but it required a friend "on the inside" to add the card manually.

The US ICBC UnionPay card is independent of the checking account, and acts like a credit card. There are some quirks with this card where it can act like a debit card if manufactured spending is your thing, but that's outside of the scope of this thread and best left as an exercise for the end user.

I signed up for a checking account when I applied for the card in branch at South San Francisco two years ago, but it's not required. Initially you couldn't do a direct bill pay from ICBC's website and had to push the payment from another checking account. However, the third party checking account functionality has been present since early 2017.

Jamester

Many thanks Majuki! I did read someone here whose friend works at AliPay. So no go for the general public.

Good to know (in the U.S.) UP card is a credit card, not debit. I have *other* cards for manufactured spending, so I'm strictly planning to use this in China (so that I don't get laughed at the next time I produce a credit card there).

So it sounds like the main benefit of a U.S. ICBC UP card is strictly for paying with the physical card in China then.... as long as the vendor still has a POS machine, and not some QR code for WeChat, correct?

And I know this may be off-topic but I would love to hear from those who has successfully put in a U.S. based credit card onto their WeChat, since WeChat Pay seems to be the future.

Thx!

HGHUA

He got it into alipay because he knew someone who worked there. Lot of good that does us. I'm really upset this card isn't wechat and alipay compatible. Especially since lots of places now won't even take cards anymore.

I'd gladly authenticate myself with an icbc us checking acct if that worked in the apps. Ughh. I'm kinda tempted to just try to open an acct in shenzhen on a tourist visa which i hear is now possible.

TerryK

You can link a foreign credit card, UnionPay or not, yet you cannot use it unless you are validated against a China based bank account. In other words, this foreign credit card feature is only useful to expats in China or foreigners who can open a bank account in China. BTW, ICBC USA, even though owned by iCBC, is not an eligible bank.

UnionPay cards issued by ICBC USA, however, is useful for card present transactions. Most POS machines in China takes UnionPay only.

Jamester

Thanks Terry, sounds like it's still worth applying for then. I didn't venture out too much in my last trip so failed to survey whether most vendors still have POS machines or not. Eventually I'm sure the answer is a local bank account, just trying to avoid that for now. Happy Friday!

Majuki

I'm in Shenzhen now. I tried to use Google Pay at McDonald's with my CSR (since it said Apple Pay was supported) but the payment failed. I tried QuickPass with the physical UnionPay card, and I'm happy to report that it worked! The Shenzhen Metro also advertises using QuickPass as an open loop payment system, but I sort of want someone else to be the data point for that one.