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CC / money transfer suggestions for Chinese wife residing in China.

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K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: CC / money transfer suggestions for Chinese wife residing in China.


@OldSchoolAdmin wrote:

I'm not sure that Schwab would do what we need as there are no branches on the mainland.  The closest one is a 6+ hour flight to Hong Kong. 

 

We really need everything to be online end-to-end and ideally function in her digital wallets.


I can't seem to find any fine print stating you must be a resident of PRC to apply.  It's possible that these Citi UnionPay cards might be an option?  It seems the US-issued ICBC cards definitely may have issues getting verified to apps.

https://www.citibank.com.cn/sim/english/ICARD/index.htm

 

Message 11 of 16
longtimelurker
Epic Contributor

Re: CC / money transfer suggestions for Chinese wife residing in China.


@K-in-Boston wrote:

@OldSchoolAdmin wrote:

I'm not sure that Schwab would do what we need as there are no branches on the mainland.  The closest one is a 6+ hour flight to Hong Kong. 

 

We really need everything to be online end-to-end and ideally function in her digital wallets.


I can't seem to find any fine print stating you must be a resident of PRC to apply.  It's possible that these Citi UnionPay cards might be an option?  It seems the US-issued ICBC cards definitely may have issues getting verified to apps.

https://www.citibank.com.cn/sim/english/ICARD/index.htm

 


Yes, they call out certain places, which suggests being a resident outside PRC is OK if you are not in one of these places:

 

  • I understand the products and services mentioned in this application form are not offered to individuals resident in the European Union, European Economic Area, Switzerland, Guernsey and Jersey. This application form is not, and should not be construed as, an offer, invitation or solicitation to buy or sell any of the products and services mentioned herein to such individuals.
Message 12 of 16
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: CC / money transfer suggestions for Chinese wife residing in China.


@OldSchoolAdmin wrote:

US husband / Chinese wife.  We have homes in both countries and she resides in China fulltime while I'm 75/25 ish and work in the US.

 

I transfer money to her monthly for our bills and life there.  For years I have been using Xoom (PayPal company) to send the money.  I fund the transfers directly from my bank here, to her bank there.  I have even funded it with a CC once to make sure it would work if I should need it.  It has always been a love/hate relationship with Xoom, but as of December 2020 they are no longer able to make transfers to China.  For a month I have been getting "It's a technical glitch" from them so I moved on to Transferwise, which has worked without any issues whatsoever.

 

Transferwise's fee's are high, but Xoom was just undependable and now, unavailable, so I'm looking for other options.

 

This is what I'm thinking if it is possible:  Getting an ICBC UnionPay credit card here in the US and have her as an AU.  Then she can link her card to WeChat and AliPay, and pay everything from her phone, which is how it's done there.  Once a month I pay the card off here in the US and we're good, no need to transfer money.  At least that's the plan.

 

Is anyone else in a similar situation and tried this?  My concern is that she might not be able to link her US card to her Chinese version of WeChat and Alipay even though I can link my US cards to my International versions of the same Apps.

 

If you are having to do the same thing I would be interested in hearing how you're doing it, especially if it's back to China, as Chinese banking is unique all on it's own. 

 

 Thanks.


Couldn't you just have a joint account with her?


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 13 of 16
OldSchoolAdmin
Established Member

Re: CC / money transfer suggestions for Chinese wife residing in China.

I checked the application and it does look doable, although it seems much more indepth than what we are use to filling out for a credit card here.

Message 14 of 16
OldSchoolAdmin
Established Member

Re: CC / money transfer suggestions for Chinese wife residing in China.

Yes, joint or AU, but it also has to work with her Chinese apps.

 

However I think she has found the answer and I will post it in a seperate reply after this one.

Message 15 of 16
OldSchoolAdmin
Established Member

Re: CC / money transfer suggestions for Chinese wife residing in China.

Update:

 

She just updated her WeChat a couple of days ago to a new point version, 7.x.x.x  to the new 8.x.

 

I asked her to go check the CC setup for info and we were both kinda shocked.  It has a new card linking option for international cards.  The following is what it says:

 

Currently, WeChat Pay supports international cards issued by the following credit card companies:  Visa, Mastercard, Amex, JCB, Diners Club, and Discover.  You can link international credit cards issued by banks outside Mainland China, but can not link single currency cards issued by banks within Mainland China.

 

It also says that it must be in her name and they will make and reverse a small charge to verify the card.  It also said something about this feature being added for people traveling outside of China and for overseas students.

 

Talk about perfect timing.  She was pretty excited because the whole transfering funds thing really stresses her out.

 

So, it appears that the answer to this is to make her an AU on one of my cards I already have, then have her link it under the International Card Management.

 

 

Message 16 of 16
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