Chinese bank account for a one-year stay?

[Pascal Ma]

大家好！

I will likely be going to Beijing to study for one year this september and I was wondering what do most people do about bank accounts.

Do most people open up an account in a chinese bank and transfer money into it from their bank in their country of origin (in my case Canada)?

Or do you mostly just withdraw money from your original account in RMB from ATMs in China?

Also does anyone have an account with the HSBC (a big bank that operates worldwide, at least both China and Canada)? If so, how does it work, are your national account in [your currency] and your chinese account in RMB linked somehow? Can you easily transfer from one to another?

I've seen a few threads about banking, but on specific stuff, I'm looking for general testimonials, the most basic stuff.

I'm about to switch banks (for another reason), and I saw that about the HSBC, and was wondering if it could be a good option.

Thanks! 谢谢！

[taylor04]

I don't really know about HSBC, but if theres a Bank of America in Canada you can use that. One of the best options seems to be Bank of America. They own a percentage of China Construction Bank and have made a deal so that Bank of America users can withdrawal from CCB atms for free. I used this option for a year and it was great! I even remember traveling around China with friends and and as soon as they left the city they opened their account with, they got hit with fees, but I didn't!

There may be a very very small fee for switching the currency, but I have done the numbers before and never noticed a difference between the RMB withdrawn and the USA dollar amount(after converting the amount). Basically you open a online checking account with BoA and they send you a "check card" which is basically a debit card you can make purchases with.

You will be hit with heavy fees if you don't use a CCB ATM, I think it was 5-10 dollars from BoA and then 5-10 dollars from the China bank.

Edited March 26, 2010 at 10:32 PM by taylor04

[abcdefg]

Also does anyone have an account with the HSBC...?

HSBC works fine for what you need and is indeed a good option. They have ATM's in major cities, including Beijing. See their website for locations. If you have an HSBC Premier account you can just withdraw money from it while in China without incurring fees.

[SiMaKe]

abcdefg,

I didn't find on their website's map a branch/ATM in Kunming. What did you do while you were/are there? I'm headed to that area in about a month so am interested in options.

taylor04

Just to clarify, even though CCB (according to their website) is located in the HK area, there are available in other regions ATM's from which you can withdraw without incurring significant fees?

Thanks for any help.

Edited March 27, 2010 at 09:35 PM by SiMaKe

[taylor04]

CCB is one of the major banks in China. It has branches and atms all over mainland China. There are no significant fees because there are no fees. It is absolutely free, I looked around and it looks like even the normal currency conversion fee is waived. I used it throughout my year in China, got back, closed the account only to find out I'm going back over and opened a new account! Won't be doing that again... It really is the best option, no fees anywhere in China, all your money is in USD, and you can get money anywhere in China. Downsides are that if you lose the card, you would most likely have to wait weeks for a replacement, and there is a maximum daily withdrawal limit of 3,000 RMB.

Edited March 27, 2010 at 11:26 PM by taylor04

[abcdefg]

I didn't find on their website's map a branch/ATM in Kunming.

Right. There are no HSBC ATM's in Kunming. I use the ATM's of co-operating banks when here. Still no fee. But unless you plan to maintain a substantial balance in an HSBC Premier account, Taylor's suggestion of using BOA/CCB is probably best.

[Pascal Ma]

Thanks all of you.

I'll just open an account at a chinese bank and withdraw RMB from a chinese ATM from my canadian bank (with fees and such, but large amounts at a time) and deposit it in the chinese account. That'll probably be the less complicated option, as I am uncertain about international electronic transfers. I'll just have to make sure not to get ripped-off with the ATM/conversion fees.

[abcdefg]

I'll just open an account at a chinese bank and withdraw RMB from a chinese ATM from my canadian bank (with fees and such, but large amounts at a time) and deposit it in the chinese account.

You don't really even need the Chinese bank account if you go this route. Just use your Canadian bank card at the ATM of a co-operating Chinese bank to withdraw RMB as you need them.

Be sure to let your Canadian bank know you will be using the card in China or they may "freeze" it, thinking it has been stolen. Getting it "unfrozen" can be difficult to do long distance.

[Pascal Ma]

Well I figured I would get charged for every withdrawal and it would be better to just withdraw a very-big amount. And as I hate to be walking around with a huge sum of cash on me (or keeping it under a mattress, hehe), I was thinking it would be a better option to have the chinese account (with a chinese ATM card)

[gato]

If you use Bank of China, you can deposit a check to yourself from your Canadian Bank. It takes about a month for the check to clear, however, so you need to plan ahead.

[Pascal Ma]

A month!? That's quite... long!

[gato]

It's China. Banks are all owned by the government. Going to the bank is like going to a government office. Prepare to wait in long lines.

[gerri]

btw: Does anybody know if it's allowed for a foreigner to keep a Chinese bank account when not in residence in China anymore?

[imron]

I do, and haven't had any problems so far.

[roddy]

There might be some rule (perhaps in the banks T&C's) about the account being for Chinese residents, but they never actually do any checking.

[natra]

I was going to suggest the same thing Taylor04 said.

I use Bank of America and China Construction Bank allowed me to convert currency for free at their ATM's.

[gerri]

There seems to (usually) be a rather low limit on how much money you can take out of the ATM at one time, however. - Which only makes the "American bank account from bank where you don't have fees in China at certain ATMs"-way all the better.

I think the main reason for getting an account in China would be if you get a salary here, since that will be paid into said account. Or if you want to keep some money in China, perchance. Convenience, once you get a bank card with UnionPay, may be a factor, too...

[waiguoren]

Hello all:

Semi-urgent question: can I use CCB ATMs to deposit USD into my BoA account? (That's a lot of acronyms, I know.) This will save me a lot of hassle.

[abcdefg]

...can I use CCB ATMs to deposit USD into my BoA account?

Not a good idea. Can easily get screwed up and it will take you forever to straighten it out.

[waiguoren]

abcdefg,

I guess you speak from experience. Can you give a bit more detail?