Chinese bank credit debit cards

What do we know about them?

I have an account with "bank of china " with it i got a savings book which i can send money to it and i got a debit card so i can withdraw cash from an ATM,but i can only use it in china,and when i send money to it i must get to the bank within 2 weeks and it will be updated into my savings book.this way i can send money to myself just before i go to china and don't have to carry a lot of cash with me.

I am looking at the idea of setting up a PAYPAL account so money can be put into it and taken out of it from here in the states.


Thanks for the info

Clif

Clif,

I bank with Bank of America. China Construction Bank is their affiliate in China. I use my Visa Debit Card from B of A at CCB with no problems and no fees and able to withdraw each day 2000 RMB.

I have a Wal-Mart Visa MoneyCard I got so I can deposit money to it from my B of A account and have posted and available within 10 minutes. It comes with 2 cards. One for the primary holder that deposits money to the account. The other card I gave to Shu to use when I deposit money to the card because it costs $3 for the transaction compared to wiring money via bank-to-bank wire transfer, which is $35 for international with B of A. She is able to go to any bank ATM and withdraw money, as long as the ATM has the Visa logo. This works very well for us because she is able to pay our rent, utility bills, by groceries, as well as deposit money to her account to save for our new home and she has another bank account she puts money into as an emergency fund.

So, I do not see the need to open an account in China. All of my customers (USA, China, Mexico and Canada) direct deposit US Dollars to my B of A account.

Also, B of A has a service that they will have RMB paper currency delivered to my branch before I leave for China, as long as I pre-order 3 - 5 days in advance or they will arrange to have made readily available at CCB for me to pick up, if it is more than the daily allowable. Very convenient.

In the past 7 years, I have not had any problems using my B of A Visa Debit Card at CCB or any bank that has the Visa logo.

I do all my bill payments for USA online and some are setup for automatic Bill Pay. Even my rent, I pay online to a secure website for the property.

You might want to check with your bank if they have an affiliate in China.

Snyder