China - Cash or credit cards?
Mar 5th, 2010, 07:35 AM
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China - Cash or credit cards?
Hi, My husband and I are going to China and want to know if it is better to travel with cash or a Visa card. Our overall plan is to hit Beijing, Xi'an and Chengdu but will be meandering through the country stopping along the way. No strict travel plans. Also, should we exchange our USD to CNY? Suggestions? Comments?
Mar 5th, 2010, 07:50 AM
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Large stores, hotels and restaurants will accept credit cards. Smaller places will require cash. And of course, you'll need the local currency. You can get local currency easily via ATMs in major cities, but do know what your bank will charge you for the use of a foreign ATM. You can also carry US cash to exchange. While I normally use ATMs, I do always carry several US$100 bills "just in case." Get your CNY/RMB upon arrival, do not try to get it ahead of time.
Mar 5th, 2010, 08:18 AM
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China is still mainly a cash-based economy, and typically, even if buying domestic air tickets for several hundred yuan, you will need either to pay case, or to pay a surcharge (up to 4%) for using a card.
While in general upper-end hotels will accept foreign credit cards with no difficulty (and no surcharge--but not for supplementaries like air tickets for which cash will still usually be needed), anywhere targeting tourists with souvenir goods and which accepts foreign credit cards is somewhere to be avoided, unless you like paying a great deal more than you need to.
You'll find cards of no use when doing most shopping, and even where conventional stores will attempt to take them, you may encounter problems unless your card is chip-and-pin, and further problems if your pin is not six-digit (although this isn't a problem with bank machines (ATMs)).
Don't change your US$ to CN¥ before leaving home, as even if you can find somewhere that will do the change (rare outside major metropolises, popular destinations for Chinese tour groups, and cities with large Chinese communities) the rate will be awful. There are plenty of change options in major international airports. Beijing, for instance, has multiple ATMs, machines that change hard currency into local currency, and bank exchange counters open long hours. (Avoid the newly minted commercial exchange desks.)
Overall, the correct answer is that it is better to travel with a bank card (ATM card), having first checked what system your card uses, and consulted your card issuer as to the locations of compatible ATMs. Machines accepting foreign cards and with instructions in English (some even speak the instructions in English) are by far more numerous than they used to be, and whereas it was once only major branches of the Bank of China that worked with foreign cards, now many branches (but not all) of most banks (but not all) do so. However, in the major cities, as long as your bank card is on systems like Cirrus or Plus, you'll have no difficulties.
The exchange rate you receive is typically better than the tourist rate, the charges levied are generally lower than when using a credit card, but as suggested above, you need to ask your bank what it is charging. The problem with a fee per withdrawal system is that machines in China typically limit you to ¥2000-¥2500 per withdrawal ($290–$370), although in the metropolises you can find machines of Citibank, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, etc., which may offer you the same limit as you have at home. There's no problem in getting whatever volume of cash you need, as Chinese bank machines typically let you make multiple withdrawals on the same day anyway.
Note that fraud is such a huge problem in China that whatever method you choose, you must alert your bank and credit card company that you're going to be in China, or you may find your cards declined.
Peter N-H
While in general upper-end hotels will accept foreign credit cards with no difficulty (and no surcharge--but not for supplementaries like air tickets for which cash will still usually be needed), anywhere targeting tourists with souvenir goods and which accepts foreign credit cards is somewhere to be avoided, unless you like paying a great deal more than you need to.
You'll find cards of no use when doing most shopping, and even where conventional stores will attempt to take them, you may encounter problems unless your card is chip-and-pin, and further problems if your pin is not six-digit (although this isn't a problem with bank machines (ATMs)).
Don't change your US$ to CN¥ before leaving home, as even if you can find somewhere that will do the change (rare outside major metropolises, popular destinations for Chinese tour groups, and cities with large Chinese communities) the rate will be awful. There are plenty of change options in major international airports. Beijing, for instance, has multiple ATMs, machines that change hard currency into local currency, and bank exchange counters open long hours. (Avoid the newly minted commercial exchange desks.)
Overall, the correct answer is that it is better to travel with a bank card (ATM card), having first checked what system your card uses, and consulted your card issuer as to the locations of compatible ATMs. Machines accepting foreign cards and with instructions in English (some even speak the instructions in English) are by far more numerous than they used to be, and whereas it was once only major branches of the Bank of China that worked with foreign cards, now many branches (but not all) of most banks (but not all) do so. However, in the major cities, as long as your bank card is on systems like Cirrus or Plus, you'll have no difficulties.
The exchange rate you receive is typically better than the tourist rate, the charges levied are generally lower than when using a credit card, but as suggested above, you need to ask your bank what it is charging. The problem with a fee per withdrawal system is that machines in China typically limit you to ¥2000-¥2500 per withdrawal ($290–$370), although in the metropolises you can find machines of Citibank, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, etc., which may offer you the same limit as you have at home. There's no problem in getting whatever volume of cash you need, as Chinese bank machines typically let you make multiple withdrawals on the same day anyway.
Note that fraud is such a huge problem in China that whatever method you choose, you must alert your bank and credit card company that you're going to be in China, or you may find your cards declined.
Peter N-H
Mar 5th, 2010, 08:40 AM
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I was amazed in Oct. Nov of last year that Visa was more accepted in China 10-25 years ago than it is now. Outside of five star level places, nobody wanted visa. I was glad I had so much in T.C.'s. I am not cheap, but it irritates me to no end that everybody adds 2-3% for use of a CC. The Merchant agreement in No. America that every retailer must accept reads that no penalty is ever to be charged for use of a CC. IN fact, if any retailer in No. Am. tries it, challenge them to bring out their contract. It specifies right there that the merchant agreement can be terminated for charging an extra fee for use of CC's. But I was just in Viet, Cambodia and Laos and where the card was accepted, every one added a penalty.
