Banking in China

I was impressed with Chinese banking at first because they have the very civilized concept of having seats for customers while they wait. Can you imagine? You take a number, sit down and watch the screen for your number to appear, and go to the window it tells you to.

But since then, I've seen the craziness in the system. For instance, apartment rent is required to be paid 3 months at a time (in advance, of course). Nobody uses checks here, so I tried to do a transfer from my B of A account. I get a message that such transfers are not reliable in this country and may take a week or more. Also, there is a $45 international transfer fee.

So after much research, I discovered what apparently is the best way to do it in China. I go to the ATM at my bank (ICBC) to withdraw 12,300 RMB. Some complications: (a) The largest denomination bill is the 100 RMB, so that means I'll need to get 123 bills. (b) You can only withdraw 2500 RMB at a time, so I have to make 5 withdrawals. The number of withdrawals allowed per day varies by ATM, but I have found one (luckily, just across the street) that allows 5 in one day.

Next, I take my 123 bills and go to my landlord's bank (Bank of China). I complete a deposit slip with my landlord's account number and give them the 123 bills. Mind you, I have to do all of this speaking very little Chinese. Sometimes there is someone there who speaks English, and sometimes not.

Also, there are fees every time you use a foreign bank card or charge card.

My Chinese bank card account (from ICBC) is really just a cash card, and is sometimes accepted and sometimes not. There are no monthly statements. The only way to see your balance is to check on the ATM. There is NO way to see the transactions which led to your monthly balance. Well, actually there is a way, but everyone agrees it's very complicated.

To use it for online access, first of all it's all in Chinese. You have to get a chip put in your card and keep a minimum balance of at least 20k the first 30 days.
Instead of the one number on the back, they have about 30 #s and each time you use it, they tell you which number you need to give. Then you scratch it off. When you've used up all the numbers, you go back to the bank to get them to add more numbers.

Instead, I follow local custom and just carry around a bunch of cash with me. You have to keep up with deposits and withdrawals yourself to confirm the balance.

Just as people here don't use checks, so they don't use voice mail. At all. Everyone texts a lot. They're not very fond of email, though they may be persuaded to use it if you ask them to.