China Banks

[shaun]

I was wondering if someone else on this site is having the same problem as me.   You see I have a Chinese wife....  No No wrong issue.

Really we are having a problem with the Bank of China.  My wife has tried to access some money that I have in the bank for her in our American account with a debit card I gave to her.  We do this monthly and for the past few years haven't had one problem.

The last 2 days we are.  She can't get any money  so yesterday I asked her to try a different BOC location.  I've also asked her to try China Construction bank even though I don't trust them. 

For the last 2 days the BOC says they don't have any money right now to come back in a couple of days.

Has anyone experienced this lately?

[Willy The Londoner]

Shaun, is she going to the teller or trying to take cash from an ATM? 

When I did my usual monthly transfer from my London Bank to my BOC account this month I was told that they had to retain 80 GB Pounds (about 130 US Dollars) as I had passed the annual limit per person for exchanging foreign currency to RMB.    My wife's account has also reached the limit.   That is the only problem I have come across. 

I never use the atm's anymore as over the years I have experienced several problems including being told that the machine had no money available, closed down during a transaction but still charged my account the amount I had requested and once had my card gobbled up.

Willy

[shaun]

Willy, she is using my card at an ATM.  It has never been an issue before unless they have a new minimum to withdraw.  My wife tells me that they are telling her that they do not have any money right now.   She has tried 3 bank ATM's now with the same results.

[Willy The Londoner]

Willy, she is using my card at an ATM.  It has never been an issue before unless they have a new minimum to withdraw.  My wife tells me that they are telling her that they do not have any money right now.   She has tried 3 bank ATM's now with the same results.

Were all these attempts on the same day?   If this is the case then have you contacted your bank to make sure that there is no problem.

Also at certain times the machines do run short of money especially at busy times and last weeks Mid Autumn Festival is the second most important after Chinese New Year and the machines are used more to take out money.   It could be that if a machine is empty then there could be a run on the nearer ones and they also run out.  There is a limited amount of money that are put into these ATM's when they are refilled and I often found them empty around those busy periods.

I gave up trusting the ATM's when one machine gobbled up my card when in another part of the City. I was not able to retrieve it from the bank without travelling to that area again four days later with my passport, the name on which had to match that on the card.

I now make a monthly online international bank transfer from my bank in London to either my or my wife's Bank of China account.  This costs 10 GB Pounds (approx 16.5 US Dollars) but the amount I transfer each month makes it more cost effective that paying the charges for withdrawing the same amount from ATM's which need many visits with the resulting total charges being higher.   There is a restriction in that each account cannot exchange more than 50,000 US Dollars a year into RMB.

Willy

[shaun]

Willy I am guessing it was the holiday issue like you said.  She got the money a couple of days later. She doesn't know why but seems to think it is the holiday too.

Thanks for the help.  It is much appreciated.

[Okie_Rob]

FYI: my experience with BOC
Jinxiang and I purchased a new house in Yueyang, located by her oldest
brother, in the same building, same complex, new gated community
This was a rush deal, so I sent Jinxiang to Yueyang in the middle of May(this year)
with a USA Bank Cashiers Check(sizable amount), which I instructed her to present, and open
up an account.  BOC told her it would take 40 days to clear ?? and they would
charge her a modest fee.
I was in my bank almost a month later, the Cashiers Check had cleared a few
days before....so when we QQ that night, I told her it had cleared....but the BOC
still held the funds until the 40th day.
So much for "fast" electronic money transfers....Guess ? The BOC does whatever it wants to.
I arrived in Yueyang Sept. 11 and we will travel back to Oklahoma on Oct. 21

Yesterday, I noticed most of the Banks closed here in Yueyang, for the Holiday
that started on Oct. 1.  When the ATMS run out of money, they are out for a few days
until banking resumes
just my 2 cents on BOC

[Willy The Londoner]

I have never had a problem when transfering money from my London bank to my B of C bank here. 

I do it online because I am living in China and cannot go to my bank personally so I am restricted to sending 5000 GB pounds (about 8000 US) at any one time. My bank charges me 10 GB Pounds for this and so does the B of C.  I can do this as often as I like until I reach the limit in any year of 50,000 US Dollars. 

The B of C then always warn us when we are close to our limit for any particular year.  When this happens I change to having the money sent to my wife's account.  As we have spent so much on our new home this year I have also had to utilise my step daughters account until the end of this year.

I do the online transfer on Wednesday and I do not know how long it takes but it is always in my B of C account when we go there the following Monday.

I think the problem with your transaction was 'New account' and 'large amount' in the form of a 'Cashiers Cheque'. 

Willy