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I’ve seen many people mention that if you work for a fortune 500 company it should be easy to get a credit card here. I work for one but have been finding it very difficult to get a credit card. So far I’ve been rejected by ICBC, CMB and Pufa despite providing all the relevant paperwork.
Is this fortune 500 = success thing just a bit of a myth or does anyone have any experience of successful applications? As far as I can remember none of the forms actually asked whether your company is fortune 500 listed or not. During the application for the last one I even mentioned to the guy in the bank that my company was, but he just gave me a patronising look as if to say ‘that’s great, good for you – have a biscuit’.
Some background: I’ve been here 9 months. Company has over 1,000 people in China but less than half a dozen foreigners. Not sure if any of this makes a difference.
I’ve seen many people mention that if you work for a fortune 500 company it should be easy to get a credit card here. I work for one but have been finding it very difficult to get a credit card. So far I’ve been rejected by ICBC, CMB and Pufa despite providing all the relevant paperwork.
Is this fortune 500 = success thing just a bit of a myth or does anyone have any experience of successful applications? As far as I can remember none of the forms actually asked whether your company is fortune 500 listed or not. During the application for the last one I even mentioned to the guy in the bank that my company was, but he just gave me a patronising look as if to say ‘that’s great, good for you – have a biscuit’.
Some background: I’ve been here 9 months. Company has over 1,000 people in China but less than half a dozen foreigners. Not sure if any of this makes a difference.
When I first asked about a credit card they DID ask me if I worked for a Fortune 500 company and if I owned property here. They don’t need to ask if you work for a Fortune 500 company on the form, that’s a bit superfluous. They already know if your company is or isn’t – why would they need a separate question for that?
I think it HELPS but it isn’t a guarantee of being approved. Length of time living here would also be a factor I imagine.
Things that help with a credit card application:
Owning a home
Owning a car
Owning a decent company
Having a long work history / working at a large company
Having a shitload of money
Having someone as a guarantor who meets at least one of the above, ideally married.
And yes, being here a decent length of time kinda goes hand in hand with all that as well. They make their money on transaction fees, not so much on interest, they just want their money back. Living off of cards and carrying a balance isn’t a “thing to do” here.
Having been here 9 months, you have basically zero credit history and I’m going to go ahead and guess that they have been burned in the past by foreigners who pull a runner. With no assets or substantial ties to the country that they can go after, it’s just all risk on their end. Nothing in the world to stop you from waking up one day, saying “screw this” maxing out the card and running off, and they are perfectly aware of that.
Do like a year on a secured card and after that you should have a decent shot with your credentials.
I have a friend working at one of the banks. She told me flat out, there have been many cases of foreigners clocking up a big bill before they leave China. So to be fair, I 100% understand their reluctance to hand out credit cards to non-citizens. I definitely wouldn’t if it was my risk to take on.
I also completely understand their reluctance. Any idea how to go about getting a secured card? That’s what I presumed the fortune 500 thing was about – I was expecting them to ask me for a guarantee letter from my company or something, but none of them even mentioned this. Is this something I have to volunteer?
I thought secured means you leave a deposit. I know some banks will issue a card if you give a deposit that is equal to your credit limit. Yes, it sounds stupid and pointless, but it CAN still be useful, for example, if you are traveling abroad, you don’t need to worry about changing RMB to foreign currency, you simply pay by credit card and then get billed in China in RMB. I have a few friends who have this and are very pleased with it.
OK, sounds like that’s my only option. I’m surprised none of the banks offered me this as an alternative, and I’m not sure what what point in the application process I’m supposed to bring up the idea, but I’ll give it a go.
I got a credit card easily, accompanied by my company’s accountant at the upper floors of the bank, not the retail counters. Not Fortune 500. The limit however was laughable (3000 RM:cool:, non negotiable, as I have no house, car, etc. No matter that my salary is many times higher than that and deposited every month in my account with the same bank.
No matter that the company offered to guarantee. I ended up doing what you said, company deposited an amount into the card (the point was for me to use it for business trips and dinners). Oh, they don’t do corporate credit cards.
3 minutes ago, littlemick said:I also completely understand their reluctance. Any idea how to go about getting a secured card? That’s what I presumed the fortune 500 thing was about – I was expecting them to ask me for a guarantee letter from my company or something, but none of them even mentioned this. Is this something I have to volunteer?
Basically you give em 10,000 RMB or whatever which gets locked up and you get a “credit card”, for which you are liable for just like a normal credit card and that 10k is something you get back when you cancel the card. So, it’s like a really shitty debit card, but it builds a credit history and eliminates the risk from the bank perspective.
There’s a small loophole you can use to secure card with a low limit on it that can be jacked up to 5~10w eventually. But I suspect foreigners getting it is purely a fluke, not by design and for that reason I’m not gonna say much else about it. To have it leave a proper credit record linked to yourself also requires some effort and unless you’re a fluent or highly-proficient and literate speaker I advise against it.
Had mine (ICBC) for about 3-4 years, spent 1.6 million RMB so far (some business expenses), the limit is 50,000 RMB and has been from day one, but they refuse to increase it, EVER, because I am a foreigner.
Worse still, I have two cards, but the balance is shared between them, so if I spend 20,000 RMB on one, the limit goes down to 30,000 RMB on both cards. The only way to avoid this is to have cards with different banks if you can. I have a CMB card too, 30,000 RMB limit.
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