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Taxis and payments when visiting China

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  1. #1

    Taxis and payments when visiting China

    I am starting to become a more frequent visitor to the Mainland for work. Is it possible for a foreigner to somehow get set up to use Wechat Pay/Alipay and some sort of taxi-hailing app? I don't currently have an RMB-denominated credit card.


  2. #2

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    I use DiDi App for taxis in China, paid using WeChat on my HK credit card.

    gigglinggal likes this.

  3. #3

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    Original Post Deleted
    Compared to what?

  4. #4

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    I don't have a separate charge for using my card overseas. Maybe the cost is embedded into the FX rate.

    I've not really cared enough about it to check whether this is the case.


  5. #5

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    For taxi in China, use the DIDI app and it even works in english in the larger cities. Also it accepts payment via international credit card (visa/mastercard etc) so just input your HK or overseas card and no problem. But note when you use the DIDI app, if you call for a regular taxi then the price is the meter price and you still have to pay with cash at the end. If you call for the private car (which I found to be cheaper than a taxi), then your phone becomes the meter (you can see the price ticking up on your phone as you drive along) and then at the end of the ride you pay on your phone with your credit card.


  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by si0001:
    I don't have a separate charge for using my card overseas. Maybe the cost is embedded into the FX rate.

    I've not really cared enough about it to check whether this is the case.
    You are hit quite hard using credit cards overseas. This is why the banks all have promotions for overseas spending to suck you into doing it so they can profit from you. It is not split out on statement, and exchange rates can typically fluctuate by a few % each day, so banks take full advantage of this to skim off your spending without you having any idea. Having said this, I am guilty of spending on CC overseas myself as it is simply convenient and many of the promotions they have do soften the blow.

    To start with, the rates that Visa/Mastercard offer are not the greatest, on top of this they both have a 1.95% fee embedded, on top of this most banks in Hong Kong have an additional fee of 0.9%. So yes there are about 3% in fees on top of an already crap rate.

    Unionpay credit cards do NOT have the 1.95% fee. Citibank offer this with their Rewards card. Also I believe Public Bank does not have the 0.9% fee. So I guess the best logic would be to get a Unionpay card from Public bank. The only problem with this is Unionpay is not widely accepted in many countries. It is getting better but not as good as Visa/Mastercard.

    To soften the blow, HSBC Visa signature offer 3.6% cash back on overseas spending if you put all the "rewards of your choice" set to the overseas category. Actually you can get up to 5.6% back if you meet certain minimum spending criteria. But then this card sucks with all other spending in Hong Kong. Citbank and Standard Chartered cards offer 2% cash back on overseas spending.

  7. #7

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    Original Post Deleted
    I user a DBS Black Mastercard. The rate is shown in the statement but I've not compared the rate to anything.

    The transaction is about 50RMB each time, not going to bother for these small amounts.