I've recently become aware it's possible to bind overseas MasterCard and Visa Credit cards to WeChat. Has anyone any experience of doing this?My only concern is not with WeChat but with my card provider seeing any payments as 'unusual' and temporarily blocking the card. My card provider didn't exactly ease this concern when they, or at least the helpline person, didn't know about WeChat. I don't know precisely how these payment platforms work; would MasterCard or Visa even recognise that any payments were being made via WeChat? I rarely use my CC card but it could be useful just having it available.
Oh, if only! I just did a quick search, found this blog post (blog.passkit.com/how-to-add-your-credit-card-to-wechat-wallet/ ) which gave me some hope.
Went to set it up: entered my credit card number, clicked next and scrolled all the way down to the bottom where you find the option MASTERCARD or VISA and card type as credit card
and joyfully clicked- only to be greeted with a popup message stating "Card cannot be used for Quick Pay".
So... I guess not :( Please let me know if you have better luck or a work around this. I hate having to carry around cash :(
I just found this transfer service
www.vpayfast.com/
which allows you to transfer funds using international
credit cards to WeChat Wallet & AliPay.
I have no idea if it will work if you don't have the wallet feature already set up, though... not sure I want to risk it....
I just successfully registered an overseas MasterCard credit card. It doesn't accommodate Direct Debit cards from Visa. Not tried to use it yet.
Why not open a bank account here and then link it with alipay and wechat pay?
That's a different issue. I already have a Chinese bank account. There are rare times when I want to use funds from home.
@SJayne see yesterday's announcement: "WeChat Pay now allows users to bind overseas credit cards" technode.com/[...]
You were able to link your Mastercard? You lucky thing! I have no idea why my Mastercard wasn't allowed! Maybe it's something to do with the region where WeChat app was downloaded. I've tried a few tricks, such as changing region, language and even having someone send me a 0.10Y hongbao- all to no avail.
If I was permitted to open a Chinese bank account, then believe me, I would've done it!
@philou yeah, I saw that. I'm still getting a big ole 'denied' message, though...
I used OCR recognition of the card rather than inputting details manually, though I doubt that makes a difference. The 'region' details apply to where your card was registered ie the home address registered and recognised by MasterCard and/or the card issuer (my UK bank). Any transactions will incur overseas transaction charges and the prevailing exchange rates so a Chinese bank card will usually always be preferable.
