I use a Visa ATM Card with the "Plus" symbol on the back from a Thai bank. From what I have read, Visa ATM cards seem to be the best to have. Do you agree, and are machines that accept these cards quite common in any town? (entering at Hekou)

Also, as I know from Thailand's ATM machines, some bank's ATM machines charge a much higher fee for foreign bank cards than other bank's ATM machines. Do all Chinese ATMs charge the same fee, or are some cheaper? If some are cheaper, which ones should I look out for?

Thanks for the info. This seems like a great forum!

The swedish ICA Bank issues Mastercards that work well in China, and has ZERO fees for withdrawals abroad. How this is possible, I can't say, but I can attest that it is true, and ridiculously awesome. I don't know the rules if non-swedish nationals want to apply for an account, but anyhow, their web adress is www.icabanken.se

Because I can't get an ICA Card myself due to a complicated swedish rule that blacklists you for three years if you haven't payed your bills on time, I try to withdraw as much money as possible whenever I use an ATM in China. Some ATMs around Kunming lets you withdraw 3000 yuan, so I always try to use those in order to minimize the fees I have to pay.

No, charge fee is different from One bank to another, also different from the local city to another.

Also know that the charge fee is charged by the Bank from which you get your card not by the Bank of which ATM you are using.

Let me show you this.

E.g: Bank of China (Domestic)
1) Debit Card
A)If you use debit card from BOC on ICBC 's ATM in the local city, the fee is 4 RMB/ for each withdrawal, no matter how much you withdrawal, if you withdrawal 100RMB, the fee is 4RMB, if you withdrawal 2500rmb, the fee is also 4rmb. 2500 the the max you can get on each withdrawal, if you want to get 10,000, you need to do 4 times, so the fee is total 4*4=16RMB. 20,000 RMB is the max of total you can get from ATM each day.
I heard card from minsheng Bank, the charge fee is 2RMB/withdrawal in this situation. Half of BOC's. But I can't confirm, I'm not using their cards.

B)if you use card in another city, no matter on which Bank's ATM.

The charge fee is the same:1% of the amount of money you want to Withdrawal. Min10RMB~Max50RMB. If you withdrawal 100, the fee is 10, if you with drawal 2500, the fee is 25rmb.

2)credit card
NO charge fee. Visa card or MasterCard mostly the same, just from different companies.

Personal Experience:
I use BOC Dual-currency(RMB-USD)Visa credit card. If use it in China, The money is calculated in Chinese Yuan. If use it aboard, the money is calculated in US Dollars automatically according to the rate of the day. After back to China. Exchange money from RMB to USD, then pay the bill for this credit card. So there will be 2 times for exchange!

As far as I know, also can get (RMB-JPY) credit card from BOC. Same theory as (RMB-USD) credit card.

If you are using an aboard card, call your Bank to know the regulations.

Hope my information could do a little help.

lxuancc@gmail.com

Friends have been able to use American Visa cards at Construction Bank ATM's here in Kunming. No idea of the rates but from what they said there weren't any readily available alternatives. Not sure if this method will work in Hekou though and don't even know if CCB have branches there, sorry. My experience is that the 'rules' change from city to city. I used my british Visa card at the Bank of China in Guangzhou for example. Basically, don't count on easy access to cash in China with foreign Visa cards. China uses UnionPay cards and if you can get one with that symbol you'll find it much easier to get to your cash while here.

In Thailand, most ATMs charge you 150baht ($5) for a foreign bank card withdrawl, plus my bank back home charges another $5. There are some Thai machines that don't charge this fee though. So I was wondering if any of the Chinese machines don't charge a fee for an international card?

It sounds like my Visa ATM card with "Plus" on the back should work fine.

Plus is from visa. The network offering cash access. means can withdrawal on any ATM machine with a "plus" sign in the world.The local currency of course. Some can get gold from the ATM, ha. I think this plus has nothing to do with the fee.
Also I think does is have fee is depending on what kind of card you are using. And what ATM you are using, same system(same bank) or other banks.
Did you get a handbook when you receive the card? It has everything on it.
You use the same card on different machines but some have fee some dont. Interesting. Maybe need a long time to find the golden ATM machine. Just kidding..Are these from different Banks? Dont know thailand's ATMs.
Maybe the best way is to call own bank to know.

In addition to 123go's description of ATM fees in China, I would like to add they are a total rort by the banks. Its ridiculous for example that you have to pay a fee for being in a different city! Do the banks have entirely different systems for each city? No, they are nationally integrated. Do the banks have to deal with some type of exchange between cities? No, the money coming out of the machine is RMB in both cases and their systems are nationally integrated.

Mind you the same can be said for many things here I guess, for example the ridiculous extra fees charged by China Mobile when you use a SIM from a different area. Same thing - their system is nationally integrated!

In both cases does it cost extra to send a few pulses of electricity to headquarters (probably in Beijing) from Kunming as opposed to Guangzhou? No. So why does it cost me extra? Because banks and telecoms companies here are ripping off the public. These companies are making ridiculous profits for example ICBC made a 61.4 billion RMB profit on an operating income of 120 billion in the first 3 months of this year!! Thats a 50% profit margin!! Amazing! As the big banks in China are mostly state owned, there is no real competition and therefore this will probably remain the status quo.

Wow, that was almost a BillDan rant! Re reading it almost bought a tear to my eye...

In 2008, I used my HSBC (USA) debit card to get 1,000RMB from BOC, CMB and ICBC. The withdrawals were made within an hour. BOC and CMB were the same and cost less ICBC.

Then, I used an HSBC and another US debit card and took 1,000RMB each from the same BOC ATM within minutes. HSBC was cheaper.

The differences were small, less than 2% on 1,000RMB, but as the actual exchange rate is fixed by the government, the differences are due to fees.

I totally agree with blobbles. The fees charged are wacky and do not reflect either costs or the "development" of China.

You might think it is the same China Mobile entity all over China but it ain't. There is a separate business enterprise for each province. Chinese economic law pretty much requires a separate legal entity for each address. That goes for KFC, Brothers Jiang, everyone.

Bureaucracy Rules!

These fees that I am referring to are nothing to do with my home bank which of course does not exist in China. As I said, my home bank charges $5 for each international ATM withdrawal.

To simplify the question, do any of the ATMs in China give you a message like, "You will be charged _?_RMB for this transaction. Would you like to continue?".

Again, when using any foreign ATM card in Thailand, some bank's ATMs give you this message and some don't, and you are charged accordingly.

On forums like these in TL, foreigners have determined which brand of bank offer no fees for foreign ATM cards so I thought it might also be common knowledge to foreigners in China. Not a big deal either way though.