Source
r/China•
devmage

Is China blocking Bank of America ATM transactions right now?

Hi r/China! I've received a disturbing piece of information from my partner living in Nanjing. Apparently, she and six of her friends cannot access their Bank of America accounts via Chinese ATM machines. This includes ATMs of:

  • China Construction Bank, with whom BofA has a no-fee transaction agreement, whose ATMs return bank errors
  • People's Bank, whose ATMs return PIN errors
  • Growing Wealth Bank, whose ATMs return card errors

We thought her card might have become demagnetized, or that she could have been entering her PIN incorrectly, until we learned of the six(!!) others having the same issue. We also double-checked the basic stuff: her account is active, the card is open, the travel flag is in place. After speaking with BofA, they are only seeing four out of thirty-some attempts that she made against her account, which leads us to suspect that those attempts are being blocked before leaving China.

BofA is unaware of any service interruption. There's also nothing I can find on Google News in the last week that would suggest a disruption.

Have you heard any reports about this, from friends or otherwise? Anyone over there right now with a BofA account that could confirm/deny?

Update 1: At least one of the aforementioned six also contacted BofA, and was told similarly that it was not a known BofA issue.

Update 2: Thanks to all for your responses! I'm forwarding on your suggestions. I'll try to update if anything significant changes in the next couple days.

Update 3: She was able to successfully withdraw from ICBC, and we'll be disputing the fees. Thanks again to everyone who contributed ideas!

Posted Mar 11, 2013, 5:19 AM UTC · edited

1218
LostinSZChina•

I used mine yesterday afternoon with no issue.

6
devmageOP•

In which city, if you don't mind my asking?

3
LostinSZChina•

Shenzhen

3
Hibs•

I've had a few issues with my HSCB Hong Kong card since CNY. Not always blocked, but definitely has been blocked several different times, I think mostly at China Construction Bank.

3
devmageOP•

Ok, thank you. CCB is our first choice because of the (supposed) agreement with BofA, but nice to know that they've posed issues in the past.

2
canadian_anarchistCanada•

Are your cards Union Pay compatible? It's probably not an issue with the bank, per se, but the card. Bank of China is able to take foreign cards because they're on the Union Pay network. I recommend using foreign cards there, I've never had problems.

3
devmageOP•

We went with BofA specifically so that we could transfer between China and the US without fees. She's already considering opening an account with a bank there, though, despite returning to the US in a few months. Thanks for the input about Union Pay though!

1
txQuartz•

My US small bank's card will always return an error on an ATM that does not explicitly state which account it is trying to access, i.e. selecting Checking etc. Even between ATMs of the same bank, this can differ according to model of ATM. I have no idea if this is what's happening, but it could be...?

3
devmageOP•

Good to know, although I don't think this is the issue. These are ATMs that she's successfully used before.

1
bulaien•

I live in Nanjing and use BoA and had this problem yesterday. I used ICBC without any issue, so she should try that. Actually, this has been an on-going issue with me for a few months and as far as I can tell it is a problem with Bank of America as my other bank accounts work fine at CCB.

When it is working, don't try to withdraw more than 1000RMB per transaction. Also document everything. So far, they have removed the bank fees when I am forced to use other banks but if they don't in the future I'm going to bring in a third party to sort them out. What someone told me was that BoA's system sees you trying to withdraw 3000RMB as 3000USD and blocks the transaction based on that. I actually think that is a load of shit as sometimes it won't even let me access my account.

3
devmageOP•

Thank you for the input! I've passed this info on to her. She hasn't tried ICBC yet, so maybe that'll be what works for now.

1
bulaien•

You have to call BoA and get them to remove the ATM fees after but ICBC usually works

2
llama21•

Worked in Macau no fee last week and just tested in Chongqing to be working. No clue what's going on with your friends.

2
devmageOP•

Ok. Maybe it's more localized then. Interesting.

3
brennnnz•

Shanghai here, no problem at CCB ATMs over the last few weeks, but I haven't tried it this week yet.

2
Naseni•

I used mine in Fuzhou, Fujian a week ago. Worked well. It doesn't work in all banks though, just a few.

2
cdosquaredUnited States•

No issue what so ever in Shanghai

2
Petrarch1603•

When you first arrive in a foreign country, the sound of the machine whirring as it gets ready to eject some money is a most satisfying experience. Never take it for granted though.

2