Updated April 2022: Now that I’ve been here for 2 years, I have the method I prefer down. So updating this post.
So maybe you are planning to do a short term stay in Taiwan to up your kids English, like 3-6 months. What do you do about money? You don’t want to bring a wad of cash from the US.
There is really only 1 way I recommend now, ATM Withdrawal.
ATM Withdrawal
Most people tell you to use Fidelity, Schwab, Capital One, and sometimes HSBC is mentioned. They allow you to withdraw from local banks and either are fee free or reimburse you.
My recommendation is to get a Capital One account, especially if you’re going to be living around Taipei area.
Why? Because you can basically withdraw at most 國泰世華 Cathay Banks. And these banks are in practically EVERY single Taipei MRT, most PX Marts and many convenience stores (especially Hi-Life). There’s no foreign transaction fee and I never have to make sure that my ATM fees will get reimbursed.
Keep in mind that sometimes ATMs deep in the underground of an MRT station doesn’t work for some reason. Though Cathay Bank has been upgrading all their ATMS in 2022 so this situation may change.
Tip: When you withdraw, make sure you select Deferred Exchange rate (left button). That is actually whatever the rate is now, rather than the rate set by Capital One.
With Cathay, I no longer need to dig around for other banks that may accept my Capital One account. Though these worked pre-2020 when I tried.
- Bank of Taiwan in Taoyuan Airport & Taipei bank branch
- Taiwan Commercial Bank
While I used to like having my Citibank Global account, after two years here, I now much prefer to just get the money out through ATM when I need it. I’m constantly walking around Taipei so it’s easy to withdraw up to $40k NTD a day without a problem, I can immediately deposit it into my Cathay bank. This versus waiting 2 days for money to transfer to Citibank US, then 2 more days to transfer to Citibank TW.
What about Citibank?
Citibank was a good option before because their Global Transfer option are fee free as well. But Citibank has withdrawn from the Taiwan market. So global transfers no longer work!
What about Schwab or Fidelity?
Everytime I talk about Capital One, someone inevitably tells me about their Schwab or Fidelity account. That is definitely an easy option for people who have those kind of checking accounts. Just don’t leave me a comment telling me about them! I know they exist and I know they’re great when you already use them for your checking. By all means, use them! Capital One isn’t the only option.
Hi, which Capital One account are you referring to? I’ve seen people talking about the Capital One 360 checking account; is that the one you use? Thank you for sharing your experience!
I think there’s only one product now. It’s all Capital One 360.
Schwab High Yield Checking gives unlimited ATM fee rebates and no forex fees on ATM withdrawals in Taiwan. They’ve worked me at every ATM at all the three major convenience store brands in Taipei/New Taipei/Taoyuan/Kaohsiung.
Yes. That is what I said in my post. That several banks offer atm fee reimbursements. I’m not against them. I just didn’t want to add one more checking account.
Useful info! Do you know if the Cathy bank ATMs in Taiwan charge any transaction or service fee? I know you said that they don’t charge foreign transaction fee. But I wonder if they charge any other fees. I will be traveling to Taiwan from USA ，and I have a capital one 360 Debit card .
no they don’t. At least they didn’t when I was there.
I used my Capitalone card at Cathay United and Taipei Fubon bank in Taiwan, both banks do not charge any fee but Cathay bank has the worst exchange rate, I withdraw the same amount $10,000 twd Cathay bank charge me usd $341.58. Taipei Fubon Bank $326.57. so it’s $15 usd more to use Cathay atm.
When you do Cathay it asks you what exchange rate you wanted. Are you sure you selected the right rate? It tries to get you to pick the more expensive exchange rate. Otherwise I find it very close to posted exchange rates.
thank you for recommendation GUAVARAMA .
DO YOU KNOW IF i have a capital bank account in the usa , if I can go to a cathay bank branch and withdraw money without any fees or do I need to open a cathay bank account as well to transfer from capital one to cathay bank ?
You don’t need a cathay bank account. Just a capital one account.