When travelling it is always difficult to know what the best option is to withdraw money or to pay with card. This article will hopefully help you sort out the cost of the different options.
First thing you need to know is that there are three types of fees when withdrawing money in a foreign country. The one depending on your home bank, the one depending on the type of card you use, and lastly the one depending on the ATM where you withdraw the money.
The fee that is charged by your home bank for the different activities in Taiwan obviously depends on your bank. You can’t do anything about it except changing bank if another one is more travelers friendly.
Besides the bank fee, you’ll be charged differently if you use a credit card (Visa, a Master Card, American Express, etc.) or a debit card. Using a credit card to pay or withdraw money is usually more expensive than using a debit card. Unfortunately, foreign debit cards are not accepted in most of the local stores (did not find any accepting my debit card at this point…).
The best you can do is to withdraw money at an ATM with your debit card and either pay in cash or with your credit card in supermarkets, department store, chain restaurants, etc. If I were you I would check how much my bank charges me to withdraw money with my debit card, how much am I charged to pay with my credit card and choose the cheapest option.
Anyways, do not withdraw money with your credit card it will cost you more. Now, it is possible that you are not able to withdraw money with your debit card. It can be for two reasons: either you are not using an international network as Cirrus, Visa plus, etc or you didn’t ask your home bank to unlock your card activities in Taiwan.
Lastly, as a foreigner in Taiwan, banks also charge you a fee for using their ATM. If you withdraw money at an ATM from a local bank, most of them will charge you 300 NTD. The ATM located in the MRT stations are Cathay United Bank and charge 100 NTD as convenience fee. You can also find ATM in most of the convenience stores. China trust’s ATM in 7 ELEVEN will charge you 100 NTD to use the machine while the Taishin’s ATM machines in FamilyMart are free.
In conclusion, you should remember to pay with your credit card and withdraw money with your debit card preferably at a Taishin ATM machine you find in FamilyMart.
This was concise and very helpful! Thank you!
Many Thanks 🙂
HI,
Having indian bank debit card.
if i withdraw money in TAIWAN, Tainan city.. what is they charged?
I am philippine BPI debit card holder asking where i can withdraw money here in taiwan?
Thanks a lot for this information. Going to Taiwan next week and will look for a Taishin ATM. I presume FamilyMart is found in most places?
do i need to withdraw at a taishin atm inside family mart? is it not free if i withdraw from a taishin atm that is not inside family mart?
Need to know this too.
Only taishin atms inside family mart don’t charge a fee?
I believe it is free at all of Taishin’s ATM’s.
We haven’t verified this though. Let us know if you find out 🙂
This offer by Taishin might be a regional thing. We withdrew some money in Taipei about one week ago and it was free indeed. However, today we tried two different Family Marts in Tainan and even an independent Taishin ATM and in all three cases they wanted to charge us NT$100.
Taishin is no longer free, they jumped on the fee bandwagon. So far China trust, Taishin, and Bank Sinopac all charge a $100 fee which I think is excessive.
A few others are still free like Fareastern Bank
Hi.. Im a filipino that is currently inTaipei right now. I would like to ask if where can i withraw money using a metrobank debit card. I really need it right now, and hoping for immediate response. This will be a big help for me. Thank you.
Yeah, I confirm Taishin ATM are not free anymore. If anybody know an alternative, that would be nice.
Me too.
I tried to withdraw money in Taihsin ATM with my Monzo card from the UK, it’s not free anymore, it charges me 100 NTD.
I think the policy changed because it was free before.
Hi, most banks take 100 ntd per withdrawal as service fee but today I tried HSBC and they dont + they allow you to take 30k per transaction instead of 20k as most banks. Hoep this helps
Hi, I was wondering where is the HSBC atm that you withdraw? Cheers
Tried HSBC today and can confirm there were no fees and 30K withdrawals were offered. Thanks for this info Szilard!
Hi can you please answer me I bring my 3 ATM’s from philippines.. then I was suppose to have a balance inquiry at the machine of 7/11 could that machine charge me?