By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: Have banks shut down or offline this week
Does anyone know if Chinese banks have temporarily shut down or something? My friend is travelling abroad and using her UnionPay card to pay for things but today she went to the ATM to take out cash which she has used before and the message “Sorry this service is temporarily unavailable” came up on the screen and she freaked out. Her card is fine as she used it last month no problem and sent me email asking if there is maintenance work going on or something else.
I said I would ask around as I don’t know of anything anyone shed any light on this? It might be something or nothing however I would appreciate any advice thanks.
Has she tried her card in a few different ATMs for different banks?
Coukd have been just that ATM or a temporary problem with the network.
There is another possibility. The government has introduced limits on the use of Unionpay cards outside China to reduce the amount of money people can get out of the country.
http://m.unionpayintl.com/en/aboutUpi/newsCenter/companyNews/3007518.shtml
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/kindle/2015-10/01/content_22028578.htm
She should call her bank, no one here has access to her account details or particular bank protocols or restrictions.
We're just gonna give guesses
Once?? Just once and she freaks out?? Seriously???
Even back home, ATM's go down for a short period of time!
Englteachted:
This sounds like a woman who knows she spent way too much
Hi everyone thank you for all the suggestions and a quick update on what my Chinese friend told me regarding her UnionPay card not working. Apparently in the UK I don’t know if this applies everywhere but from April 2016 those with UnionPay cards cannot take cash out anymore from ATM’s. I am not sure how much of this is true because I don’t know about UnionPay in the UK but her sister who has gone to Canada is able to use the same kind of debit card to withdraw cash from the ATM’s and POS system. Anyone know anymore about this as my colleagues are also going to Canada this month and will take their UnionPay cards which are activated to work abroad and plan on taking some cash out at Canadian airports for taxis to the city etc…and hopefully UnionPay will work in Canadian ATM’s.
icnif77:
Get China Merchants Bank Gold account ATM with Visa/Mc logo. See 'laowai friendly bank' thread for more.
I had this a few weeks ago. Her chip is dirty.
I tried ATM after ATM. No joy. Then I noticed the chip on my card was covered in crud. Gave it a wipe, worked no problem.
Air pollution gets everywhere.
ScotsAlan:
Sorry, just noticed she is using her card abroad. But keep your card clean. For some reason Chinese ATM machines don't say "cant read card". They say "cant do transaction". Stupid programming in my opinion.
