Category: day2day

alipay #fuxi

Posted on by tiger40490

k_X_PPD_China

See also

Next todo: test qqcard

==== alipay

  • Log-in can use smsOtp or passwd (se8)
  • Payment passwd [付款密码]: 6-digit
  • hotline (+86 571 2688 6000) 8am – midnight 7D/wk. No Sgp hotline.
  • Lifetime withdrawal/提现 quota : R20k. Exceeding the quota, there is a fee.
  • Pay into Meituan acccount? Not supported.
  • deduction_precedence .. Alipay has a concise documentation page.
  • 支付管家 .. a more comprehensive sub-app
  • Green := a given feature is usable 可正常使用 green status

Each passport/IC holder can have _three_ alipay accounts. As of Oct 2024, I had two independent accounts — AA) based on my Gmail and XX) based on 65-xxx14, both under my full name. XX never had full smrz. I don’t remember how XX was created.

— smrz and SRRZ [实人认证] .. smrz saves your passport in TheSystem; SRRZ saves your face data in TheSystem
* After smrz, before SRRZ, most alipay features would be Green, such as icard, PPD, everyday payment in China
* After SRRZ, entire alipay account (all alipay features) is all-Green

Q3: can PersonB’s alipay account bind PersonA’s China bank card?
A: To my surprise, according to two hotline staff, TanBin’s CCB bank card can bind to wife’s alipay account, provided her alipay account is all-green after srrz. I feel this binding is an advanced and unfamiliar feature.

I did my own srrz via face scan on 17 Jun 2023.

Even after smrz+srrz (like my alipay), passport-based alipay account (like mine) is considered 海外账户.

— Taobao usually needs an alipay account but see international ccard for taobao^alipay

In Nov 2024, we were able to terminate and unbind alipay account, while keeping the taobao account. From now on, never bind personX’s alipay to personY’s taobao account, even if it works sometimes, perhaps due to some undocumented feature. Why? Hotline told me it is ill-advised. I have two reasons of my own.

Throughout 2024, wife repeatedly paid her taobao billls (unknowing) using XX. This shady alipay account was able to bind to my ICBC card but this set-up is insidious and dangerous. The “radioactive fallout” clean-up and each taobao payment process can take hours and require both people to be present. Tcost is unsustainable. The headache often disrrupted my work and other commitments. Not worthwhile. This is Reason 1.

Reason 2: risk of suspension of psbc::pb or my alipay acct. Higher chance of 不知不觉中付款, 事后找不到线索. Suspension risk is possibly higher. If any taobao payment can /jeopardize/ my existing “infrastructure” , then I would say stop taobao. Wife must find less risky solutions. Consider

  • qqcard and PPD
  • bind some icard to her alipay account.
  • from taobao and through her alipay account, 请朋友帮忙支付. This request actually caused problem to my alipay account. Hotline resolved it for me.
  • ^^ If all fail, then stop using taobao indefinitely.

The renewed alipay account (code named “CC” acccount) under +65 8xxxx is operated completely by me, but officially under her name (smrz):

  • payment passwd in this alipay account .. 1xxxxx1 for now
  • icard binding … some can be mine and others can be hers. Icard tested 8 Dec 2024
  • qqcard tested 28 Dec 2024
  • 转账 from TanBin to CC tested 17 Jan 2025, even though the CC account SRRZ is absent.
  • PPD and qqcard are all-green as of 20 Nov 2024.
  • This alipay account is all-green as of 20 Nov 2024.
  • the alipay app .. is currently in my phone, so I can receive important app_notifications.
  • phone number+658xxx can be registered under my NRIC. Alipay has no info about ownership.
  • email addr is optional .. set to tig@gmail. It’s more critical to monitor her alipay than my alipay.
  • bind any China bank card? You need srrz (Q3). You can try CCB, but it may cause problems.

Q: can I log in to alipay on android phone and log in to taobao on an iPhone? Yes

— mobileNum: An alipay account is identified by either email address,  or mobileNum. For China citizens, I think mobileNum is predominant so most people aren’t familiar with anything else. An alipay user can update her email addr or phone number. However, her old email addr is seldom transferred to another alipay user, but a mobileNum often changes hand. Eg: 8xxxx14 was under my alipay account and is now under wife’s alipay.

TanBin’s Alipay account was set up with email addr + #178. MobileNum update required smsOTP on new and old numbers if you are located outside China.

No need to prove mobileNum ownership. You only need to receive smsOtp. From mid 2023 to Oct 2024, I was using 178xxxx and never needed smsOtp.

Q: Exacctly how do you tell which real person is behind an alipay account?
A: 账户与安全 -> 身份信息 shows the RealIdentity. Don’t trust bank card because bank card owner can sometimes be different from the RealIdentity. This is rare but explicitly allowed by alipay system (Q3).

Switching between acctP and acctQ on one device … You would need smsOTP. (SMS can be sent to another device.) I don’t prefer frequent switching, but I think switching is well-supported.

— Billing page shows all in/out amounts. To see only PPD in/out amounts,
option 1) choose one of the ppd spends then look for 账户余额 then click in
option 2) go to the PPD page

 

Posted in chn

##2FA fund transfer #SCB

Posted on by tiger40490

 

BOC, DBS and OC required hardware token when adding payee. For other banks, consider moneyLock

— SCB is more streamlined.
In most cases,

  1. the user needs nothing beside username/password to log in on a computer
  2. when she initiates a transfer, her phone would show a pop-up button, even if she doesn’t enter any password on the phone
  3. when she hits the pop-up Approve button. For small amounts, the transfer takes place without further checks.
  4. ^^ in summary, the imposter needs nothing but your username/password + your physical phone to transfer

However, to add payee, there’s an additional, 3rd layer of protection — the phone app would ask for a 6-digit pin.

In view of the streamlined procedure at SCB,  here are a few safety habits

  • good habit: change the password to something less “common”
  • good habit: limit on third-party transfer: reduce to $1 in normal times. Temporary increase when needed.
  • good habit: remove unused payees. Add them again when needed

 

bank::PSBC::GP ChannelA #1084

Posted on by tiger40490

call hotline with GP to set up webank to help me check balance.

k_X_PPD_China
* 622 1801 0000 2135 1009 duck (GP yyyymmdd 2315)
==== PSBC [95580]

  • Phone banking 6-digit PIN 17xxxx set up in Nov after returning to Singapore
  • mobileNum is 182 1084 mmdd
  • The “duck” account is GP’s first PSBC card account. All previous accounts are expired TD accounts.

To avoid appearance of suspected activity, prefer self-transfers between GP’s ICBC and PSBC. Between two names, we can have fewer larger transfers.

— value of PSBC::GP acct .. ChannelA. To faciliate that, I also need In (+out) transfer via mobank.

It’s possible to over-value this account and over-commit my sys2 resources.

Biggest risk is fraud detection. If system detects a high-risk transaction, then there  is a real chance to receive an sms alert on the registered mobile 182 1084 xxxx (already on roaming.) I think Psbc is unlikely to call us except the pre-arranged initial 回访 call.

In the unknown worst case (异常状况) i.e. kill switch this account will be suspended to protect the customer’s asset. I will then need to accompany GP to ANY branch (moneyLock removal) before we can use this psbc::gb account.

Q: multiple overseas ATM withdrawal considered normal
AA: yes
%%A: avoid showing a pattern. Spread out the withdrawals.
AA (Yang.Yu): avoid the “red flag” of immediate-withdrawal-after-deposit

Is it illegal to give the bank card to family member for overseas ATM withdrawal? No such prohibition.

Is there any poisonous spillover on ChannelH, Channel520 etc? Unlikely, and only if there is evidence of criminal offense. Looks like SAFE is not so trigger-happy.

On 25 Nov 2024, I was able to withdraw JPY 30k at a cost of

  1. UnionPay confirmed that JPY 30133 was “issued” but JPY 133 (fee) was taken by some intermediary
  2. Rmb 1425.62 matching UnionPay publication
  3. Rmb 19.13 i.e. R12 + 0.5% of above amount
  4. In total, there were three charges by UnionPay (R12), PSBC (50bp) and intermediary (JPY 133)
  5. On the same day, a JPY 500 ice cream cost Rmb 23.66 implying JPY/CNY = 0.04732, matching UnionPay publication

— I can check the balance

  • on any UnionPay ATM (xBank ) but cost something if overseas, probably Rmb4
  • 24×7 hotline, provided you have IC, ATM PIN etc
  • mobank and webank

— auth
* mobank log-in by 1) FOUR-dot 2) alphanumeric_passwd

transaction_passwd (17xxxx) updated on 2 Dec .. needed for each transfer, along with smsOtp. Must be 6-alphanum… any combo of letter and digit. Around 10 failures would require branch-reset (Passport users can’t self-reset).

Sensitive operations: Additional auth: using transaction_passwd AND smsOTP

The alphanumeric_passwd is tricky on the mobank “secure keyboard” (not the applet). Therefore, I prefer a familiar string with very few leading (small) letters followed by many digits –> t1xxxxxxxxxx [bCert]

— transfer… transfer||spending limit:
* limit on card: 15k/D, 50k/M, 110k/Y
* limit on mobank channel

— 6M_inactivity .. Grandpa must visit a branch to revive account.

We need either in or out transaction at least once over any 6M quiet period.

  • ChannelA?
  • I did set up a “hopeful”/experimental automated pull .. psbc::gp pulling from icbc::gp under 他行转邮储
  • I did set up yellow bike sharing under GP’s own name and used the psbc::gp account to fund the PPD

Bending over backward to prevent 6M_inactivity, I’d endure the minor pains to

  • leave some idle cash in some PPD .. so far, only the yellow bike can
  • create lots of noise transactions in another bank account
Posted in chn

alipay qqcard #+转账

Posted on by tiger40490

This bpost is about qqcard, but I will also touch on red packet and standard 转账

— 转账 and red packet .. fund is physically transferred to PersonB.

转账 quantum can be much bigger than red packet. On 17 Jan 2025 I was able to transfer to ZLH’s alipay, even though her SRRZ was incomplete

red packet … looks like a specialized transfer… has multiple types

— 亲情卡[qqcard] .. PersonA can authorize a 亲情卡 for PeronB-only. PersonB is the sole qqcard_beneficiary. There’s a concise FAQ inside alipay about various types of qqcard, but I’m only interested in the PPD type (零钱版). When Person gives a qqcard, it is a new PPD account created from PersonA’s main PPD account. PersonA can transfer between the two PPD. When the qqcard PPD balance increases/decreases, it would be reflected in PersonB’s alipay APP.

Q: why, according to alipay hotline, is qqcard “safer” than fund transfer to wife’s alipay?
%%A: with R1000 fund transfer it could get stuck in PersonB’s alipay account. With qqcard, PersonA has full control and can transfer it back to PersonA’s PPD.

A qqcard beneficiary (PersonB) can’t transfer fund, as confirmed with Alipay hotline. In B’s alipay, deduction precedence shows 1) qqcard PPD 2) PersonB’s PPD 3) bank cards bound to PersonB’s alipay. Under the hood, the qqcard balance is an earmarked (冻结) amount in A’s PPD.

Every time PersonB “spends” the qqcard for 消费, deduction (from the qqcard PPD) takes place without[3] PersonA’s authorization — by default. Default can be overridden by “二次确认” — any spend above a configurable threshold (like Rmb1) will require PersonA’s approval. (Inconvenient for PersonB)

In rare cases the payment interface won’t support 二次确认 and will /outright/ reject the payment 🙁

There are currently three funding_channels for any qqcard in PersonA’s Alipay account .. PPD, ICBC bankCard, Psbc bankCard. To control the deduction order, PersonA must choose exactly one modes below:

  • 指定渠道唯一扣款 .. you pick exactly one channel. All other channels are unconditionally, completely locked up for this qqcard
  • 指定渠道优先扣款 .. you pick exactly one channel. Iff deduction unsuccessful, the_other_channels are used in some default order.
  • .. 不加入自动扣款 .. let you exclude one of the_other_channels. If you exclude all of the_other_channels, then this mode is equivalent to the other mode, as confirmed with Alipay hotline.

PersonA can see itemized bill on the qqcard.

I find the controls adequate 🙂 I feel ressured, although [3] is a risk.

Posted in chn

international card ] taobao^alipay

Posted on by tiger40490

Icard [International ccard or dcard] is becoming popular on wcpay, alipay and taobao.

Wife needs taobao. Period. “Stop using taobao” was my tough /proposition/. As of 2025, I consider icard-via-alipay as the most sustainable and strategic payment solution for her taobao needs… Light-touch fraud-control by Alipay. In contrast, all RMB payment channels come under strict scrutiny, esp. when she has no RMB bank account and must go through another person’s /onshore/ bank account. Every onshore Rmb account has high-touch fraud-control.

Q1: why is smrz /enforcement/ impractical for international cards (and mobileNum)?
Q2: why is third-party card binding allowed for icard?
%%A: fundamentally, Alipay (and wcpay) can’t confirm the “real” card owner even if owner is indeed the alipay account owner. Due to privacy protection, Alipay has no right to ask issuing bank “What’s the real identity of this card owner?” In contrast, with smrz China banks openaly share account owner information with Alipay and wcpay. Therefore, alipay/wcay are mroe strict and trigger-happy about fraud control. Presumably, they are asked by China government to collect, demand and keep evidence of full money trail of every transaction.

— alipay .. A single icard can bind to up to 3 unrelated alipay accounts (Q2).

eg: my international ccard is bound to wife’s alipay account (the CC).
eg: Boy was able to use ZLH passport + my HSBC.sg ccard.

— taobao .. Even withOUT smrz, wife’s alipay account (the “CC” account) can bind an icard. However, this icard is _supposedly_ unusable in taobao, regardless of alipay smrz.

On 8 Dec 2024, SCSC (-9933) ccard was used to pay for a taobao order, through ZLH’s “CC” alipay account. I feel relieved to open up (and confirm) this important channel, ending months of uncertainty.

Rule 1: Any taobao acct should bind an alipay acct (though you can remove the alipay account and leave the taobao account unattached).

Rule 2: taobao account is supposed to use an icard directly without going through the alipay acct. I think this is rarely used among the Chinese. We need to test Rule 2.

SMRZ in Rule 2 i.e. taobao using icard ? I think smrz is impractical. See Q1.

Posted in chn

Bank::Citi.SG #+MB.khm FixD

Posted on by tiger40490

— contact .. Hotline is “24hours” but become very slow after 6pm.

One branch only. (https://www1.citibank.com.sg/personal-banking/other-services/bank-branches -> west ) 9.30 – 3.30 M-F, Sat 9.30 – 12

— to move USD locally,
cheapest solution is personl cheque: USD 3.00/cheque. To receive a new cheque book, request online and pay $15. These are truly negligible costs in this era.

Cashier’sOrder costs min USD20

— Citi advantages over other banks:
* quicker to see balances in webank, without 2FA
* free to open multiple SGD accounts without FBF once we hit 15k TRB .. See FallBelow fees; bonus int
* FAST transfer can have flexible comments
* USD TD penalty-free
— to reveal account numbers,
Option: see statement.
Option: accounts > right side > quick tasks > ShowAccountNumber … “Your account/card number(s) will appear in full for this login session only”
— For ccard, see https://tanbinvest.dreamhosters.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=933&action=edit

— CitiMobileToken ^ EnhancedSecurtityCapability

ESC or CMT is required for adding payee.

ESC is a newer (less mature) replacement for CMT. ECS registration would disable the CMT.

After registration of ESC or CMT, there is a 12H cooling  period.

You can deregister ESC on browser. You need password only, not OTP. The effect, consequences,,, are unclear.

Push notification is (in theory) part of the ESC.

ESC uses QR code …

==== Unfixed deposit .. early break seldom has penalty. Multiple officers said early break penalty will never eat into principal. (If penalty amount exceeds accrued interest, then excess penalty is waived.)

Maturity-day payout: after 3pm, usually before 5, if no rollover. Rollover tends to complicate things at Citi. To take out a USD TD on maturity date before rollover, you may have to call the hotline — webank offers no such option. Calling hotline is stressful, time-consuming and not worth the additional profit. To avoid calling the hotline,
* you can use rollover, but be ready to change the maturity instruction well before rollover date.
* When a non-rollover deposit reaches maturity, you might notice it only a few days later. That’s acceptable.

To see latest TDIR rates, use ViewInterestRate tab, not BookDeposit tab.

— min quantum .. is a headache. At initial placement, system checks min quantum. How about at renewal? I was told system would not check and would never reject renewal.

If that’s the case, then here are some tips

  • when USD is strong, I should try to create brand new small-quantum deposits.
  • If I manage to create a small-quantum deposit, then set it to auto-renew principal only, and credit interest into account.

==== MB.khm TD … A base plan:

  • fewer but bigger quantums ..  multiples of $1000.. no xxx500.00 please… There will always be “idle” balance in savings account, from GRR and payout from TD. Let’s accept it.
  • TD quantum to show IR in the cents

— auto-renew.. I think both options are fine.

If unable to change maturity instruction, then wait after auto-renew to “uplift” the TD. No big loss of interest. It’s safer to wait after maturity date — no 100% interest loss by accident. The one-day delay is a cost of safety, and a price I pay willingly when I choose the convenience of auto-renew.

If choosing auto-renew, then interest payout .. go back to savings

[24]1560k ex_China #ChannelH updated

Posted on by tiger40490

 

See also

I will use a simple estimate of 20% for my share of the Beijing home. Actual percentage might be slightly higher, but I have received a lot more “gift money” before Aug 2024. My 1560k ex_China project started in Aug 2024. Its aim — transfer 20% of the sale proceeds i.e. 20% of RMB 7,800k to Singapore. I will call it 1560k ex_China or simply ex_China project. Among the multiple moving parts, my Priorities are —–> 1) surveillance risk 2) speed vs cost

— Q4: risk with physical USD/SGD placed in DJDJ ?
Primary risk is misplacement; Risk of theft is close to zero.
— Question #1: risk of hitting SAFE surveillance?
— Channel-H: hsbc.cn -> hsbc.sg .. Ask a friend to withdraw USD 10k under his name. Wait a few days. Meet up somewhere safe to hand over USD. On the spot I will transfer 70k to his account (smrz). This proposal is low risk and relatively easy to sell.
— Channel520: carry USD 5k + Rmb 20k bank note through airports .. good when travelling in group.
— Channel-A ..SGD{ UnionpayATM .. to manage transaction cost,

  • faster ex_China means higher DIR. 3M would generate 1% return.
  • transfer more when forex is favorable

Throughput, legwork, safety … are better in ChannelA than Channel520

— Channel-M (Grandp 182 1084 MMDD): mobank to transfer USD 50k in one go.

Q: who to use ChannelM? Prefer to have Grandpa (not Grandma) use ChannelM because

  • grandma can easily use ChannelH/520
  • grandpa has a slightly stronger public profile in case of  SAFE suspicision

I need to help them operate, perhaps when I’m in Singapore.

Q: new SIM to bring to Sg, so that I can hopefully operate from Singapore?

— Channel-M2: ask multiple friends to buy and TT 50k each, like Yinghui, HanPing… not so much to speed up, but to reduce surveillance risk. However, grandparents may still get noticed.. perhaps lower probability.

If you ever transfer for a friend, then cover your trail by

  1. buy then send 50k
  2. then deposit the equivalent RMB, perhaps into another bank’s acccount

— 2025 plan ..

  • Channel 520: (20k + perhaps 6k) x 3
  • ChannelA: max out my 100k over a few months; 80k from grandpa
  • ChannelH: max out 50k
  • ChannelM via GP’s mobank: 30k + 12k leftover from 2024
Posted in chn

##Sgp cCards #Cimb

Posted on by tiger40490

Mission: how can we terminate more ccards n simplify everything?

— “Proactive” pay-down .. To see the automated payoff amount, most reliable is the (immutable) monthly statement. Sugg: Proactively pay down 60% ??? (or 100%) thereof, after the statement is out, before GIRO fixing date.

For MB, GIRO date is the statement due date [around 13th], and GIRO amount is fixed 5 business days earlier:

  • Better send “Proactive pay-down” well before T-5, so that GIRO amount is reduced on T-5.
  • 🙁 If “Proactive 4k” hits after GIRO fixing, then GIRO would deduct the full statement balance,  resulting in a credit balance of 4k
  • Statement balance is the “FullPaymentAmount” in MB inetBanking

— drawbacks of using any ccard…. #
As of 2023, I feel the complexity + baggage of carrying[1] multiple ccards. (Debit cards are simpler.) I felt relieved to cancel multiple ccards —  CIMB, OC,,

Cancellation.. If a Singapore bank gives ccard easily, then I should be aggressive to cancel [2] the ccard whenever I determine it’s no longer needed. This can

  • Simplify ccard payoff, reduce sys2 workload about late payments
  • simplify online shopping… A site often remembers 10+ past credit/debit cards ! Delete as many as possible. The fewer cards left on record, the simpler and quicker.
  • Simplify exp recon… as I may have an invisible/forgotten charge on a card.. Will mess up my exp recon. Extra cards adds worthless, artificial complexity to recon process
  • Simplify annual fees and esp. late fees … This requires vigilance i.e. stress.
  • simplify GIRO-by-ccard
  • simplify my mails and emails from card issuers

[2] Simplest way to cancel a card is reporting lost card. Note in the U.S. Cancellations affect credit score.

I have gone through the legwork to set up the MB “pain killers”, so I can shift more “transactions” to MB. (However, setting up the same pain killers on another ccard could take lots of legwork.) All other ccard usage should be dumb-n-simple.

I currently have ccards from 4 banks: D H S M C

— CIMB .. Spend $500 within 60 days of approval (by 16 Apr). $135 to be credited in 3rd month.

Prefer a big ticket item like

  • $340 flight charged
  • NTUC vouchers
  • medical bills

— DBS::eccard .. Keep this ccard for contingency (Cimb 31 Oct)
* Annual fee started in Aug 2023, but easy and quick to waive (online request)
* 🙂 credit balance xfer-out via digibot. Useful as bill payment target. $2k xfer possible in Oct 2023
* 🙂 automated pay-off by GIRO already set up.
* 🙁 tx history display and ACL calc .. unfamiliar. Looks like ACL is based on last statement and ignores unbilled. To see credit transactions on webank, you must ModifySearch to choose the “unbilled”
— HSBC::revolution … I have relatively few deep Visa cards

  • consider closing now. Can reapply in 12M
  • j4: in Nov 2023, I needed a visa card to avoid $60 Mastercard surcharge
  • j4: 1% cashback on everything

~~ (Recreational complexity) As of Nov 2023, there is a 10x promotion. My $1264 flight spend will earn me about 10264 bonus_points visible in Jan or Feb. After that, I can use the bonus_points to pay for my ccard bill. $1/400 points. The cash credit hits ccard account within 3 weeks.

If you charge $3k in one purchase, you earn 3000 points at end of current statement cycle, and you earn 9x (27000 points), but subject to 9000 points cap, so you will only earn 9000 points, at end of next statement cycle.

—  SCB::scsc [-9933].. Keep for the hassle-free cashback
Cashback .. with no min spend, no cap (FAQ). 1.5% on any SPENDING but excluding [AXS, bx premium, recurring bill payment]. Good for big purchases like flights/hotels, medical, electronics, but better call hotline before buying.

Statement date ~ 10th. Due date is 22 days later. Please pay off statement balance 1~2 bizday in advance if via intra-bank transfer.

! ACL reflects unposted amount
! CurrentBalance is very tricky. It is computed from AvailableCreditLimit and then adjusted to remove unposted amounts.

AnnualFee .. If auto-waiver fails, (Max said) we need to be nice to hotline when requesting waiver.

BilledBalance menas “statement balance”
Billed means “onClosedStatement”
Unbilled means “not on statement”, different from ‘unposted’

Efficiency tips:
* pay statement balance .. cardHistory

==MB::FnF ..

Click into ccard or RBBT account -> choose payStatamenetFullAmt or payStatementMinAmt

23 Feb 2017 will be first time they charge me. Only after it’s charged can I call in (1800-629 2265) to request automatic waiver (1D turnaround). Once waived, will show in Mar bill.

Maybank e-banking keeps last 11 months’ statements IFF you opt for eStatement: left menu -> creditCards -> transactionHistory

cCard# is visible in inetBanking 🙂

— sugg: reduce MB ccard transaction counts

xp: the more transactions, the harder my effort grew during exp-recon, because MB ccard transactions are not so easy to check:

  • transaction date vs posting date
  • I often check my DBS transactions many times a week. If I were to do that for this ccard, then the Mayb website would miss most of my recent transactions. Instead I must use SMS… lower efficiency
  • Sometimes, the SMS can go missing.
  • Suppose you run another recon after 4D, the chance of uneventful recon is .. 92-95%. Risk of “recon event”is rather high. Therefore, this represents the #1 biggest headache and the weakest link in my exp recon process
  • .. the online tx history doesn’t show a running balance after each tx. This makes it hard to reproduce a previous snapshot.

— 8% in 10 spending categories for FF ccard:

Zofia, We can earn 8 cents for every dollar spent in 5 categories:

  1. Groceries like Giant, NTUC,
    • Since we will hit $310 easily, I don’t ever need to borrow wife’s MB card.
  2. Restaurants like Ichiban(confirmed)
  3. Kids shops like Popular Bookstore(confirmed), ToysRUs (confiremd), but KiddyPalace is questionable
  4. Pharmacies like Watson’s (confirmed), Unity (confirmed), Guardian(confirmed)
  5. Telecom like Starhub

Maybank gives only 0.3% with Lazada, electricity,,, (no category)

Each category has a cap $310/Month [posted within 1-31 May window]. If you “post” more than $310 over 1-31 May, there’s no more 8% cashback, for a particular category. The Maybank app on my phone can show me something like “$290 spent so far this month in Groceries category”.

https://www.maybank2u.com.sg/iwov-resources/sg/pdf/cards/fnf-cashrebate-tnc.pdf has the most details

 

Bank::SCB #5

Posted on by tiger40490
  • scheduled FAST possible. Usually before 11am.
  • EOD balance snapshot .. around 11:59pm, confirmed 3 times
  • hotline 6747 7000: 8a – 8p daily… See https://btv-open.dreamhosters.com/7059/hotline-frustrations-banks/
  • .. from landline, you can press “5” -> smsOTP (usable in 2025) -> 1 for agent
  • If overseas, you can contact SCB via 1) mobank::chat 2) webank::mailbox

If you pay ccard statement balance on the due day itself, it would be “received” immediately (Webank may show it a day later.) and therefore no late fee 🙂

— SCSC statement date .. 10th of the month weekend/weekday.
If a $22 charge is posted on 10th, it would be included in the satement dated 10th (the same day).

Usually, posting date is not transaction date.

— fraud auto-suspension

I was told that adding payee was the main trigger on 29 Aug. In general adding too many payees is always a red flag. I will keep #108, BOC long term.

If fraud detection kicks in

  • Hopefully I get SMS and respond in time…
  • If really blocked, then need to call hotline immediately and wait for the call back. They will verify me and unblock me hopefully within an hour.

For a big FAST transfer, better do it early. If blocked by the system, then call in immediately.

— FBF see FBF compare across banks

— account security:
Beside the password, you need the mobileApp to get in

adding payee … See ##banking++ PINs: grave dangers

ChannelA= SGD{UnionPayATM

Posted on by tiger40490

SAFE policy allows each person to withdraw Rmb100k/Y from a Sgp ATM machine, across all your bank cards.

UnionPay system (not HSBC system) allows Rmb 10k per transaction, so you need 10 transactions to use up 100k quota.

100k/Y Quota resets on 1 Jan.

Forex rate is controlled by UnionPay system and should be the same regardless of the bank.

The most obvious justification for card holder performing overseas ATM withdrawal .. to withdraw cash to spend at cash-only shops. There are many cash-only shops in Singapore and Japan. To conform to this usage pattern/expectation, it is prudent to space out two withdrawals.

— best practice

  • ensure there’s Rmb 11k balance in China bank account
  • optionally bring BOC atm card to deposit immediately
  • check debit amount via SMS
  • record in ex_china.xls
  • spread out the withdrawls to avoid surveillance radar

— throughput .. R100k/Y, better spread out.
With multiple people’s cards, I can achieve perhaps R300k/Y. With grandma and grandpa’s accounts, I can safely take out up to 90k/Y over 9 withdrawals.

— surveillance sensitivity .. medium (for citizens) sensitivity according to a few sources. Lincoln, Yang.Yu and a helpful Hsbc.cn  hotline lady advised me to stay clear of the limit.

  • “Peraps utilize 80% of the annual limit”.. I will aim at 98%
  • “when you are close to 100% of 100k/Y quota, exercise caution and never exceed the limit”
  • Lincoln felt foreigners are less scrutinized, but better aim below 100% usage
  • For China nationals travelling overseas, aim at 80% of the limit to stay below the radar

UnionPay hotline +861095516 told me nationality doesn’t matter. I get the impression that UnionPay system may have a loophole that might allow a customer to exceed the 100k quota. I guess there exists a technical challenge (to any real time surveillance) when the same customer uses two banks’ cards concurrently on two ATM machines.

* Penalty for breach .. zero quota for the next calendar year.
* Penalty (bigger) .. suspension of the bank card. After that, we may decide to leave a small balance there idle indefinitely until reactivation at branch. This consequence/penalty/scenario is … tolerable.

==== tx cost .. comparable to the 0.75% HSBC.sg fee for Channel520, and easily offset by a few months of DIR

— PSBC (knows I’m a passport holder.) Rmb 62 for a $10k withdrawal. PSBC showed two separate debits on 14 Sep 2024 —

  • Rmb 61.98 fees.. close to the $62 max
  • Rmb 9995.8 = $1820* UnionPay official rate 5.4922

Rmb 4 charge for balance inquiry on ATM 🙁

— Hsbc (knows I’m a passport holder.) Rmb 110 for a 10k withdrawal.

Repeat 10 times and it costs you Rmb 1100 to withdraw up to Rmb100k… 1.1%+ commission

Hsbc advised me to monitor the actual Rmb conversion amounts. They might exceed 10k!

6 Sep 2024 experience: 5.4741 was the UnionPay official rate. On BOC ATM, I keyed in SGD1820. Total fee = R110 ==> 5.4741 * 1820 + 110 = Rmb 10072.86 deducted from hsbc.cn

On another day, the official UnionPay rate also matched my Hsbc calculation.

— ICBC, CCB, BOC (all know I’m a passport holder.) Rmb 112 for a $10k withdrawal, consisting of R 12 + 1% of withdrawal amount

Posted in chn