O.K.. So, you've earned yourself a nice chunk of
cash teaching English in Taiwan, but having a few ten thousand
lying around
your
room, or, worse, behind the curtain of your bunk in the hostel,
is beginning to make you a bit uncomfortable. Whaddya gonna
do...open a bank account? A foreigner?? Easy...if you know what
to do.
There are two kinds of banks in Taiwan. Government
owned and Independent. The government owned are tightly
regulated; the Independents are
Taiwan's free marketeers, each competing against the other to
get deposits and very accommodating. You'll find a
list of the five biggest in the table below. The
International Commercial Bank of China allows people to use
their passport to open accounts. All the others require a
passport and an ARC. The kind of account
you want to ask for is a "Demand Deposit" account. You won't be
able to write checks (like you could!) but you'll get unlimited
ATM withdrawls throughout Taiwan. The ATM withdrawl fee is the
same, nationwide, even if you go to your own bank's ATM: NT$7
for every withdrawl.
Taxes-interest: They don't take taxes from your principal, just
from your interest. So, if you've had an average of NT$100,00 in
the bank, and the interest is 1.5% you would have gotten NT$1500
(100,000 x .015). So you've just earned NT$1500 interest!
They'll only take tax from the interest you've gotten, and the
tax rate is 20%. You earned NT$1500. 20% of that NT$1500 is
NT$300. So the only money you would pay is NT$300. And, its
really easy. No filing, no paperwork. They just figure it out
and deduct it automatically once a year.
Number of offices? This is probably the kicker. Find the bank
that's closest to you or, better yet, closest to your school.
Ease with English? Can be really
important when you've got to buy a check to pay for your
transcripts and you only have your lunch hour to do it on. All
of the banks will have more than several people in their offices
who can and want to speak English. And whomever does the
paperwork when you open the account will likely be so smitten by
you that you can easily depend on them, and being able to find
them in a pinch. You'll have an easy time.
Sign up attire. Do I have to tell you this? Well, don't go in to
the bank all Dead-Headed out. They'll just get scared and give you
a hard time. Go in dressed as well as you can and bring your
passport. If you are here as a visitor, explain that you are a
visitor but you'd like to open an account to keep your money
safe while you travel. If you are already working at a school
and you have an ARC or one is on the way, you could say that
too. While they are processing your ARC, you want a place to
keep your money safe.
Hours? Ok...officially they close their doors at 3:30pm.,
nationwide. They stay there until about 5:30pm counting the
loot. But, and this is so different from the West, they will
answer the phone until they leave. And, no kidding, they might
even open the door and let you in after 3:30 if you ask nicely
and its an emergency. (In there ever-widening sphere of
market-responses there is one bank that has begun to stay
open until 7pm: Chinatrust, with their vaguely familiar
color scheme and omni-present jingle "We are FAMILY!".)
Final thoughts: get a higher rate? Considering the amount of
moving around and spending you'll probably do, the interest rate
is probably not your most important factor; location is your
best criteria. You could even get a credit card, but you'll have
to find your best Taiwanese friend to co-sign for you. And, if
you think your school is legit, you can even get them to hook
you up with direct deposit, so's you wont have that demon in you
pocket screaming out to you on the fifth, "$$$", "SPEND THE $".
Ask the clerk and they can give you the form. There you go. More
financial advice next time.
