Taiwanese banks don't know what bank statements are?

[CoolDawg88]

It depends on the bank, Citibank send me one in the mail every month. Chinatrust send one every quarter when I banked with them. Taishin don't send a statement but they have been happy to give me a proof of savings on deposit and stamped transaction lists. It's just not standardized like it is with western banks, a lot of people don't like receiving paper statements because they're worried about fraud or family members knowing their business. The passbook is still king in Taiwan.

For Taishin, do they list your address on the proof of savings on deposit?

[jenny5]

I need a bank statement to prove my name and residence in Taiwan.

I went to my bank yesterday(Taiwan Cooperative) to get a printed bank statement. They wouldn't give me one.

First, I went to the information desk and asked for a "bank statement". In Chinese it's called a 銀行對賬單/銀行報告/銀行結單. The lady there was just completely unhelpful. She said that banks don't do that and that there was no such thing as a bank statement in Taiwan. I said, you know those statements that banks send out to their customers every month, I just need a print out of that. Again she protested that there's no such thing. I explained that all I needed was ANY type of printed document which shows my name, address, and account number, that's it. She again repeated that Taiwanese banks can't/won't do that. She further stated that in her 30 years of banking, no one has ever made such a request before. She was absolutely incredulous.

This was going nowhere and I still had other business to handle with the bank teller so I left the area. And when I left ,the lady immediately did the typically Taiwanese thing where they complain, rant, and rave to their colleagues. She basically repeated everything and again said in her 30 years working in the banking industry, she has never heard of such a thing.

After I had handled everything with the bank teller, I again attempted to get some sort of print out. The guy working the counter was just as dumb and incredulous as the lady. He was also dumbfounded by my request. He said that he can't print anything for me. I again said that all I needed was anything which displayed my name, address, and account number. He said no, there is nothing he can do for me. He went on to say that if I wanted all this info, I should just access my account online and print it out myself, sigh. You just can't counter that type of logic.

I really don't think that banks here understand the concept of someone needing printed documents to prove a name and residence. No doubt things are done much differently here, but I refuse to believe that banks here have no idea of what a bank statement is. All I need is a printed document which displays my name, address, and account number. I don't think that's too much to expect from a bank.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Do banks here really not know what a bank statement is?

I seriously cannot believe you spent so much time trying to get a piece of such a simply document and nobody managed to help you out. These people should learn how western banks work. I mean, come on, look into your computer, find a relevant page and click a combination of keys on your keyboard (hint: CTRL + P) and then click OK. That is it. It is not like you were asking them to print you out data of another person. That was your personal data that you wanted printed. Maybe those people simply don't have printers? I know, it is silly, but maybe we should recommend them using some .... I don' t know, an online printing service, you know, those that print booklets for you and other stuff. Let me do a Google search ..... 10 seconds later ...... ok, here is one: http://www.nextdayflyers.com/ I say next time you go to the bank (if ever ), give them the address :-))) Their customer service will improve, like immediately!!!! :-) This is hilarious!

[tommy525]

Most old fashion banks in Taiwan use the passbook. And dont provide a statement per se. And very infrequently will any business need to know what money you have in your bank. If a credit lender (say a car dealership) wanted to lend you money, they could probably call your bank from their office and be given the answer over the telephone. Your passbook is your statement. When I had an account at the Post Office in Taiwan, I would have to present my passbook after something like 20 transactions using the ATm, so the balance could be reflected on my passbook.

In the USA a lot of banks require you have a minimum deposit with them. And thats because it costs money to send out a bank statement every month. In Taiwan a lot of banks have no minimum deposit because it doesnt cost them anything to have your money in their bank. No statements are generated or mailed out, thus no cost.

[tommy525]

I get a mailed monthly statement from HSBC showing all debits and credits during that statement period.It also shows my name and address and I can print it from online.

Well that's HSBC. A real bank. Not a Taiwanese bank.

Taiwanese banks are the mutant stepchild of the banking industry. They don't do things here like they do elsewhere in the world.

Correct ! And that goes for a LOT of things too.

[monokuro]

Indeed - I needed a bank statement recently to use as a proof of address - they just couldn't give me it (Cathay).

In the end, after speaking to loads of people, the only way round it was to get a Tax Return (?) form from them - which did show my address.

For statements, they said no one does that - that's what the passbook is for....

[superking]

Try asking the bank teller for a 財力證明 (cai2 li4 zheng4 ming2).

So I asked around and apparently it's true, there's no such thing as a bank statement in Taiwan.

There is only what you mentioned, which is also known as 財產證明 or 存款證明. I went to a different bank today(Megabank) and asked for one. It's a pretty serious affair, you have to fill out a document and also state a reason as to why you want it, and it costs 50nt.

To my surprise, the document doesn't even have your address on it! WTF?! You have got to be kidding me. It's got my name, my account number, and my balance but no address. So basically in Taiwan, banks cannot print for you ANY document with your name, address, and account number. Sigh this is just too sick, oh Taiwan what am I to do with you.

You could not do this in the UK either. You need to submit numerous forms of ID and then they would post the statement to your mailing address. Usually you'd have to phone a number to sort it out, the bank don't want to deal with this sort of request in person. IN THE WEST. At least a 7 day process.

When doing something for the first time it is always easy to blame another culture for not making something happen as instantly as you want it. The reality is that you can't just stump up at the bank and ask them to provide a document with your name, address, finances etc at will. You'd know that if you ever tried to do it in the west before.

Why banks in Taiwan should be able to predict the Westerners behaviour is nonsense. Bottom line is most expats turn up in these situations with an expectation of how things should work based on stuff they made up in their heads. NOT based on how things actually work in the west. What the OP wants could not be done with ease in a Western country either. But guess what, it is easy to blame the Taiwanese for this stuff. So blame away.

YAWN...

"I went to the supermarket and asked for 497 coffee granules in my jar of coffee. Assholes refused to do a count. Backward assed clowns."

[finley]

Cobblers, superking. The OP wasn't making any reference to his home culture - but yes, he was just turning up "with an expectation of how things should work based on stuff they made up in their heads". And WTF is wrong with that? There is no logical problem with what he was asking. Banks SHOULD be expected to instantly produce a copy of whatever information they hold about you, including your real-time balance, on the spot (assuming you can show proper ID, of course). The entire financial system depends on us having faith in banks as competent entities.

If the people at your bank are incompetent, paper-shuffling jobsworths, that really doesn't prove anything. I can turn up at my UK bank with my ATM card and a passport and have an official statement printed. It'll cost me 5 pounds, but they'll do it. Alternatively I can log into internet banking and do the same thing myself for free.

[dan2006]

Taiwanese bank employees are by and large useless tools.

They come up with such gems as "this isn't your home area, therefore you can't have an account here", and "I can't look up this persons transit number so you can deposit money even though I have their account number"

In a few cases, banks couldn't be arsed to set up an account for a foreigner so they say to go to another bank.

But yet they close super early at 3pm and then stay until 8pm and do bugger all to look like they are busy. And anything outside of the box, forget about it.

So yes, I am not surprised in the least that they can't do a simple thing like prepare a bank statement.

[tommy525]

Yes they are very very unhelpful. I should say again what a riggermero I had to go thru to cash my AMEX travelers checks recently.

Ok , thats a pretty ancient instrument granted. Indonesia , I could NOT cash them at all, anywhere. But at least in Taiwan i could. But as it turns out, only at the CKS airport and at the Sungshan (Songshan) airport (and presumably at the KHH airport). They wanted to charge me 200nt per 100usd travelers check at the CKS airport. I declined their good offer.

But then I went from bank to bank in taipei and nobody could do anything. Finally I went to the Sungshan (Songshan) airport. And lo and behold there was only ONE bank and at only ONE counter where one could change Travelers checks. And only AMEX travelers checks and only up to 500 usd.

Luckily thats what I had , AMEX and 500 USD. So i got them changed and I only lost bout 400nt for the transaction instead of 1000nt at the CKS airport.

p.s. TW banks got it pretty good on the whole. TW people like to save money and like to put their stash in the banks. And they can use the aTM when they want some out and want to put cash in. So the tellers have it pretty light. Most of them are just there to look pretty I think (cuz less and less people are bothering to use the line when they can use the ATM).
The real biz is giving loans and collecting the interest. The work comes from not making too many "stupid" loans so the NonPerforming Loans dont upset the apple cart.



So yeah, they are not paragons of banking efficiency them. Who knows what they all do there really.

US banks are pretty good at giving you online access where you can print up statements up to a year ago I think. And do online banking. But then they pay you one percent per annum interest too.

And if you make a mistake on a deposit they ding you too.

[superking]

Cobblers, superking. The OP wasn't making any reference to his home culture - but yes, he was just turning up "with an expectation of how things should work based on stuff they made up in their heads". And WTF is wrong with that? There is no logical problem with what he was asking. Banks SHOULD be expected to instantly produce a copy of whatever information they hold about you, including your real-time balance, on the spot (assuming you can show proper ID, of course). The entire financial system depends on us having faith in banks as competent entities.

If the people at your bank are incompetent, paper-shuffling jobsworths, that really doesn't prove anything. I can turn up at my UK bank with my ATM card and a passport and have an official statement printed. It'll cost me 5 pounds, but they'll do it. Alternatively I can log into internet banking and do the same thing myself for free.

I agree that a bank should be able to facilitate the provision of a statement detailing your name, address, account number and account transactions, but you cannot simply arrive and expect one to be printed out and handed to you. In the UK you can turn up and get a statement of your account, but it will not have your home address printed on it. In fact, most banks will not provide any sort of posted monthly statement any more. You have to specifically request for these things to be posted to you. I went through this process last year and it took various trips to the bank, form filling and then phone calling. That was with HSBC.
There is nothing wrong with turning up with your own expectations, but 9 times out of 10 you will leave disappointed.