Usually 2 days from my experience. But it beats the China system anytime. That one will take
1 week minimum and usually more. Plus, there is very real risk of getting double-charged
And worse of all, it is a 'purchase' so any dispute as to the charges will take more time to
get settled (credit card company, merchant, investigation, paperwork etc ).

And obviously if you're using a foreign credit card, you may have better protection (like AMEX) where theft overseas is taken very seriously.

I would assume having a seperate credit card for expenses like this is probably the best policy.  Maybe something like an internet savings account or other semi-legit account from ING or similar.  I paid cash in Macau and threw away the receipts afterwards. If my girlfriend ever found out about it, I would probably get my dick chopped off.  It is also awkward to take large sums out of ATM for cash, and similarly raises questions; I don't know how I would do it if we shared a checking account...

Bro Hunter, the news that I was referring to was actually about fraud using an ATM card not credit card. Would be crazy thing to have credit card with millions credit. But just be careful, all sort of shit happens out there everyday.

Why the fuck this dude put all his money in the same basket? That;s what you get if they dont use common sense.

When I go to China, I bring alone 2 credit cards with the minimun credit limit (1 HKD Visa and the other is Union Pay RMB credit card) ,an ATM card with 2 to 3,000 cash for emergency purposes and cash in hand of appx RMB2,000 for an weekend punting.

[ Last edited by  hunter at 2-11-2009 15:36 ]

Yeah i can see the potential concern about ATM/Debit Cards linked to your bank account.
If you have fraud committed on your ATM/DC, basically the 'real' money that you have,
could be potentially cleaned out. Of course, most (if not all) banks will have some kind of
insurance structure in place to cover your loss due to fraud but the painful part is that it may
take quite awhile for the investigations and the paperwork to come along (in the meantime,
you are essentially without a penny).

So best not to use your main savings account ATM or Debit Card. Good idea to open
another separate bank account and just deposit how ever much money you need
before going on a trip to minimise potential loss.

Fraud on Credit Cards however, is slightly different. The credit granted isn't actually
'real' money in that sense. So if fraud occurs, and lets say your credit limit has been maxed
out by the fraudster, you would report this to the CC company and they will cancel your
card and conduct the usual investigation, paperwork etc etc. Difference is that, you don't
have to pay for the fradulent purchases and while the investigations may take a long time,
you are have not lost any 'real money' in that sense. A pain in the ass definitely, but as
compared to bank account fraud, its not as bad.

[ Last edited by  DutchDoubles at 2-11-2009 13:57 ]

Besides leaving a transaction record in the credit card monthly statement, how about foreign exchange service charge for the deposit? Some credit cards charge a service charge for all forex transactions so in essence, we don't get the full deposit back right? Plus there's the different/delayed exchange rate

For the forex service charge on CC, it depends. Like in Macau/HK, when you use your CC
for deposit purposes, there is no real 'purchase' hence, you would not get charged on the
forex because all they do is block the amount on your card. No purchase, no fee.

But for China, the deposit is a purchase so, you get the forex charge levied. But when they
do the refund, i am not sure whether the forex service charge will be waived during the
refund process as it would be considered a returned purchase.

As for the delayed exchange rate, i think they will take the exchange rate on the day that
the refund is initiated rather than the day that the refund is credited back to you.