I’m sure you’ve all heard of WeChat and have managed to set up your account. However, for many of you, it may have ended there. Finally, after years of feeling left out of the loop, us “Wai Guo Ren” (foreigners) can saunter up to a till point and nonchalantly wave our phones at the cashier. Has anything been more thrilling than this?!

The Chinese company Tencent announced today that it will be accepting international bank cards as payment through WeChat wallet, meaning you no longer have to go through the hassle of opening a Chinese Bank account. This guide will help you to achieve your dreams of scanning and paying!

A Step By Step Guide to add your Bank Card to WeChat Wallet:

Step 1

Select the “Me” icon from the bottom menu in WeChat and then select the “Wallet” option.

Step 2

Select “Cards” from the top menu.

Step 3

This screen may be different for some of you but essentially you want to select “Add a new card.”

Step 4

With this being China, you can either snap a quick pic of your card or manually enter your card number.

Step 5

After this select your bank card. If your bank doesn’t appear go ahead and select Visa or Mastercard (whichever one is applicable) and then credit card (even if it’s a debit.)

Step 6

You will then be asked to enter all you personal details in the following menu.

Good to know:

If your region is not shown, enter your closest city, and for your phone number it’s up to you whether you use your international or Chinese number!

After entering these details your card should be connected to your WeChat!

In some cases this doesn’t allow you to transfer money from your bank account to WeChat or pay with you bank card. However it does allow you to receive money from others, so I’m sure you can ask your Chinese friends to help out if you give them some cash! Then they can transfer you the equivalent value so it’s available for you to use on WeChat!

For international payments, we always recommend using TransferWise. They’re cheaper than the banks, because they always use the real exchange rate – which you can see on Google – and charge a very small fee. They’re also safe and trusted by over 2 million people around the world. You can sign up here.

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