In May 2024, CITIC Bank seized an early opportunity: it was the first to officially announce the Mastercard RMB/USD dual currency debit card, which is now referred to as the Mastercard RMB debit card.

Interestingly, CITIC directly labeled it as "The First in the Country," clearly aiming to take the first bite.

Well, I'll take the first bite too, let's open an account and try it out.

Opening the Card

Applying for a CITIC debit card online is very simple. For debit cards, you can apply directly in the CITIC Bank APP homepage → All Services → Card Supermarket. The Mastercard Dual Currency Card you want to apply for is under the Standard Card Series. In the same category, there are also three CITIC UnionPay card types, as well as the American Express RMB card (which I've written about before), the Mastercard foreign currency card, and the VISA foreign currency card.

Click Apply for Card, and it will automatically jump to the application form page. Then, just fill out the form according to the page prompts.

Opening the card will deduct 5 RMB, which will later be directly deposited into your account.

After filling it out, just wait at home. Later, you will receive a card as shown in the picture below.

CITIC actually made a separate packaging for this card (I lost the packaging), which shows that CITIC at least invested in the design.

The BIN is 522401, and the validity period is only five years. However, for CITIC, card replacement and reissuance do not require visiting a branch. You can do it in the APP by filling in the card number, CVV, and identity information. This means that if there are no other issues, you only need to visit a branch once after getting this card.

Branch Activation

That one time I went to the branch for activation was because I, this idiot, incorrectly entered the front numbers three times while replacing that Amex card, which caused the card to be locked. I mainly went to the branch for that reason, so this Mastercard card was activated at the counter incidentally. The staff didn't ask me much; they probably just copied the Amex information. Anyway, the card activation went smoothly.

Usage Experience

Binding to Google Play works normally. Binding to WeChat and Alipay works normally. Binding to Pixiv succeeded, but I haven't tried making a purchase. Then, binding to PayPal was unsuccessful, still the old issue of high decline rates.

Afterword

CITIC, your decline rate... I'm speechless. You actually did two good things.

Well, I can only resort to some unconventional methods (wait for the follow-up post).