One Solution Doesn't Fit All in WeChat Wallet Verification Snafu
WeChat erupted last night with news that many users could no longer access money stored in their WeChat Wallet due to sudden enforcement of an existing policy that requires linking one's WeChat Pay to two separate bank accounts.
This presented a large number of foreigners – particularly those with only one bank account – with no access to the money stored in their WeChat Wallet.
Throughout the course of the day today, various solutions and workarounds have been proposed and shared, sending some users racing over to their local bank in search of help.
After pouring through reams of messages in multiple WeChat groups today, we've seen at least four different proposed solutions, none of which have universally worked for every user.
Speculation that the issue was limited to foreign WeChat users was initally rampant, but that proved not to be the case – as Chinese users also received the prompt. A key difference is many Chinese WeChat users already have two or more bank cards registered on the app – for these people today has been business as usual.
To make matters worse, even when people registered two bank cards, they were still unable to access their WeChat Wallet due to real name issues – i.e. their name on record at their respective banks do not match.
We know this to be true: WeChat indeed has a statement in their FAQ that says two bank cards are necessary for verification:
"Why do I need to bind 2 bank cards to verify my identity?
According to the regulatory measures, in order to ensure user identity and achieve risk control requirements, our company will remind users to 'add 2 bank cards' in order to strengthen the verification of identity information."
However, multiple Beijing-based expats report that they've been able to restore their wallet even with a single bank card, making for a seemingly contradictory state of affairs.
Of the solutions we've seen, the simplest (and the one that seems to work more often than not) is detailed with images here (a shout-out to Tianjin GoExpats for the post). This method has allowed multiple users to circumnavigate the locked WeChat Wallet without having to use a second bank card. We suggest you try this method first – but please be warned it has not worked for everyone.
We know there's a lot of information circulating about this, which makes it easy to get stressed, but the most important thing to keep in mind is don't panic. This would also be a good time to make sure all your eggs are not in one digital basket: we can't think of a better time to open an Alipay account, which most merchants accept.
How to go about setting one up from scratch is beyond the scope of this article – but it's fairly straightforward if you can read a bit of Chinese. Better yet, get a Chinese friend to help you sign up. It's also a good time to dust off your trusty ATM card to make sure you have access to cash in a pinch.
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Images: Reuters, The Beijingers
