Korean Job Discussion Forums

[newintown]

for one of the most wired countries in the world, it amazes me how difficult it is to pay for something online here.
on a number of occasions, rather than pay online, i've been asked to go into a bank, and make a cash deposit which will be wired onwards.
at home, it was rare i would actually visit my bank.
why is this the case?

is it possible to transfer money from my own bank (KB) into another bank (KEB) as i am not sure theres a branch of KEB in my home town

[joeyjoejoe]

transfering money to another korean bank is easy....do it from the atm

as for why banking is so difficult here...it's a combination of absurd bureaucracy and poor staff training.

the first time i sent money home it took 2 hours of me sitting in the bank convincing the girl it was possible then her figuring out how to do it.

the second time, after being flat out told "no, you can't do it. you can't send your money home" (pretty sure that's not what she meant, but with her limited english that's what she said) and then seeing someone more senior, it took 90 minutes of her making phonecalls and tapping away on her keyboard to get it done.

in contrast, when i was working in ireland, it took me 5 minutes to close my account and send everything i had home.

[swoosh76]

How long does it usually take to receive the funds to deposit into the US bank account? I was told it takes 3-5 business days to post into your US bank account? Is this true? I thought it was usually instant, or at the most, 1 business day.

[spliff]

[reaction]

are the fees cheaper online?

i found it seriously difficult to get an account in korea, with all the papers and red tape. i'm starting to worry about how protected i am, seeing as how i haven't received my debit card these past three weeks. a coworker had her purse stolen and it took almost an hour to cancel her account. by then, the thief had already purged her account with all the information she had left in her purse.

are korean banks safe or am i needlessly worrying?

[newintown]

yeah, you are worrying needlessly.
opening an account shouldn't be that difficult. we managed it without our alien cards. just passport.
have you tried KB?

[nobbyken]

KB is a good one.
They have phone banking, with an English option, allowing you to check your account anytime.
You can also telebank money to other accounts.
Small fee for non-KB accounts.

[MANDRL]

I bank with Shinhan Bank. Every month I wire money home and I have been here for about 10 months. The very first time I wired money it took about 30 minutes in the branch; every time after that I am in the bank for roughly 5 minutes. I always go to the same guy at the same branch. Every single time I have wired money from Shinhan to my Bank of America account, it has taken about 10 - 12 hours to show up. If I wire at noon in Korea, I can check my Bank of America account around 10 pm - 12 am the same day and the money is there, it's great.

[reaction]

how long should it take for a debit card to arrive in the mail? i've been waiting for several weeks and wondering if it got lost or whatnot.

i'm thinking about going in, but not sure if i can communicate my needs and have them understand understand me.

[ttompatz]