Korean Job Discussion Forums

[oneota]

In spite of my asking for American Express traveler's checks, my bank sold me "Hana Bank Visa" checks. Has any-one had any experience using these in the States, Guatemala, Germany, England, or Russia (especially Russia)?

I'm a bit worried, since I have had places not accept my Visa card, since it was from a bank from another country. Also, I have had trouble in small towns in the States (demanding i.d. and then not accepting a passport as appropriate i.d.) and France (I can't remember, I think they didn't want to cash the checks because they were in DMs or from a German bank) with Cook's traverler's checks.

[seoulsucker]

I had a teller try and pull the same stuff with me once after I had repeatedly requested AMEX cheques. His reasoning was, "But here is Korea. You should use Korean bank cheques."

Take them back, and get them exchanged for American Express Cheques. Those things are the proven gold standard EVERYWHERE, and you should settle for nothing but the best. If they don't issue them to you, cash them out, close your account, and take your business elsewhere.

[thebomb]

As the poster above said go back and get them changed.

I remember being in Luang Prabang in northern Laos, and was travelling with a bunch of people including a Korean girl, who had Citibank T/C's. None of the banks in Luang Prabang would change them, they didn't recognise them, so she had to travel all the way back to Vientiane just to change money to go all the back up north again.

And that being in Asia, so the chance of a Central American Bank accepting is far lower. It's definitely not worth the risk.

[oneota]

Well, I didn't get them replaced. They were useless in Russia - but then ANY traveler's checks probably would have been useless. The story about our attempts to get my TCs cashed is too long to go into here. Just be fore-warned: TCs (of any type) are NOT the gold standard in at least parts of Russia (I wasn't in Moscow, so I don't know if they are a problem there, but the bank where I was indicated it wouldn't have been). Fortunately, I had a Russian who, to my embarrassment, totally grubstaked me. In Guatemala and the States, there was no problem. On Taiwan, though, there was a problem: the banks will cash TCs but take out a hefty fee and don't give a good rate. Korean credit cards can also be a problem on Taiwan: You have to do some-thing in Korea before You go in order to activate them for Taiwan. If You don't, the in-country process can take an hour or so. If You want to convert won, do it at the airport: we couldn't find any city banks that would do it.

[ttompatz]

It all goes back to the real "GOLD STANDARDS" for international currency exchange...

Take either US$ or EUROs. Anything else is problematic at best.

Use your plastic when possible but have enough CASH to get you by.

.

[machellebelle]

how much do the banks charge for traveller's checks?

[oneota]

Hana Bank didn't seem to charge any-thing for the TCs (though I couldn't really tell), though the exchange rate was not so good. When I cashed the TCs in Taiwan, I think they took over 5% out.

[oneota]

ttompatz -

When I took cash, I happened to get quite air-sick and my cash (and passport and TCs and tickets) were stolen on the plane. I didn't realize it until I was lurching to the passport control. The security people were not in much of a hurry to help, so no one was caught. My TCs (Thomas Cook that time) were replaced, but I had to pay Asiana to get my tickets replaced.

[ttompatz]