Korean Job Discussion Forums

[KoreanAmbition]

Can the Canadian or US citizens tell me what they exchange rate they are getting for their Korean won.

I want to set up my buget for bill payments here in Canada. I can wire home either Canadian or American money so I'm curious what my Korean won will be worth.

Just a note, I know there is a difference "buying" and "selling" of currencies.

So if your paycheque gives you 1.0 million won, what will that convert to for US or Canadian currencies?

Thanks so much.

[Zaria32]

It depends on whether you are changing into Traveler's Checks, cash or doing a wire transfer.

Banks have different exchange rates depending on the risk they are taking. Typically, changing won into some other currency (cash I mean) will have the worst exchange rate because they have bought the other currency, have it on hand, and therefore have assumed currency risk on it.

[yoja]

The rates change, usually several times every day. You can check the rates for yourself by going into the bank and looking at the numbers posted in red on the board. Busier areas, such as in Kangnam, will often have 4-5 banks all within a few blocks of each other, so it's easy to check and compare which bank has the best rate at that time.

If you don't want to go in and physically check at the bank, you can check online to see what the average rate is for that day. There are several good currency exchange websites. One is xe.com. Yahoo finance also has a currency converter that shows the rate over a period of time so you can see if it's generally going up or down. Be aware, though, that the rates you get in the bank will be slightly different from what's quoted on the websites, because the websites don't take into account the profit margin that banks charge.

You can also go to Itaewon and walk into pretty much any shop and be quoted a rock-bottom exchange rate, typically slightly better than what you will get at a bank, but without the ability to wire money to your account (they only exchange cash).

There are several threads on exchanging money that have more in-depth (and perhaps more accurate) information that what I have written here. Do a search.

[KoreanAmbition]

While I appreciate your responses, I unfortunately did not get the type of answers I was looking for.

First off, the search function has not worked for me recently, so unfortunately I cannot get information that way.

Second, I understand the dynamics of exchanging money. I was looking for someone that actually converts money and can tell me their exchange rate.

I already use xe.com. Unfortunately that only gives you an approximation of the conversion rate. That does not identify if it is the rate for "buying" or "selling".

Lastly, I would walk into banks and look at the rates, however, I'm not in Korea. I'm in Canada. I realize I was not clear about where I am located right now, so that is my fault.

Once again, I'm curious if someone actually banks and knows what they are getting for conversion rates at this time.

Thanks

[Zaria32]

Bought some traveler's checks about an hour ago, and paid 1041 won per US dollar at Nonghyup Bank...is that closer to what you need?

[KoreanAmbition]

Zaria,

Thanks so much. Actually that's exactly what I was looking for.



xe.com for example says that $1 USD = 1028 won.

...or that 1041 won = $1.011 USD


I know it's not far off the "real" rate that you get, but it's nice to be close to exact when deal with many millions of won.

I appreciate you posting a second time.
Thanks

[big_fella1]

The head teller (the one sitting at a desk doing nothing) has a little flexibility in the rate you get so a little charm can be useful. I have saved w10,000 on a 3 million transfer! Also if your bank back home takes a cut, a cheque (international draft) at a cost of w5,000 can work out better value as your bank will treat this like a local cheque (3 days to clear in Australia plus postage time). Just get it payable to XYZ Bank for the account of (your name) and post it to your bank.

[pecan]

As other posters have tried to explain, exchange rates flux throughout the business day, the week, the month, the year, etc. You might be able to guestimate a budget, but it will vary from month to month. For example, I bought 10 grand for 9,240,000 KRW in July 2007, but it will cost me 10,460,000 KRW to buy 10 grand today.

That is 112,000 flux per every 1,000,000 KRW or roughly a 12% loss in my purchasing power since last year.

http://www.keb.co.kr/IBS/nebanking/en/fx/index.jsp?vcode=18000000000000

I think you are misunderstanding the numbers you obtained from xe.com, as they are actually showing you the accurate "mid-market" rate (the rate between the buy and sell rate). In other words, 1041 buy rate, 1028 mid-market rate, 1015 sell rate were all accurate at the time.

Just check out the link above to obtain the current rates.

-Nut

[MSU Fan]

Some banks have online websites with exchange rates that are updated daily. I have an account at IBK and they indicate on their site what the latest exchange rates are. For people that are saving money, now is certainly not a good time to send money overseas. However, if you have bills at home that need to be paid (me), you have little choice but to bite the bullet and send over money.

[cedarseoul]

I bank with Woori; they post the current buy/sell/overseas remittance rates on their Web site in English. Very easy to use.

[KoreanAmbition]

[pecan]

PM sent.