Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rchristo10]

Today, I went to get a new bank account booklet at Woori Bank (우리은행) to replace my filled one. I waited my turn and went to the counter to be helped. The woman gave me a good looking over, took the booklet and went through the motions of making a new one.

She then asks me to give her my passport or R/C. I'd just come back from Standard Chartered for the same reason and found this a bit odd. In the 10 or so years I've been to Korea (on and off), I've never been asked for ID to replace my filled bank booklet, so I found this a bit weird and asked her about it. Regardless, I still showed her my passport and RC since I had them handy.

I also asked for a check card since I don't have one and she made me sign two forms without putting the extraneous information on the sheets. One of the forms was for having lost a card, which I'm not sure why she was having me fill it out but she explained that it was because I'd need to re-register a card that I somehow never received but lost in the past

The point is at the end of all this I noticed that the status of my debit card has been changed from status "E" to status "J" as indicated on the first page of my bank booklet. I informed the woman that I'd been using my card in China (particularly Beijing) with no problem and that I often travel between the two countries. I'm afraid that this status change will cause some problems. I've been with this bank since 2006, have 3 other older filled bank internet books all with the same "E" status and now my "new" bank book is suddenly status "J." Her reasoning, which she admitted was pretty flimsy (even after a call to higher ups), was that I'd applied for an international card.

I'm not sure what she's talking about because I've used this status "E" in China and Korea since 2006 and never applied for any changes nor for an international card (which I've always had since 2006).

Help me out! Do you guys think I've been butt plugged and should revisit a different bank and ask them exactly when this status was changed and perhaps take it to the legal level? Or should I just take out a load of cash before going to China and say to hell with service here and hope that I have enough l'argent to make it through the trip?

[Slaps]

Maybe the 'J' status is for a check/debit card and 'E' is for simple ATM cards.

[rchristo10]

Thanks for the idea, but I thought of that too.

That would make sense if she hadn't told me that I actually had a check card already. According to her, I made the check card in 2006 as well (two months after having opened the account). This means that the J status would have shown up on my second bank booklet.

I'm very suspect about this because she had me fill out a lost form (분실) and I don't even have that card and never received it.

From what I know, the status in the front of the book means that the customer has changed the type of account. If I had a check card and a debit card before making this new check card, I'm not sure why this mysterious "J" status would not have appeared before.

Has anyone tried to use a Woori Bank Account Card with a "J" status abroad?

[rchristo10]

Sorry peps, tried to take out the poll crap, but can't seem to delete it. This doesn't seem worthy of such a thing.

But if you have a comment, please do help.