Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tfunk]

I have two bank accounts. One is from my last contract; I left 2,000 Won in it and forgot about it for over two years now.

Today I tried to transfer money from my Busan Bank account to my account in Ireland, however Busan bank insisted I needed to make the transfer from my other bank account.

I'm not sure if this is a branch-specific policy, a Busan bank policy or Korean banks in general.

[runthegauntlet]

Huh? That made no sense. Are you talking about a different branch of the same company or what?

In any case, I'd just go somewhere else if they felt compelled to tell me I couldn't transfer my money the way I wanted.

[Forward Observer]

Tfunk is right. It happened to me last week. I transferred 10,000,000 won to my bank account in the states. Last year I used western union to transfer some money to a friend back home, and because I used that bank *even though I didn't have an account with them*, they said I had to use that bank. So I called my Kwife in the states, she got on the phone with them and told them to call that bank and sort it out so I wouldn't have to go all the way across Seoul and deal with them.

They called that bank, had them cancel out some stuff in their computer, fax over a document, and I was able to change to my bank.

Never had to send money home before because my wife always did it online, but because we are foreigners, there's some kind of rule.

[Jessie41]

tfunk, your original bank registered your passport so you could remit your salary abroad, without any limits. That original bank has to cancel that, so your new Korean bank can register you for the same purpose.

It would not have mattered if you closed your account. I closed my with KB last February, but when I opened a new account last month with KEB, KEB had to contact KB to cancel my passport registration. It took about one day, but if your new bank is worth anything, they should do this for you.

[Mallard]

I just recently opened a new bank account with KEB and I wanted to get online account access to transfer money home. My first bank account was with IBK. The teller told me that I would have to change KEB to my primary account to do this. She was able to do this right there in the bank. I've had no trouble transfering money

[Forward Observer]

It shouldn't take all day, it should only take a few minutes to cancel your registration and re-register you under the other bank. If they tell you it takes one day, they probably don't want to deal with it at that moment. I even got a discount on my exchange rate because of the inconvenience of waiting 30 minutes at her desk while she processed the paperwork.

[bassexpander]

Great... more red tape to make it difficult for foreigners to transfer money.

Korea is so paranoid and selfish.

[bixlerscott]

I too had this problem a bit over a year ago in Korea. I banked with KEB my 1st year and closed that account out upon leaving in early 2008 and then returned to bank with Nonghyup in July of 2008 and got hung up one day when attempting to remit money home, but not a problem that couldn't be handled at my local Nonghyup. It just took over an hour of waiting for them up in Seoul to change my remittance account causing me to be late for work though it didn't matter as I didn't have a class after lunch that day. I believe the wait time involved KEB being contacted to cancel it so a government law dawg thingy up in Seoul could allow Nonghyup to submit info as my remitting bank. It appears to be a control to monitor remittances and prevent money laundering.