Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ama]

I am still in the US, and going to be heading over in a couple of weeks. I have heard that US banks charge you for a deposit of your money from Korea. Is this true? If so, are there any US banks that charge less?

[socratesocks]

I'm leaving in a few weeks too. You should call your bank, they'll tell you what their fee schedule is. Luckily I have the best bank in the US: the Pennsylvania State Employee Credit Union, because until 5 today (woot) I am still a PA state employee, and even though I'm leaving PA state employment I can keep my PSECU account. I contacted them, they don't charge for receiving money in a transfer from an overseas instiution. They charge to transfer money to overseas banks, but they don't charge for ATM usage so I could just pull won out of an ATM with my PSECU debit card practically free instead of transferring online if I needed to.

[tired of LA]

If you qualify for a credit union, then join the credit union before coming to Korea. They have cheaper fees compared to regular banks. I use Bank of America and they charge something like $10 or $15 for a incoming international transfer.

[losing_touch]

The Schwab High Yield Checking Account does not charge for incoming wire transfers. They don't charge for ATM transactions worldwide. If another bank charges you for withdrawing money, they will reimburse you on a monthly basis. You get a small amount of interest as well. They are an amazing bank.

[Jane]

I think KEB (Korea Exchange Bank) has a remittance account. The Korean account here gets hooked up to an account abroad (i.e. your account at your home branch) and any balance over 300,000won gets automatically send over once a month.

[Misera]

Just posting here ... finally went to my KEB to ask questions~

I originally wanted to open a foreign currency account so I could drop in USD into the overseas remittance account instead of having KRW transfer over and then be hit with fees back home. The translator was like, "Why would you want a foreign currency account?" >_> So I explained everything and he said that it would be USD that transfers over, not KRW. I dunno, never tried but anyway.. I asked about fees~

According to them at the bank: If you transfer at least $5k USD then the normal transfer rate is 23,000 won, but if you use the overseas remittance account, then it's 18,500 won. They did not know about the 8,000 won rate for wire transfers online. As for the debit card, as long as they enable your card, you can use it abroad. Even if it says valid only in Korea. They explained that on issue it was valid only in Korea and they did not have the global card at that time, but now they do. I just don't need a brand new card b/c as long as I find a PLUS atm, it'll work in it abroad. The lady apparently remembered me even though it was another lady that helped me enable it. I asked the other lady like 2 times to confirm on separate visits lol. It doesn't matter if the ATM here says it only works for domestic withdrawls. The fees for using it at an international atm is $2 USD per transaction plus the regular 1% visa exchange fee. There are no other fees (on the phone a while ago, they didn't mention the 2$ fee but in the brochure it says 2$)

After getting home, I wanted to check again with their English hotline. The girl said that it's 8,000 won to do the wire transfer online for less than $5000 USD, and 10,000 won for more then $5000 USD (like everyone has said).

There's a $10,000 USD per transaction limit, $50,000 USD per year limit, unless you bring in your salary pay stub to show them and have them register your salary. I'm not sure if this is just for overseas remittance account or also for wire transfers.

Fees for overseas remittance account: <$5000 USD = 14,000 (11,000 won if the bank you opened the account at gave you preferential remittance fee 30% discount. Should be standard). I'm guessing for >$5000 the rate is what the bank said above (23,000 normally, 18,500 with the 30% discount).

Anyway, it's cheaper to just do the online wire transfer. The girl on the phone said the overseas remittance account is only for letting people deposit directly into the account and having it send on it's own. Oh well, extra useless account for me.

[ConfusedMan1780]

Sorry to thread necro here, but you all are on a good roll with this.

I am on my way to Korea in just a couple days, and I have been planning to use my local credit union to do remittances. They said they do not charge for incoming transfers, but I also looked at the information that was given to me in regards to the "wire transfer info", and there is no SWIFT or BIC number. There is the ABA number (Routing Code, and no...I'm not going to tell it to you. )

Is that gonna be a problem, or do places like KEB and Woori already work those out when you apply for the account?

If I can do this with a credit union, it'll make things MUCH MUCH cheaper to send back.

[LizMarsh242]

For an international wire, you will need the SWIFT code and your account number. The routing number is just for the US. (the routing/ABA number is just the address of the bank. It's not really a huge secret. It designates the bank and the area....I used to work in a bank, so I have a couple of routing numbers memorized.) I would go back to the bank and ask them for the International wire transfer...they gave you domestic wire transfer information. Or just tell them you need the swift code. It's a 6 letter/digit word/number which encodes the bank's address ...corporate address which handles international wires, routing, everything. The ABA/routing number doesn't work internationally.

[azzwell]

[RobertGR]

[runthegauntlet]

My last wire transfer to an American bank:

30,000 won from the Korean bank
15 USD 'intermediary bank'
20 USD home bank

I have since determined that since I won't be sending back over 8 mil before leaving, I will actually save money by getting the 'cash exchange rate' and walking it home in my pocket. So that's what I'm doing.

[runthegauntlet]

[davai!]

Make a mail-in deposit to your bank with AMEX travelers' checks. No fees.

[azzwell]

[runthegauntlet]