Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JFuller317]

So yesterday I arrange to leave school after my last class to head to the only bank around that does overseas remittances. I get to the bank around 3:40, and a kind female teller with basic English skills is able to help me.

Things seem to be going well, as we use a mix of English and Korean to communicate. I give her the 2.5 million won I want to send home along with a completed copy of the Overseas Remittance Form, and my ARC.

She smiles and types on her computer for awhile. Then she says she has to make a phone call. The phone call goes on for quite some time. Finally she hangs up and tells me that I can't send the money. I ask why. She says that since I'm sending more than $1000 US, I must have my passport. I tell her that I was told that all I needed was to give her the passport number. She says no, I need the actual passport.

My house is only one subway stop away, so I tell her that my passport is at my house, and that I have to go retrive it. At this point it's about 4:05 pm. She nods, and I dash out the door, leaving my big pile of money and my ARC on her desk.

I book it both ways, and manage to get back to the bank at 4:21 pm only to find... the huge metal shutter is closed, and the "bank" is now nothing more than an ATM booth. You wouldn't even know there was a bank there if you walked by it at night.

So what leaves me baffled is:

1) What kind of place closes not at 4:00, not at 4:30, but at 4:15 or 4:20?

2) Why would she let me leave all my stuff behind and go for the passport if she knew the place would be closed in 15 minutes?

3) WTF is the point of having an ARC if you need a passport to do something as simple as send money overseas?

4) How do work there and not know this? And how does it take 20 minutes to figure this out? If she had told me I needed my passport when I arrived there at 3:40, I could have made it home and back easily before the place closed.


What makes it even funnier is that the dollar/won rate dropped by 6 won today. This stupid crap just cost me $15 US, maybe more by the end of the day when I go back. I just know that there's no way they'll give me yesterday's rate.

[Bloopity Bloop]

I'm sorry this happened, but... why did you leave all your stuff there?

[pjmancktelow]

not a instant fix. but mate, just get yourself to a KEB one time, set up an account, set up internet banking and then never go into a branch again. if you live in seoul. the seoul foreigners center at city hall will set it up for you. of if you can get to itaewon, they all speak english, and have fantastic service. just change to KEB, look around this site and you'll see what people think. best bank i've ever dealt with.

[T-dot]

All the banks vary depending on the branch.

OP, just use the ATM to send money overseas.

[JFuller317]

It's not a big deal. I just got a phone call from a worker at the bank. I had told the clerk what school I worked at, so I guess they called the school to get to me. I'm going back in today.

I do find it hilarious that a bank would close its doors at 4:15 or 4:20 though.

[sesyeux]

maybe they close at 4 but stayed open for you for a bit, got bored and shut

[Pikkle]

[JFuller317]

So... like, there's no chance that they'd try to rip me off, right? I mean, there are cameras everywhere in a bank, so there would be footage of everything that happened, right? No way they could just be like "2.5 million won, what 2.5 million won?"

[HalfJapanese]

^
Well, that could be a possibility. They (that teller) could take advantage of the fact that you are not fluent in the language, and deny your claim, which is why they told you to leave your money there. I don't know whether or not they have a protocol to handle un-deposited money. Their policy maybe to just pocket the money.

Do the supervisors/managers speak English?

It might be a good idea to bring a friend with you as an interpreter incase such things happen, not just to the teller, but to upper management.

[uklathemock]

Off topic, but whyTF do the banks here close at 4:00PM.

I have a regular job and there is no f-ing way I can get there until 6 or 7.

My bank back home closes at 6:00PM on weekdays and is open from 9AM-4PM on Saturdays.

[Banana_Man]

Most people use internet banking or ATM's - the banks do not need to stay open past 4 - although my bank seems to close at 5.30 these days(was 4 last year). What annoys me if the post office closing at 4.

[NYC_Gal]

[HalfJapanese]

[JFuller317]

So you can send money overseas through an ATM? I've heard rumors of this, but I could never do it. I had KB bank last year, and I tried to do it then, but was unsucessful. Haven't tried it with NH bank yet, which is what I currently use.

[jonpurdy]

Someone above just mentioned to get a KEB account. I agree completely. 8,000 won charge to send money home from them. And you can do it from internet banking (which now quasi-works on Macs!!).