Korean Job Discussion Forums

partyjunkie101 · Joined: 13 Apr 2011

My previous school was a hagwon and the director was a narcissistic tyrant (surprise surprise). Anyway, I was only given a basic card for the cash machine and he told me a bs story that it was because of the dangers of hackers and so on. Naturally I didn't believe it but to save myself from a meeting I decided to let it go.

I have learned from my previous lesson and accepted a public school position, now im wondering if i have a choice to get myself a debit card in order to pay for goods online rather than a basic atm card. Can anyone advise?

cheers

NSMatt · Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Location: London

partyjunkie101 · Joined: 13 Apr 2011

So buying flights online is totally out of bounds?

Sticks · Joined: 13 Mar 2011 Location: Seoul, Korea

Not too sure on that, 'check' cards work within Korea on (some?) Korean sites - Korail comes to mind. You can try but if it's an international company most likely they'll give you a 'not a Visa/Mastercard/Amex' error.

NSMatt · Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Location: London

andrewchon · Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 2:00 pm Post subject:

You can make direct-deposit in most instances, but as you can imagine, it is a more complicated process. I find it easier to ask a co-teacher to buy for me through his/her card and then re-imburse. Also, make use of purchase as an opportunity to make connections. Buy local if you are not in the big cities. Your reputation changes over-night when you're a customer to a student's parent.

big_fella1 · Joined: 08 Dec 2005

You can apply for a debit card or a credit card with some banks. Some debit cards work like credit cards, others do not, you will need to shop around.

If the teller gives you a story about no debit cards for foreigners they are lying.

As a safety tip you should probably open a 2nd bank account for a debit card and keep most of your money in the ATM card account. No-one checks signatures here.

Guiness on Tap · Joined: 03 May 2011 Location: Seoul

Check with the public school you're with to see which bank deals with all their financial transactions. (The bank that handles all your pay and the schools financial transactions will probably give you a better deal). Go down to that bank and ask for a "VISA Check" credit card. It's basically a credit card that works like a debit card. You can even get them to link your credit card to all your other debit accounts if you're looking to just carry one card for all your financial purposes.

shostahoosier · Joined: 14 Apr 2009

Korean debit cards can be hit or miss domestically.

I have two debit cards from NH bank. One worked on Korail, the other wouldnt.

My KEB debit card wouldnt work on Korail either, but it works abroad.

I have had 100% success with my KEB credit card though.

I like to do online shopping and before I got my credit card I would just leave a about 40,000W in my gmarket account because it was annoying to wait for my transfer to be recognized by their bank.