Korean Job Discussion Forums

[PatrickGHBusan]

To be clear, the wiring fees vary greatly.

I paid under 10$ in total fees for transfers. I made a deal with home bank in Canada and they charged me nothing for the transfers.

If you can wait and transfer your money in larger amounts less frequently then your fee will become proportionally miniscule.

T-cheques are another option however as is internet banking.

[West Coast Tatterdemalion]

Yes, the mysterious "middle bank." Never named and their fee is never officially accounted for. They are like a bank pimp, the intermediary between your bank in Korea and the one in your home country

[toxicblue]

Tell your bank that you need to send money home via ATM. I have KB and on the ATM it's called Overseas Remittance. KB charges W18,000 in the bank, but only 5,000 at the atm.
Also, for some reason when I transfer money at the atm, my home bank (bank of america) doesn't charge me the international wire transfer fee either.. saving me W13,000 and $12.
Still missing that middle-man $20 though

[fratnoodle]

I didn't have time to read through this entire thread, but check this out. I had been here for a year or so and was paying KB 33,000 KRW + Bank of America $12 every month to wire home a million won or so (every single month). I had a good Korean friend escort me into the VIP office of KB Jeongja, Bundang (very close to Jeongja station). The VIP guy punched in some numbers into his computer and inputted my bank account/routing numbers. Toda raba...I am now able to wire money (overseas remittance from all KB ATMs) to my BofA account for 5,000 KRW total. In turn, I also called my bank and changed to a free checking account (no fees as long as I do not involve an internal BofA bank employee), and now I am exempt from the $12 BofA wiring fee on the receiving end. In a nutshell, it now costs me 5,000 KRW total to either wire money from a KB ATM or the KB online banking website to my US account at BofA. Message me for more info.

[PatrickGHBusan]

fratnoodle that was a good post. It can be used by others who wish to better manage how the wire money.