Korean Job Discussion Forums

[juliajohansen]

After a year and a half I have finally found the cheapest way to send money home to America.

American Express traveler's checks (or travellors cheques if that's your language). I get them at my local bank (KB*)

The won to dollar ratio is cheaper for traveler's checks than to cash, there are no fees for buying or cashing them, and they have tracking numbers so there's no real worry about them getting stolen.

My family is on my bank account, so I send the money directly to them and they deposit it for me.

Previously I had been getting money orders or bank checks, and the charge was anywhere from $5 up to $15. Wire transfer fees were expensive both for sending AND receiving. I just can't believe I didn't know about this.

I was concerned that they would have a problem cashing them, but here's what you do:

1. You sign on the front at the bank.
2. Just like a check there is a "Pay to the order of" and a place for a date
3. You are suppose to sign the check in front of the person cashing it, but that's to help prevent fraud, so you just sign it before mailing it. Done. My family had zero problems depositing them.

Just wanted to share.

[ttompatz]

If you counter sign the check there is NO protection if they are lost or stolen (you signed it - read the fine print).

IF you do sign them, make DARNED SURE that the payee is filled in (make them payable to yourself and endorse them "for deposit to the account of the payee" and write the account number on the back.

Send it directly to your bank for deposit.

Not 100% safe (they can be a pain to replace if lost) but pretty close.

Oh, and AMEX T/Cs here are NOT the same as AMEX checks issued in the states (been through that mess a few years back and it was NOT a trouble free replacement).

.

[Joshea8]

I had some trouble with traveler's checks here. I brought $500 in AMEX checks from the USA and went to KB to cash when I got here. The representative looked at them in amazement and had no idea what to do. After 20+ minutes of her talking to her boss, then her boss coming to us asking us to wait, then another 20+ minutes, they finally figured out what to do.

So it sounds like that was just the branch I went to, not KB. So they "should" understand if you ask for traveler's checks? It sounds like a good idea.

[owenthebulldog]

Much love to tompatz, the dude knows fkn everything. This board is lucky to have him...

[tortugaverde]

I forget how travelers checks work... but could I just write it out to my parents? Then they can cash it and deposit the cash into my bank account?

[ttompatz]

[FaceFaceFace]