Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SoccerFan81]

Set-up a remittance from your Korean bank or your bank in the US. It is, by far, the easiest, fastest and safest way to send money home. You may pay a bit to send it, but the difference is between waiting on mail versus 1-2 business days till it posts. I used to send my money home in about 1 minute from an ATM in Korea to my B of A account, then pay my bills online within 24 hours usually. Don't waste your time with travellers cheques. Anyone that tell yot that the bank doesn't charge a percentage hasnt read the fine print. Plus, that is such a time consuming battle.

[big_fella1]

[sirius black]

The right method for anyone depends on how much you send home and how frequently you do.
Like weso1, I use the paypal method with my brother. i suspect no one sends more than about $1,000 dollars home each month and the vast majority of people send far less for student loands, etc.
The paypal method is a fast cheap alternative to the high bank fees. I have also used an atm. I only send a few hundred dollars and its not every month. I have a couple banks I use that allow for international ATM withdrawals. I got one of my banks to get me two, but it works with one. Simply mail an ATM card that allows international withdrawals to a trusted friend or relative. The daily limit varies but its a few hundred dollars. The charge by the american atm is anywhere from 3-5 dollars depending on the bank.
As far as the 50 million won annual limit, does it matter? I would assume that limit is moot since 99% of us make far less than 50 million a year. Even if the average teacher sent home his or her whole paycheck they'd never get close to the 50 million.

[tran.huongthu]

Send your money soon ASAP!

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/contagion-fears-sink-korean-indonesian-currencies-2011-09-14?link=mw_home_kiosk

[KingMomo]

No shl+. Payday can't come fast enough.

I've watched the $ won rate change from 1070 to 1100+
in 36 hours. Ouch~!

[TheUrbanMyth]

[flakfizer]

I'm with Gadfly. I've always used the traveler's check method too. As he mentioned, the exchange rate is better when buying checks instead of cash. But if you're just paying bills, you should get a credit card here in Korea and pay your bills with that credit card. Then you don't have send money home at all. You can just charge things to your Korean credit card and pay for it with money here.

[joesp]

Nobody mentioned moneybookers. They even have a wikipedia page they are so widely used, especially in Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneybookers

You have to wire the money to the moneybookers account, which is a german bank account, and provide your user id in the notes to the wire. You can then send the money to the US bank account for about 4 dollars and the US bank will not charge you when the money comes in. That is, in this method you still have to pay to wire the money out of Korea but have no reception fees on the other end.

This is how I send money home.

Another person mentioned attaching PAYPAL to his debit card. I haven't had any success in doing that. My card didn't work.

[Big Mac]

For me, the biggest fee for sending money home electronically was the fee my home bank charged to receive the wire transfer ($15).

To avoid that, get a money order from your bank. KEB will issue them in any currency. They'll charge you a bit of a fee. I always made the money order out in my mom's name. I sent it to her in the mail and she deposited it in my account like a cheque. My home bank did not charge me anything for this.

I've never been able to find a cheaper way than this.

[sirius black]