Korean Job Discussion Forums

PatrickBateman

...still missing.

Now tell me if I'm missing something here because MORE money has magically disappeared.

Step 1: Give 400,000 won to KEB to transfer to my US BANK account.
Step 2: They deduct 13,000 won as a fee to transfer.
Step 3: $335.01 is being sent to my US BANK account.
Step 4: My US BANK account reflects only 316.01 with the transfer.
Step 5: US BANK takes their $25.00 fee out for the wire transfer.

Okay. Once again, WHERE DID THE $19.00 GO!?

Last time it was $25.00 with Shinhan, and now it's $19.00 with KEB.

Both banks offer up NO explanation.

PatrickBateman · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:33 pm Post subject:

KEB just told me that my American bank account does not deal with foreign currently, so KEB transfers to another bank and THEN they transfer to my US BANK account.

So in total, I get hit with three charges.

What the f**k.

Time to change banks at home.

BigBuds · Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Location: Changwon

I've had this explained to me before but most of the time they don't tell you, and they wonder why we come back in saying, "WTF!"

The Korean banks use a middle-man bank so to speak (Sorry, but I forget the name of the bank now. It's not Korean, though).

Your money goes from your Korean bank who takes a cut, to the Middle-man bank who takes a cut, and then finally onto your bank back home who also takes a cut.

I have had no luck on getting it explained to me why they use a middle-man bank and can't just transfer it directly to a bank, like most banks do.

PatrickBateman · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:06 pm Post subject:

It's strange.

I've been here for a couple of year and this has only happened recently. Before it would show up as a transfer from the bank(Korean) here in my account.

Is it some scam with American banks where they can just take money out of my transfers?

KEB said they have a list of banks that ALLOW transfers from foreign banks, so I will look into that.

But yeah, it will cost me around $60 to transfer money home each time.

Very, very, annoying.

pkang0202 · Joined: 09 Mar 2007

From my other post:

PatrickBateman · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 1:23 am Post subject:

How does the bank land into their binder? Do I have to tell them about it? If it's not in there, CAN it be placed in there? She told me on the phone that some banks are in there and some are not.

Thanks for the post about that! Very Happy

MegaMind · Joined: 12 Sep 2011 Location: Gangnam-Gu

Similarly, like I am sure many other expats in South Korea, I face the same scenario of losing out on transfers.

So from a tip from a friend, I heard that a Charles Schwab account does the trick. I have not checked all the stats, so there might be glitch, crack, or catch somewhere. However, from a cursory glimpse at their website, it looks good so far, i.e. worth a more detailed look.

For starters, they offer a no - fee U.S. dollar debit card. Plus, they seem to be claiming great rates for foreign currency money transfers.

Here's their page: www.schwab-global.com/public/schwab-gcb-en/what_we_offer?cmsid=P-954240&lvl1=what_we_offer

If you set-up an account with them before I do, please share some feedback.

shostahoosier · Joined: 14 Apr 2009

pkang0202 · Joined: 09 Mar 2007

PatrickBateman · Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 1:22 am Post subject:

So if I tell KEB that I want them wired to a bank that is on their list(A US BANK OF COURSE) it should be cool?

pkang0202 · Joined: 09 Mar 2007

noobteacher · Joined: 27 Nov 2009

Alright, sounds like y'all need to go back to KEB and talk to people who know what they are doing.

I bank with BofA in the US and KEB here in Korea. When I used to do transfers with KB, I would go to the branch fill out the papers, and get hit with the 2 or 3 different bank charges. Then I went to KEB and opened up an "Easy One Foreign Currency Remittance Service" account. All I have to do now is transfer money from my KEB savings account into the Remittance account (via ATM), and within a few hours it gets transferred into my US account for a mere 15,000 won. No missing money, no extra fees from BofA, no waiting for days for it to show up in my US account, no muss no fuss. I believe that the amount of the fee is also dependent upon how much you transfer, but you'll still be getting a much better deal than you would with all the crazy fees included.

ETA: Ok, maybe I happened to have someone enter my BofA info with the correct code (as was mentioned earlier), but I also think having the correct kind of account with KEB also helps tremendously.

cj1371 · Joined: 13 Sep 2011

I do quite a lot of international wire transfers and always get hit with this fee.

The "middle man" is actually called an intermediary or correspondent bank. It's explained much better than I could explain it here:

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

Hope that helps.