Korean Job Discussion Forums

[garykasparov]

Meeting Foreigners� Banking Needs in Korea

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2008/04/177_21773.html

Luis Riestra, CEO of the company Wise and Wealthy, has put together a five part series to educate foreigners about getting their banking needs met while residing in South Korea. This is the first part of the series. ― ED.

By Luis Riestra
Contributing Writer

Asking around will help you organize your thoughts on the attitude toward non-Korean customers at local banks. Although experiences vary from person to person and from branch to branch, the overall picture will help you predict the probability of a cold front vs. a more flexible atmosphere.

Some banks will tell you right out ``we don't give credit cards to foreigners," while others do if they have a corporate relationship with your employer.

Stopping by your bank once in a while, leaving a few goodies from time to time (say, a box of rice-cake at Chusok), exchanging business cards with branch managers and showing interest in them personally will go a long way.

If you are a teacher, invite the branch manager to join your institute or to send their kids; if you are a business person or a diplomat, bring in a few brochures of your line of products/services or your country's tourism pamphlets.

Developing a personal relationship with a specific branch of a bank will earn you points you can exchange for better treatment.

There is nothing worse in market demand-and-supply behavior than an indifferent customer dealing with a negligent service provider. Consider a foreigner approaching his bank and mentioning he needs a credit card due to recurrent overseas travel.

Despite having sizable savings with a bank for years, a teller told a friend ``We don't give credit cards to foreigners because they run away." My friend replied ``I am changing banks right now, close my account immediately."

It took seconds for the branch manager to realize a sudden cash loss and he was offering to remedy the credit card situation in a matter of minutes.

If you have dealt with a bank for at least several months, and especially with the same branch, where your income is deposited regularly, where you send money overseas periodically and where you might have exchanged cash before your trips, they will see the value in retaining you. Be ready to walk out and serious about it when in the face of discrimination.

Although difficult to get one, is not impossible, hence a teller saying his or her bank ``doesn't give credit cards to foreigners" deserves to be fired! Make them understand that this negligent attitude can be an expensive mistake.

The teller's job is to help you understand your options and let you apply for the card. It's up to the bank's headquarters to look into your credit and determine whether to issue the card, not the teller's decision.

A friend of mine walks into a bank and says he wants to invest W50 million in a long term savings plan yielding high interest. He is questioned as to his purpose of being in Korea, how he obtained that money, his links to Korean society, and many other irrelevant and humiliating questions.

He gets upset and walks out without making the deposit, after expressing to the teller that he had requested to open an account for his savings, not that he was intending to rob the bank. His walking out to find a better service provider was the right attitude. He might, like many others, also be looking for a credit card.

Among banks that require a deposit to obtain a credit card, this 50 million won would have gotten him a high interest and a card backed by the deposit. You can kill two birds with one stone but you've got to be aiming in the right direction. Be ready to walk out on banks that demean you for not being Korean. I cannot stress enough this principle of self-defense and dignity.

[email protected]

[mehamrick]

So I have to bribe the bank in order to get basic services? For what? So they can tell me the same thing they have been telling me. We don't issue them to foreigners? I have a better idea how about just not being discriminating fu#ks.

[CentralCali]

[Underwaterbob]

Wah wah! Since when did owning a credit card become a right anyway?

[CentralCali]

Never. There is, however, a right to not suffer from discrimination. The teller in the posted account denied a customer from even applying and the stated reason was on account of national origin.

[mehamrick]

I am interested in seeing what the rest of the articles will have to say. It will also be interesting to see if there is any offical word from banks or the government on how or if they plan on changing anything.

[Temporary]

Funny. Today I recieved an email from Wise and Wealthy for a free USB memory because I participated in a survey unfortunatley I live in Changwon.

[diver]

[Newbie]

[mehamrick]

[Seoul_Star]

I don't know how foreigners can feel comfortable putting any significant amount of money into a Korean bank, let alone trying to make relations with local bank employees.

I know my local branch recently removed the English/Chinese/Japanese menus from their ATM machines, and removed the option to use foreign cards at their ATM locations here. That'll teach those good for nothing tourists and foreigners to spend their filthy money here! Now all of the menus are in Korean, where as they used to be in Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese. Why would any foreigner reward a Korean bank by letting them hold your money? Most Korean banks are completely insolvent, and require constant bailouts. The Korean won is currently the most unstable currency on the market. Every bank in this country practically declared bankruptcy in 1997 when the IMF came to bail them out. Korean banks were giving out way more credit than logic would dictate they should, resulting mostly in banks having no capital, having lent most of their depositor's money to other people who should not have qualified for credit in the first place.

The won is at 983 per USD right now, it was just over 1000 a few days ago. Maybe the IMF can come back and single handedly prop up the Korean economy again, so that they don't default on all the the short term loans from Japan and the developed world. Any foreigner who keeps their money in any institution here is insane. Wire it as far away from Korea as possible as soon as it drops into your account.

[CentralCali]

[laogaiguk]

[skdragon]

Aside from all this crap ...
I was told that I could not use my credit card today (in a place that accepts credit cards). I had to withdraw money from a local cash machine.
The Korean person who helped me withdraw the money was perplexed when I tried to withdraw money from the credit card but could not, and instead had to get a cash advance on the credit card. Even though the card had Visa on it and I demanded that the card was a credit card (in Korean) it was only perceived to be a cash card by the Korean person dealing with me.
So, stick that up your jumper and turn sideways.
... ... get off my lawn ... ... [babelfish it if you need to Cactus Jack!]

[ernie]

DE FAULT... the 2 greatest words in the english language!