Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hajima 99]

I am looking at somehow obtaining a quick 5 to 10 million won, to secure a deposit on an apartment. I believe the term is 'wolsae,' but correct me if I'm wrong. I am looking for feedback from anybody who has been successful, and is not married to a Korean. Can you tell me where? How? Conditions? etc. If it is impossible to do it myself, I could very likely get a Korean co-signer if this makes any difference. I am working at a university (I understand that can be a factor when doing particular banking transactions in Korea).

I'm sure this has come up on these boards at some point, but I have come up empty-handed in my searches. Thanks in advance. Happy New Year sungsanims.

[Forever]

[schwa]

Jeonsae is the correct term for the money you put down to secure a residence, which you get back at the end of your lease agreement, typically two years but sometimes one. You should register that with a local govt office -- not insurance exactly but it bumps you up on the list of creditors if your landlord goes bust.

Weolsae is additional monthly rent that most lease arrangements also require, you just pay that at the bank each month.

Chance of a bank fronting you jeonsae money on an E2 without a solid guarantor -- zilch.

[sjk1128]

With the weolse system, you put down a deposit (bojeunggeum) and then pay rent (weolse). The deposit is smaller and usually every 1m won in deposit makes your weolse 10k won cheaper. For example, in my current apartment, the deposit is 15 million and the monthly rent is 700,000. If I had put down 30 million, it would have been 550,000 per month, and so forth.

With the jeonse system, you put down a much larger deposit and pay no monthly rent. For example, the apartment I want to rent next year is available at 60 million jeonse. I can also rent it at 10 million and 500,000 weolse - or anywhere between.

In both cases, you get your deposit money back at the end. Korean banks often give Koreans jeonse loans but none that I know of give anybody weolse loans. If you need money for that, you have to take out a personal (or some other kind of) loan whether you're a foreigner or Korean.

What I was asking is if a foreigner can ever get a jeonse loan without a Korean spouse and the lack of responses leads me to believe the answer is no. This means I'll be paying rent for at least 1 to 2 more years.

[hajima 99]

thanks for the replies! Disappointed though that it sounds unlikely. It's a shame that some banks will issue a credit card to foreign university instructors (I assume with a several million won credit limit), but a loan of just 5 million won to act as a deposit on an apartment would not even be considered even though it's a much safer risk on the banks' part (ie. I'd assume the risk is very minimal, as the banks can basically be assured that all the money will return directly into their hands from the landlord whenever the tennant leaves, and never actually enter the pockets of the foreign borrower). Obviously, I'm aware these things are not always that simple, and I may be missing a key consideration. It sounds like banks may not even make these arrangements with Koreans anyways...

[bassexpander]

I believe the credit cards offered to many foreigners working at universities require full payment by the end of the month. It's not like we get millions of won in credit!

[hajima 99]

Yeah, I've heard that. Still, based on the points I made in the previous post, no matter what the limit on a card is, it would be less of a risk for the banks to provide a loan for a deposit in Korea as far as I can see. The bank's investment doesn't go anywhere. They don't even have to allow the foreign borrower to ever get his grubby little hands on it, if it was organized as some sort of agreement between the bank, borrower, and landlord. The borrower would just be responsible for the interest, and that I'm assuming would be singificantly less than whatever the monthly limit on one of those credit cards is, based on a 5 million won loan.