Korean Job Discussion Forums

adventurer01 · Joined: 17 Jun 2008

Hello, I have been in Korea now for just over a month and my husband and I would like to start a savings account in Korea.

We currently have our bank accounts for our pay deposits at Shinhan bank, since that is where our employer recommended. But when we tried to ask them to open a joint savings account for us, there was a lot of confusion and then we were told that we couldn't have one with two names on it. The guys English at our branch is very poor... he didn't even understand what we meant when we asked for a savings account when we first asked, so I don't know if this is a communication problem, or if there is actually a rule against having a joint savings account here.

What we are looking for is an account to save some money in here in Korea over the next 6 months to 2 years (not sure how long we will be staying, or what will happen with the exchange rates). We would like to earn a good interest rate, and we don't mind locking it in for about 6 months at a time, BUT we do want to contribute extra each month to increase our savings, some months from my husband's account, some months from mine.

Is this possible? Do you have any recommendations? What can we expect?

Thank you for your help.

loose_ends · Joined: 23 Jul 2007

jvalmer · Joined: 06 Jun 2003

Very often it's the mother that handles most of the official banking at home. It's expected once a couple has kids, he hands over most of his pay to the wife. It's the husband that keeps a certain "fun fund" secret from the Mrs. Or asks the wife outright for drinking money.

So, I guess the joint account thing just isn't asked for often.