Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gazz]

I have just come back from KEB bank and the rates for sending money home are as follows:

$500 or less - w12,000 payment
$501 - $2000 - w18,000 payment
$2001 - $5000 - w23,000 payment

Good value and the customer care people are very very good (and speak good english).

[ppcg4]

I've never done international money transfers before coming here, but I pay 18,000won plus a $10 service fee every month to send about 1,000,000 won home.

That's a lot of bones if you ask me. I have no other choice though. Not to mention how much I'm losing since the won is so pathetic right now...

[fishy]

I used to pay 18000 won at Shinhan, but now I use KB bank's foreign remittance option on their bank machines and it only costs me something like 5000 won. Plus, it's ridiculously convenient. There's no more "bank day" when we transfer money home.

[seoul101]

fishy, that seems like a good deal. How easy was it to set up? What do you need to take with you to get it done?

[spyro25]

how about sending very large amounts - say for example in the region of 100,000,000 (1 ok won)? how much would that run you, and how could you avoid paying tax on that? would you break it up into smaller transactions and send them to different family member accounts, on different days? would that work?

a korean (my wife ) would be sending the money so no hassle with anti-foriegner crap.

[gazz]

You are allowed to send up to $50,000 a year home with this account.

As for setting it up all I needed to do was bring my:

Passport
Arc card
Bank card that my pay goes into + bank book
And the details of the account that I wanted my pay to go into.

The main reason I went was to get another account so I could use my new card when I go to Thiland, again this was a very easy process I just needed to provide the details above (minus my uk bank account details).

I opened up both accounts in less than 40-50 mins.

I don't get this anti foreigner sh*t that people have gone on about. Be polite, ask the right questions and you are laughing!

The only possible mix up could be if you ask for a credit card. This is different to a visa card and I don't know if/how you go about getting one of those.

But it is very easy to get a Korean bank card that allows you to take money out from international ATM's. Eg Thailand, USA, UK ect.

[gazz]

Ah one more thing - I went with one of my Korean teachers. Maybe (I dont know because he just did it) you might need to get a Korean to vouch for you.

Like I said I'm not sure about this detail because she just gave him the form and he did it.

But you might need a Korean to vouch for you.

I'm sure that wont be a problem for 99% of people on this forum!

[losing_touch]

Well, I use KEB bank. I signed on for their internet remittance option. It is 7,000 won to transfer. It is cheaper and more convenient than going to the branch.

[fishy]

I don't know what they specifically need at KB because we set up the foreign remittance option while we were opening up new accounts. In other words, they had our ARC card, contracts, etc., already. If you have an account at KB, then you'll probably just need all those damn numbers that go on the transfer forms when you go there in person. There should be a brochure about this option sitting on the desk of the account people at the bank. Ah, and the limit is $5000 U.S. per transfer (even though we're from Canada) which isn't a problem these days given the exchange rate.

And it was very easy! But when you do a test-transfer, make sure you transfer the equivalent of $100 U.S.....we didn't, then got freaked out when it wasn't working, went back to the bank, and had the nice lady explain this minimum amount to us.