Korean Job Discussion Forums

radioed · Joined: 24 Jan 2008 Location: Cheonho/Gangdong

I'm headed to the Philippines for a few weeks and was wondering if anyone knew how much their Korean bank charges for foreign ATM withdrawals. I have a SC first card and they told me it would cost $3usd for each transaction. Any ideas?

DCJames · Joined: 27 Jul 2006

chris_J2 · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Location: From Brisbane, Au.

Make sure it has 'cirrus' & 'maestro' logos. I got my cash debit card, from Nong Hyup bank, & asked my Korean co-teacher to ring the bank & explain in Korean what I wanted. It's worked in 9 different countries so far. Rules for foreigners have changed since I got it, & getting a credit card is much more difficult.

Binch Lover · Joined: 25 Jul 2005

I got a SC card a week before I went to the Philippines and it worked fine.

radioed · Joined: 24 Jan 2008 Location: Cheonho/Gangdong

Yeah, i used my SC card when I went to Taiwan last summer which I'm sure will work overseas and I just got a KEB global card as a backup. I was just wondering if anyone knew how much their Korean banks were charging for doing a foreign ATM withdrawal, like a US issued ATM card would charge anything from $2-$5 plus a 1-3% conversion fee for each ATM use.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

radioed · Joined: 24 Jan 2008 Location: Cheonho/Gangdong

Thanks for the info on the withdrawal limit, ttompatz! I'd hate to do repeat ATM trips if its gonna be fee heavy. My SC card is Maestro and it worked in Taiwan so hopefully it'll work in Phili. My new international KEB card is on the Visa/Plus network which I haven't used overseas yet so I'll check that out too. In any case, I'll be carrying Benjamins and a US atm card.

relaxed111 · Joined: 26 Feb 2006

Hum...when I first got here in late 2005 IBK gave me a international debt card. In 2007 when I got to Incheon both KB and IBK told me that the Korean government had told the banks to stop issuing International Debt Cards to foriegners. That is a lie that the Banks use here. They really do not want our business, and can blame the few jerks that run off on all the rest of us.

This problem has been talked about heavily before, run a search and you will see the remarks.

Do not trust, a Korean bank ever. The comment about having a cash backup for your travels is so true. My trust has cost me two vacations, and if not for friends and my Korean boss I would have been seriously screwed.

Smee · Joined: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Jeollanam-do

I started a poll about international debit cards on the general discussion page. Please vote and share your experiences.

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=142676

Thus far I've lucky and my card has worked everywhere, including the US this past summer. However, my girlfriend was denied at two different banks.

sojourner1 · Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 2:59 am Post subject:

I wouldn't even depend on it working if they did tell me my Nonghyup card is good overseas as nothing electronic is as guaranteed as presenting cash and T/C's. My American ATM cards do work in most countries, but my KEB and Nonghyup cards don't work anywhere else. I use greenbacks and T/C's as money which is still a smart thing to rely on as cards may not work or you might not be able to use a card while adventuring in a poor 3rd world country. US dollar cash is king, but you gotta hide it in several places, remember where it's at, remember how much you have, remember how much you need (if possible), and just take the risk of losing it with no other options. I hate carrying around large sums of cash, knowing many people think I have large sums of cash to my name just because I'm a white American who made it as far to actually be running around on the far side of the world on his own. What a thing to pull off. Smile

Warnings are attached and bells ringing.