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JerBear
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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 Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:25 pm Post subject: WARNING: US Dollar Money Orders from Korean Banks |
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Back in April I availed myself of a service at KEB bank. You can buy a US Dollar money order (it's actually drawn on the Bank of New York) to pay bills or other debts in the USA. I used mine to pay the $100 or so that I owed the IRS. The cost is only 5000 won on top of whatever the exchange rate is.
Okay, well, I had to send $500 in November to a friend and I did the same thing. One problem: The post office lost the envelope. Well, you'd think that wouldn't be an issue since it's a money order and so can easily be refunded, right? WRONG!!!
When I told the bank what happened, the first thing they wanted was the receipt from the post office for the purchase of postage. Well, it would never occured to me to keep such a thing as you'd never, ever need it in the USA, so I didn't keep it. They said that I couldn't report it lost then, but could report it stolen. I started to fill out the necessary paperwork and they informed me that it would take 6 MONTHS from the time of my report before they could actually refund the money. Well, for the first time in my life, I was truly dumbfounded. They said that this is Korean government regulation and there's no way around it.
I decided to wait a few more weeks in case it finally did show up at its destinaton in the USA. It never did so I went today to complete the paperwork.
Well, in addition to a stolen report fee of 13,000 Won, there'll also be a 25,000 remittance fee once the money is finally refunded AND, since I won't be in Korea anymore by July (when the money is finally refunded), I have to pay the bank to make a wire transfer to me in the USA. I figure that once all is said and done, it may cost me upwards of $100 for simply making the mistake of buying a US Dollar money order.
Word of advice: If you need to pay a bill or other debt in the USA and are a US citizen, simply wire money from your Korean account to your US account and then mail off a personal check. It's a hell of a lot easier and cheaper to do a stop check on a lost check than it is to go through the quagmire I just went through. If you don't have a US account, you can open one online (I use WaMu - I know, they're now Chase Bank, but you can still use their excellent online services at www.wamu.com - I opened my account with them online after I'd arrived in Korea and paid the $1.00 using a prepaid debit card that I'd brought with me from the States). Wamu requires a minimum opening deposit of only $1.00 and you can even mail that in. You could alternately send a friend or family member down to their nearest branch with a dollar bill to do the same thing.
I figure if I dissuade even one person from buying a money order, all this typing will have been worth it.
Cheerz!
Last edited by JerBear on Fri Jan 09, 2009 3:30 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Straphanger
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Chilgok, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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Uhhhh yeah. Don't be an idiot and your time here will go by much more smoothly.
If you need a USD money order, go on post like everybody else. |
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JerBear
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Straphanger wrote: |
Uhhhh yeah. Don't be an idiot and your time here will go by much more smoothly.
If you need a USD money order, go on post like everybody else. |
What is "go on post" ??? Something British?
PS Thanks for calling me an idiot. |
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plynx
Joined: 03 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:48 pm Post subject: |
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| JerBear wrote: |
| Straphanger wrote: |
Uhhhh yeah. Don't be an idiot and your time here will go by much more smoothly.
If you need a USD money order, go on post like everybody else. |
What is "go on post" ??? Something British?
PS Thanks for calling me an idiot. |
"go on post" is very much an american thing - as in "go on the military post" (which you really aren't authorized to do without military personnel). |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Straphanger wrote: |
Uhhhh yeah. Don't be an idiot and your time here will go by much more smoothly.
If you need a USD money order, go on post like everybody else. |
Just because you like blowing GIs for American-style processed meats doesn't mean it's for everybody. |
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ChinaBoy
Joined: 17 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:56 am Post subject: |
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| Straphanger wrote: |
Uhhhh yeah. Don't be an idiot and your time here will go by much more smoothly.
If you need a USD money order, go on post like everybody else. |
Let's put this one down as stupid. |
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JerBear
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 3:26 am Post subject: |
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| plynx wrote: |
| JerBear wrote: |
| Straphanger wrote: |
Uhhhh yeah. Don't be an idiot and your time here will go by much more smoothly.
If you need a USD money order, go on post like everybody else. |
What is "go on post" ??? Something British?
PS Thanks for calling me an idiot. |
"go on post" is very much an american thing - as in "go on the military post" (which you really aren't authorized to do without military personnel). |
Ah! Of course. I'm an Air Force vet myself. The Air Force has bases so if he had said "go on base" it would have made sense to me. The British often use the word "post" when Americans just say "mail" so it sounded like something British.
Sounds like I wasn't the idiot. Thanks for the assistance plynx!  |
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Straphanger
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Chilgok, Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 7:13 am Post subject: |
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| JerBear wrote: |
| Sounds like I wasn't the idiot. Thanks for the assistance plynx! |
You had the capacity to wire yourself the cash and send a personal check, yet you bought a USD money order from a Korean bank, you didn't send it registered mail, and you lost it, and now it's gonna cost you 100kW to get it back.
So... |
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japancube
Joined: 28 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 8:00 am Post subject: Why are people on here so insulting? |
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| Thank you for the info is what people should have replied with. The OP was nice enough to take time out of their day so that others might not make the same mistake. Drives me crazy that many of the people on these forums just seem to enjoy insulting people as opposed to helping others which is what forums are about. |
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Ginormousaurus
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Location: 700 Ft. Pulpit
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 8:09 am Post subject: |
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| JerBear wrote: |
| Straphanger wrote: |
Uhhhh yeah. Don't be an idiot and your time here will go by much more smoothly.
If you need a USD money order, go on post like everybody else. |
What is "go on post" ??? Something British?
PS Thanks for calling me an idiot. |
OP, don't worry about Straphanger. He's proved himself to be quite the douche (over and over and over...). |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Straphanger wrote: |
Uhhhh yeah. Don't be an idiot and your time here will go by much more smoothly.
If you need a USD money order, go on post like everybody else. |
Very few people have the option of going on to the US bases to do their banking. |
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JerBear
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Ginormousaurus wrote: |
| JerBear wrote: |
| Straphanger wrote: |
Uhhhh yeah. Don't be an idiot and your time here will go by much more smoothly.
If you need a USD money order, go on post like everybody else. |
What is "go on post" ??? Something British?
PS Thanks for calling me an idiot. |
OP, don't worry about Straphanger. He's proved himself to be quite the douche (over and over and over...). |
Agreed - thanks for the words of encouragement. |
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Straphanger
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Chilgok, Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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| JerBear wrote: |
| Ginormousaurus wrote: |
| OP, don't worry about Straphanger. He's proved himself to be quite the douche (over and over and over...). |
Agreed - thanks for the words of encouragement. |
Encouragement? Back the fail truck up! You had a U.S. account. You had the ability to wire yourself the cash in the blink of an eye. You had the ability to send a paper check snail mail (why? God knows why you would do that...). And yet, you didn't.
I would never even think...nay, it would never *OCCUR* to me to do something like this.
To first, not use the easiest method at my disposal for sending money.
To second, not use the cheapest method (Wiring it to myself and sending a check)
Or to third, not sending a *guaranteed funds* bank check in USD by *guaranteed mail*...
Have you heard of FedEx? There are parcel services... They will ask you, in English, "Would you like Insurance?" The answer, if you're doing anything complicated or expensive, should always be an unqualified YES! Yes, CHEBAL! NAY, JUSEYO! However you say it, Get the insurance!! |
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JerBear
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Straphanger wrote: |
| JerBear wrote: |
| Ginormousaurus wrote: |
| OP, don't worry about Straphanger. He's proved himself to be quite the douche (over and over and over...). |
Agreed - thanks for the words of encouragement. |
Encouragement? Back the fail truck up! You had a U.S. account. You had the ability to wire yourself the cash in the blink of an eye. You had the ability to send a paper check snail mail (why? God knows why you would do that...). And yet, you didn't.
I would never even think...nay, it would never *OCCUR* to me to do something like this.
To first, not use the easiest method at my disposal for sending money.
To second, not use the cheapest method (Wiring it to myself and sending a check)
Or to third, not sending a *guaranteed funds* bank check in USD by *guaranteed mail*...
Have you heard of FedEx? There are parcel services... They will ask you, in English, "Would you like Insurance?" The answer, if you're doing anything complicated or expensive, should always be an unqualified YES! Yes, CHEBAL! NAY, JUSEYO! However you say it, Get the insurance!! |
There once was a fellow named Strap
Whom everyone wanted to slap
He ate with his rear
And as you might fear
Out of his mouth came nothing but crap |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 5:38 am Post subject: |
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Before I moved to Seattle I had to send a money order for my apartment. I sent it fedex and they lost it. My Canadian bank told me basically it wasn't at all easy to cancel a money order and get the money back. Eventually the money order did turn up and I was able to use to for future rent.
Yeah, money orders do not appear, even in Canada, to be a secure device in the event the money order is lost. Traveller's checks might be better, although I've never had to put that to the test and I wouldn't be surprised if Korea had some bizarre rule. |
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