Korean Job Discussion Forums

[PatrickBateman]

Okay, so I transfer money home every month through Shinhan Bank and something strange happened recently.

Initially, I sent 150,000 won home. Now I know they deduce 18,000 won for a transfer fee, leaving me with a 116.52 being sent to my account.

Here's where it gets strange. When it hits my account, the total is 96.52 cents. After that hits my account, US BANK takes another $20.00 from me. Leaving me with $76.52.

So where is the other $20? I've transferred money home for two odd years and never once has a penny been missing or misplaced.

I contact US BANK and their response:

Thank you for contacting U.S. Bank's Email Service regarding your account.

Upon review of our records we received the wire transfer in the amount of $96.57 and then assessed our fee in the amount of $20.00. It appears the issuing financial institution set the funds to Bank of America and then Bank of America sent the funds to us. When an intermediary financial institution is used they also assess a fee and this is likely the reason for the less than expected. It would be necessary to speak with the issuing financial institution directly for additional information.

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

Then today, I go into Shinhan and they told me that there's a Shinhan Bank in America and THEY took the $20.00 extra(something that's never been done before).

I'm not terribly sure what to make of this. Thoughts?

Has this been happening the whole time and I haven't noticed?

[jvalmer]

Send larger amounts.

[PatrickBateman]

If it's TLDR, just don't reply.

[Rutherford]

The Bank in Korea, an intermediary, and your bank in the US all charge a fee on the transfer.

Ask your friends how much they pay for each part, and send some emails to banks. Find out how much they pay and possibly switch banks.

I can recommend KEB and Charles Schwab as very expat friendly.

[PatrickBateman]

^ Ah, yes. Thanks for the honest reply.

The part that confuses me is that this has never happened before. Or they never used an intermediary.

When it says 116.52 on my statement will be posted to my account, 116.52 had always been posted to my account. Now all of a sudden a third party is involved and they're taking $20.00 out, leaving $96.52? This has never happened before. The amount on my Shinhan statement was always the same amount posted in my account and THEN US Bank their transfer free.

Obviously I am looking to find a new bank. How much does KEB charge? I mean, what's the total amount of money deducted when I send funds home?

[Modernist]

I think the banks are being intentionally vague.

I use KEB for sending money, and I almost always see a $20 dopoff from what leaves Korea vs what shows up in the US. So I get hit by KEB, by my receiving bank, and the 'ghost bank' in the middle. I have heard this is Standard Chartered, and they 'work for' all the banks in Korea processing foreign transfers. What they do to justify this cost, I have no idea [likely: nothing. Just because they can].

I'm sure some people will have a story about how they didn't get the fee, but I'm pretty sure there's no bulletproof way to conisistently avoid it, except leaving all your money in won until you leave and then getting a bank check.

Other suggestion is what jvalmer says, wait and send bigger blocs of money less often. The fees are flat, so they highly penalize small transfers like yours. I do it 3 or 4 times a year myself, and I know many people just bank their money here in interest bearing CDs or index funds or something. There's always the FX rate danger but that's only a chance and these fees are a sure thing, so...

[shostahoosier]

My American bank (Charles Schwab Bank) doesnt charge money for incoming international transfers.

The only fees I pay are the 8,000W to KEB to initiate the transfer, and about 15,000W to a mystery bank to do who knows what.

I would recommend you use Schwab bank in the US. Their debit card doesnt have an international fee and they refund you for ATM fees!

As far as the mystery bank, I'm annoyed that I can pinpoint who it is. When I initially got hit with the fee - KEB and Schwab both pointed fingers at the other bank for the fee.

[cincynate]

Buy travelers checks, send them home, and have someone deposit them in your account for you. There are no fees (except to purchase the t.c.), which always end up being much lower than the 300 banks it takes to send your money home. The T/C rate is usually identical to the remittance rate.

[No_hite_pls]

Brokerage accounts like Fidelity or Charles Schwab don't charge anything in the states.

[PatrickBateman]

The part that leaves me confused is the fact that whenever I was finished at Shinhan, they handed me a receipt with the exact amount being sent to my account.

This time around, that amount was missing $20.00. Both banks are offering up explanations that don't match up.

So apparently it goes like this:

Shinhan:18,000(That's fine)
US BANK:$20.00(Whatever)
??????:$20.00(into purgatory with no explanation)

So It's a total of 55USD each time I transfer money?

[Highwayman]

[jonpurdy]

KEB: 8,000 won to transfer. Can be done online. Very easy.

[Konglishman]

Wow, that is really ridiculous. I guess it just goes to show how greedy the banks have gotten these days. Anyways, you can usually sidestep some of these fees or at least get charged less by using the remittance option on the ATM machine instead of using the bank teller. Of course, you have to use the bank teller the first time in order to set up the ATM remittance option. Finally, as others pointed out, I would send home larger amounts of money. Personally speaking, I always send at least a million Won.

[Weigookin74]

Really? I pay about 5,000 won for online transfer using Nonghyup and then pay another 15 dollars in Canada to RBC. That's it. Asides from a bad exchange rate taking most of my money, not sure what else could causing you to lose money.

[Daelim]

When I transfer money home i simply transfer it from my Nongyhup Account to my KEP international transfer account and they charge me roughly 18,000 won. When it hits my UK account a few days later they charge me �7 ($13) and that's it!