Korean Job Discussion Forums

[grant gerstners]

Nutshell: Should I keep most of my money (in Korea) at a bank separate from the bank where my pay gets deposited?

Elaboration: Although my monthly pay prints into my bank book (so I can see that I got paid), it was some months after I began that there was any mention by my co-teacher of a portion being taken out to cover the cost of my lunch ( I am at a public school).

It was another several months before I started noticing withdrawals from my bank account each month, with a brief tag/note in Korean indicating it's the lunch fee.

What gets me curious is the recognition that my school deposits my full pay and then withdraws the cost of lunch from my bank account. I don't recall giving more than a verbal agreement that I understood that the cost of lunch needed to come out of my pay.

It makes me wonder what other powers of withdrawal they have and what I could do to minimize them.

Is this a good reason to open a separate bank account, even at a different bank, and transfer most of my money there? (I mean other than what I wire home).

I should mention that I am in my second contract at the same public school and there has been nothing unreasonable about pay issues.

[ewlandon]

If you gave a verbal agreement I see nothing wrong with this and I wouldnt worry unless they are taking money out for things not agreed upon. In the USA a verbal agreement is a binding contract (although in the USA you would havehad to agree to how it was taken out of your paycheck as well).

Really I wouldnt worry it sounds to me like they are taking out the lunches you eat rather than charging you for 20 lunches a month.

[whiteshoes]

I had the same thing happen to me. The reasoning I was given was that for the school's paperwork, I needed to "pay" for lunch. If they deducted it from my check, that might seem improper. Also, if I offered to pay cash, there would be no paper trail that I paid, so that was ruled out.

Long story short, I went and opened a bank account for direct deposit, left enough in it for lunch, then filed more paper work to change the bank they directly deposit to.

[koreatimes]

I would never agree to this. There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to need to document a lunch expense through them accessing your accounts. This is completely absurd.

Open a new account, transfer all of the money there or elsewhere you choose and close your existing account for good so they can't access it anymore. Give the account number ONLY of your new account to the school so they can make deposits. That's it.

I had it so the account which had money deposited into could not be used for purchases. I bet what they are doing is just using an extra cash card and swiping it at their school. They don't need your pin number in this case. Stores just have you sign a receipt.

You can get a more limiting one, but it won't allow you to use it at stores. The benefit is to stop this crap and you can be sure if you lose the card it won't be used at stores before you realize you lost it. You can only use it at an ATM machine.

This would be ideal for a teacher's account. Then you could open another account which handles your bills and has a small balance (only the companies like your phone company or internet company would be able to access it, not the school). The lunch fee should be paid, but you can give them cash, and they can have you sign something confirming it. It's not that hard.

[PatrickGHBusan]

[DaHu]

Every country in the world is the same. If you allow them to put money in, it also allows them to take that money right back out.

If they overpay you, or pay someone else by accident, they need to get that money back.

Not sure why you're offended that you have to pay for the lunches.

I always have two bank accounts for this anyway. School sets up one for me where stuff is deposited, and I have a second personal account where I move the money to (physically, not by transfer - no trace) in case there's an issue. Paranoid, yes, but I've had some places cheat me in the past.

[koreatimes]

[allan of asia]

this is how the parents pay for a lot of things at school like the lunches after school classes and field trips. They sign a direct debit thing from the school when they first enroll and when they give the permission slips for their kid to do X or Y it just gets debited from the account.

For my part, my lunch is taken from my paycheck rather than the bank account. My school didn't take it for 3 months and asked me to pay it back to them to their account, so I would guess they have no way to take money out of my account, but thats probably because I set it up myself...

Im sure its all above board, but be careful if things turn sour over severance or overtime and so on...

[ThingsComeAround]

1)
Public school or not?

2)
Are you eating the lunch?

3)
Have you thought about asking for a payslip- and having them deduct lunch fees before giving you your salary?

[cincynate]

This is common at public schools. Both of the schools I worked for did this, and they do it for the korean teachers as well. You're making a big deal out of nothing. They aren't going to withdraw money for any reason, that is against the law.. But everyone at ps must pay for their lunches and this is how they do it.. It's like $3 a meal.. so nothing to complain about for a decent healthy meal.

[Weigookin74]

I had a friends Korean wife running a hogwan. She would dip into her foriegn teachers bank and take some money if she felt she desrved it. He had no say in it. No individual rights here I guess. She was nuts and they since divorced. Just get a second bank account if you're really worried about this and transfer it all online.

[koreatimes]

[cincynate]

I agree with times though.. Your motherload of money should be in an account with no check card attached to it and no one can make withdraws. However, your school has done nothing wrong in asking you to pay for lunch.. Everone does it, so who cares how they get their money. But if it bothers you, tell them you will transfer the money to their account on a monthly basis, that you don't want them withdrawing it from your account. It's your account and you can make up any rules you want.

[shostahoosier]

I dont even know how this is even possible.

It would make more since (and probably be less work) if the school deducted the lunch fee before they deposited it.

Have you spoken with your school about this?

[young_clinton]

I seriously doubt that they can deduct money from your bank account. Your bank determining that a mistake has been made or with a court order can deduct from your account. Any deductions by the school are done before they deposit the money in your account.