 Banking,
Finances and Paying Bills in Korea
Koreans often deal in cash as they
don’t have checking accounts like in some Western
countries. When you get paid, you may get a big wad of cash
stuffed in an envelop.
The largest Korean currency is the 10,000 won bill (less
than US$10 at the moment).
Although its great to get a bundle of
money at the end of the month, it can
become a nuisance and maybe a safety concern after a
while. It is
advised to open a bank account and have your wages
deposited directly
into your account.
Not only does having a bank account
provide a measure
of safety, it can simplify things all around. With a
bank account you can
also have many of your monthly utilities bills paid
directly from your
account, eliminating further hassles. Also larger banks
are usually crowded,
with long waits in a queue before seeing a teller. Waiting
in line for an hour or
more once a month to deposit your wages into an account
get very old,
very fast.
Opening
a Bank Account
Bank accounts are easy to open in Korea, if you have a
working visa,
passport, and alien registration card. If you are
working legally in the
country you will have those three things. To open the
account you will have
to take these things to the bank when opening the
account so copies can be
made.
It is advised to open an account in the larger,
international banks as they are
likely to have at least a couple of people who speak
English well enough to
take care of business.
These banks include Foreign
Exchange Bank,
Citibank, Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, and Woori Bank.
Once your
account is open you will get a passbook and a bank card.
The bank card is
not a debit or credit card, it is strictly for
withdrawing cash from an ATM.
Debit cards have not caught on in Korea yet and are not
issued by banks.
Credit cards are common, if they are issued by a Korean
bank. The use of
foreign issued credits cards may be problematic,
especially if not in the
larger metropolitan areas such as Seoul or Busan.
Once you get used to the banking system in Korea it is
easy to use and just
as convenient and efficient as back home.
What
about ATM’s in Korea?
ATM’s are easy to find, they are in most larger
department stores, and bus
and train stations, and the banks of course. Most of the
ATM these days
have both Korean and English instructions, so they are
easy to use. There
are some global ATM’s that your home bank cards will
accept, but they are
hard to find. Also most ATM’s close around 11:00 PM, so
plan accordingly.
Is it easy to send money home?
Sending money out of the country is fairly easy. You
will need the same
documents needed when opening the account– a working
visa, a passport,
and an alien registration card. You may also need the
contract that was
signed with your employer, stating your wages.
There was at one
time a government limit on how much money can be sent
out of the country. The percentage allowed by the
government was 60%
of your earnings.
However, some banks didn’t seem to adhere to this rule.
Some banks
allow you to send more, even 80% or 90%. Some banks
would demand to
see your
contact to ensure that not too much is sent out of the
country and others
do not.
The banks are also
sometimes write in your
passport the amount
sent out of the country, but this is also not done
consistently from bank to
bank, or even within the same bank. It all seems to
depend on who is
waiting on you that day.
If you get hassled about the amount you can send out by
a particular bank,
there are ways around it. You can always take a short
vacation to a nearby
country, take lots of cash, and wire it home from there.
Or you could have
another people send it for you, just be sure you trust
the person.
It is possible to send money out of the country without
a bank account, but
it is a little easier if you have one.
How are bills paid?
One good thing about paying utility bills in Korea is
they can be paid at
most banks and even post offices, you don’t have to make
a separate trip
to each utility. I had a couple of monthly bills that
were not paid by direct
withdrawal. I always went to a small neighborhood bank,
a totally different
bank, to pay these bills. Because it was small, I
usually got in and out of
there within 5 minutes, instead of standing in line for
45 minutes at the
bank I had my account at. Very convenient.
**Note: Things
change in financial systems and there is quite some
inconsistency in application of rules in Korea - be sure
to double check anything you read on this page - it is
meant only as an overview**
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years from now you will be more disappointed
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