Sending/Transferring Money Home (FAQ)

[dsun1226]

Maybe I'm lucky but I use Bank of America (Prima checking) and a KB account. I got charged at B of A once (initial transfer) and every time since then I only get charged 5,000 won from KB for each transfer.

Thanks for the info.  I'll have to look into that.  I get charged $18 per transfer from B of A.  Does Prima require a minimum balance?  I'm married here so I just keep all of my savings in a fund here in Korea and just send enough to B of A to pay my bills back in the US.

As far as I know there is no minimum balance. I've had this same account for almost 10 years (since high school) and I've rarely had problems with it. Like others have mentioned, my transfer shows up in about 48 hours if done on a weekday.

[supermanisdead]

Has anyone else done overseas rem. through a KB atm? Still kind of worried about the details and was wondering if I could get some insight. thanks

[Row]

I sent money through KEB at the branch and got dinged for more than I was expecting (sent 800,000, $670 went into canadan account. This was about 2 weeks ago, and I think I lost about $40 to fees total.

Next time I' at KEB, do I request online banking and an easy one account if I want to spend less or does it not make much difference?

[Davey]

I sent money through KEB at the branch and got dinged for more than I was expecting (sent 800,000, $670 went into canadan account. This was about 2 weeks ago, and I think I lost about $40 to fees total.

Next time I' at KEB, do I request online banking and an easy one account if I want to spend less or does it not make much difference?

Yes, online is always cheaper. It's 8,000 KRW or less to send money home through online banking.

[juddparco]

Hi everyone, I've looked around waygook for a while and while I've read scattered posts about this topic, I haven't found a dedicated forum posting for it:

The Million Won (har har  ) Question:

1. What is the best way to wire / transfer a large sum of money ($5000-10000 USD+) from your Korean bank account to your home bank account, while incurring the least amount of fees?

Possible solutions I've read around Waygook:
a. Wire the money online (fee is less than 10000, + mysterious bank fee which is supposedly Standard Chartered Bank(?))
b. Get friendly with the bank people, wire the money at the bank (less than 10000?)
c. American Express Traveler's Checks + Airmail (no idea about the cost)
d. other options?

Possible subsequent questions:

2. If transferring large sums of money isn't recommended, what other options are available? Transferring smaller amounts of money (I've read under $1000 USD) multiple times?

3. I've read around that sending large amounts of money isn't recommended, and that some banks impose a 60%/80%/etc. limit on the amount you're allowed to transfer.
I've also read that (for US citizens) if you wire more than 1000 USD at a time, it's reported to the government. Can anyone confirm or refute any of these statements?

4. What have people done for their specific banks? KB? KEB? NH?
(I happen to have NH)

5. I'm not leaving Korea any time soon, so carrying money on the plane with me isn't an option. I'd just like to understand what options are available.

Thanks so much everyone!

[juddparco]

bump?

[Jozigirl]

A friend of mine sent home around $6 000 just before Christmas.  You can use KEB to transfer the money from your NH to your home bank using KEB as the middle man and the transfer fee is around 30,000 won regardless of the amount (as far as I know).  I don't know about reporting the amount in the US but as far as the amount is concerned, I've cleaned out my KEB account when doing transfers and I've never had a restriction on the amount. 

Another American friend of mine recently enquired at KEB (she also has a NH account).  I don't know how much she is sending home but it sounds like a year's savings.  She said that KEB told her that she could transfer the money directly from her NH account to home (via KEB) and it would cost 28,000 won.  You must have your passport with you for the transfer though.  If memory serves me, we are allowed to transfer up to 50,000,000 won per year.

[amoonbot]

I believe for a one-time transfer, the general maximum limit is 10,000 USD (You should check with your bank). As far as wire fees go, you should carefully check if your bank back at home charges you an incoming wire fee. If that's the case, you do not need to pay a wire fee in Korea. I made the mistake of paying a wire fee from my Korean bank (KB STAR) generally about 30,000 WON plus an incoming wire fee from my Bank of America account, which was 18.00 USD.

[bobrocket]

Posting travellers checks?
It costs me $25NZD to send money home via bank transfer, there's no limit but over $10,000 gets reported (international $ laundering laws) No consequence as long as its legit money

[Captain Corea]

I believe for a one-time transfer, the general maximum limit is 10,000 USD (You should check with your bank).

That is generally incorrect. You can transfer more, much more, but you will often have to jump through a few more hoops (as in, income earnings and the like).

[seanathon]

The $10k limit is when dealing with cash. Banks are required to keep records of every wire over $3k (i think), but that's just standard operating procedure, nothing you have to do. Most banks, at least in the US, have very high maximum wire limits. For instance, Chase Bank has a maximum wire limit at $500,000 a day.

[Rabulah Conundrum]

Bit of a dilemma... I'm going home (for good) in three weeks, and I have a considerable amount of money saved up - in excess of 15,000 euros. However, my bank decided to close my current account in Ireland after I came over - long story - so doing a straightforward transfer from my NH account is not an option. I looked into sending the money to a relative's account,  but thought it might look a little bit dodgy in a 'money-laundering' sense, and I don't want to create any awkwardness for my relatives. So the way I see it, I have a few options, none of which are satisfactory...

1. Bring the money in cash. I know, unlike the UK and US, there's no limit to bringing money into Ireland in cash, but it must be declared if it's over 10,000. But then, it's a really awkward way to go, and not particularly safe.

2. Close my NH account, and get them to write a cashier's cheque. This looks like the best option; has anyone else done it before? The only worry I would have is acceptance of the cheque in Ireland - I know that traveller's cheques are not accepted by Irish banks, but surely cashier's cheques would be OK?

Any thoughts/advice? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[betrock]

I recently wired significantly more than what you are sending with no problem.  I used my bank, NH for a nominal fee... I think it was 20K or so.

When you are sending significant amounts of money, the fees are generally much less important the exchange rate you get.  When I checked, the rate I got for travelers checks would have meant I would get $100's less for the money I was sending.  I called KEB and NH back to back to get their exchange rates, and NH was better. Of course are constantly changing, but it seemed to me that by calling a few minutes apart they probably would not have changed much.

You can do it on line also, but I am in the habit of stopping by the bank.

[Davey]

Hi everyone, I've looked around waygook for a while and while I've read scattered posts about this topic, I haven't found a dedicated forum posting for it:

The Million Won (har har  ) Question:

1. What is the best way to wire / transfer a large sum of money ($5000-10000 USD+) from your Korean bank account to your home bank account, while incurring the least amount of fees?

Possible solutions I've read around Waygook:
a. Wire the money online (fee is less than 10000, + mysterious bank fee which is supposedly Standard Chartered Bank(?))
b. Get friendly with the bank people, wire the money at the bank (less than 10000?)
c. American Express Traveler's Checks + Airmail (no idea about the cost)
d. other options?

Possible subsequent questions:

2. If transferring large sums of money isn't recommended, what other options are available? Transferring smaller amounts of money (I've read under $1000 USD) multiple times?

3. I've read around that sending large amounts of money isn't recommended, and that some banks impose a 60%/80%/etc. limit on the amount you're allowed to transfer.
I've also read that (for US citizens) if you wire more than 1000 USD at a time, it's reported to the government. Can anyone confirm or refute any of these statements?

4. What have people done for their specific banks? KB? KEB? NH?
(I happen to have NH)

5. I'm not leaving Korea any time soon, so carrying money on the plane with me isn't an option. I'd just like to understand what options are available.

Thanks so much everyone!

http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,1770.0.html

The cheapest way would be to do a Citi to Citi transfer. You can open a US account online and then go to a branch in Korea to open a Korean account. Let them you want to transfer money from your K-orean account to your US account. Citi allows you to do overseas remittance for free up to 10 times a month (Citi to Citi transfers only)!

[danitravels]

I've said this a million times. Citibank.

Giant evil bank or not, you can send $50,000 a year, up to $10,000 a day for 4,000 won. I'm going to do what's best for my wallet while I'm here and my loans are getting paid back home.

You can open an account in the states all online. Then once you have your account number, open an account here. You can also transfer everything online. Piece of cake, and always a decent exchange rate.

Tada!

[queenhetepet]

Any advice of an Australian sending money back home - cheapest options? (It for Aussie employed in ROK right now as the aussie dollar is so high so the exchange rate is pitiful when converting KRW to AUD *sigh*)

[sallyb17]

I believe for a one-time transfer, the general maximum limit is 10,000 USD (You should check with your bank). As far as wire fees go, you should carefully check if your bank back at home charges you an incoming wire fee. If that's the case, you do not need to pay a wire fee in Korea. I made the mistake of paying a wire fee from my Korean bank (KB STAR) generally about 30,000 WON plus an incoming wire fee from my Bank of America account, which was 18.00 USD.

Is this true? I'm being charged a fee from NH to transfer as well as an incoming fee from my Chase account. How can I stop the fee in Korea? Thanks.

[Davey]

I believe for a one-time transfer, the general maximum limit is 10,000 USD (You should check with your bank). As far as wire fees go, you should carefully check if your bank back at home charges you an incoming wire fee. If that's the case, you do not need to pay a wire fee in Korea. I made the mistake of paying a wire fee from my Korean bank (KB STAR) generally about 30,000 WON plus an incoming wire fee from my Bank of America account, which was 18.00 USD.

Is this true? I'm being charged a fee from NH to transfer as well as an incoming fee from my Chase account. How can I stop the fee in Korea? Thanks.

Not true. You can choose whether to charge the remitter or the receiver, but you are both in this case so you can't avoid the fees either way. If you charge the remitter, your Korean bank will charge you for sending and your home bank for receiving. If you charge the receiver,  your Korean bank will forward the remittance charge to your home bank; thus, your home bank will charge you its reception fee as well as the charge forwarded by KB (i.e., 30,000 KRW converted to USD).

[stamerjam]

Citibank sounds like the best choice.

I read in the other thread posted (info about transferring money) that you can only have ONE bank do overseas remittance. Does this mean that because I already sent money over to the US with KBstar that I can't do again with Citi?

[Davey]

Citibank sounds like the best choice.

I read in the other thread posted (info about transferring money) that you can only have ONE bank do overseas remittance. Does this mean that because I already sent money over to the US with KBstar that I can't do again with Citi?

You can, but then you have to designate Citi as the bank for overseas remittance.

When I switched from NH to KEB, the KEB employee said she'd do all the work necessary to designate my KEB account for overseas remittance. Not sure if Citi will do the same for you. If not, then you might have to tell KB yourself that no longer want to send money home with them.