Banking in Korea

[taeyang]

Nonghyup (NH/농협)

KB (Kookmin/국민은행)

KEB

[Otik]

Go to the main branch, and not smaller side branches in your town, otherwise you may have problems doing internet banking.  I had to make a new account at the main branch in my town, just to do online banking.  From Iksan, South Korea.

[dmaclellan]

I second what Otik said.  I had to do the exact same thing.

[coughsod]

anyone have any feedback about which bank is preferable? best rates? most foreigner-friendly? etc

[JNM]

These days rates are all the same (or at least within a narrow band)... and very low.  I would recommned against holding large amounts of money in Korean banks because I have heard it is hard to access from outside the country.

I have had good service (in English) from KEB's Gangnam Station and Banpo branches.

YMMV

[Teachersa]

These days rates are all the same (or at least within a narrow band)... and very low.  I would recommned against holding large amounts of money in Korean banks because I have heard it is hard to access from outside the country.

I have had good service (in English) from KEB's Gangnam Station and Banpo branches.

YMMV

I've recently found out your money is only insured up to 50 million won. So, its really not the best idea to keep your money in Korea.

[jeremydc808]

Citi is the way to go.


Taken out money from my Korean Citi bank card in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Japan (at Citi ATMs) with no charge (just exchange rate).

Sent money home via the online banking system

Sent money to a buddy's US Citi account and vice versa with no problem.

Bought things online from Amazon, Ebay Etc


In terms of accessibility, Citi is good. Don't lose your certificate though.

[cescudero95]

By the way, what do you guys do with a jar full of Korean coins when you accumulate a lot of them?

Do banks ever have coin counting machines?  If not, how do deposit or exchange them for cash?

[gnomon]

By the way, what do you guys do with a jar full of Korean coins when you accumulate a lot of them?

Do banks ever have coin counting machines?  If not, how do deposit or exchange them for cash?

Go to a subway station during off-peak hours. Load up your T-Money.

[lifeisgood6447]

By the way, what do you guys do with a jar full of Korean coins when you accumulate a lot of them?

Do banks ever have coin counting machines?  If not, how do deposit or exchange them for cash?

Yes they have counting machines. They usually want you to separate the denominations prior to going. Show up with your separated bags of coins, and pull a number like normal. When you go up to the counter just tell them want you want. If you speak no Korean, it is fine, I am sure they understand what it means when someone brings bags of coins. They will then pay you in bills.

[welcomebackkotter]

By the way, what do you guys do with a jar full of Korean coins when you accumulate a lot of them?

Do banks ever have coin counting machines?  If not, how do deposit or exchange them for cash?

Yes they have counting machines. They usually want you to separate the denominations prior to going. Show up with your separated bags of coins, and pull a number like normal. When you go up to the counter just tell them want you want. If you speak no Korean, it is fine, I am sure they understand what it means when someone brings bags of coins. They will then pay you in bills.

I only did it once a few years ago, but I didn't need to separate the denominations.  It was in a KB branch.  A machine that looks a little like an ATM is there that counts all your coins.  I took in a big bag, the security guy understood what I needed, I had to put my card into the machine (as it deposits it straight to your account - no idea if you can get cash or not), dump all the coins onto a conveyor belt and wait until it counts it all out.  Super easy.  If you have to go to the counter (I imagine not all banks have that machine) then maybe you need to separate denominations.

[gideonvasquez]

I did it once with me spare change jar. I didn't separate they just dumped them into a coin counter and it sorted them out like in America. I had it deposited into my account. I also went to the bank with an admin girl to do the same thing with the school's change bag (it was heavy as heck so they sent me to carry it) that was also unsorted and deposited into the school's account. This was a rural NH branch if that matters.

[cescudero95]

I heard there were some banks that allowed accounts/depots to be held in USD and/or RMB separately and were interest bearing.  Anyone know about this?  Was trying to find in searches.

[JNM]

I heard there were some banks that allowed accounts/depots to be held in USD and/or RMB separately and were interest bearing.  Anyone know about this?  Was trying to find in searches.

I have a multi-currency account with KEB-Hana.

You can have up to 5 currencies in one account.

I don't think you can trade within the account, though.

[cescudero95]

Ok cool, I'll check it out.

Savings and CD rates are still miserable throughout the world, after all.

[JNM]

They did have a higher RMB rate for a while, just after the devaluations. 

[cescudero95]

Curious about this, I just opened the KEB multi currency account and everything went fine.  I brought a bunch of USD and a bunch of RMB and deposited the USD.  However, for the RMB they wanted to charge about a 2.8% fee just to make the deposit, so it was abouit 4만원.  Since no one here ever mentioned that, I was surprised and decided not to deposit the RMB, and only the USD. 

The USD interest rate the teller quoted me was good (1.21%), but what's with this fee that I never heard about before?  She said all other currencies besides USD, if I were to make a deposit, would incur this fee.  Anyone else experienced this?  It was the KEB Hana location at 부천시청역 FYI.

[JNM]

Curious about this, I just opened the KEB multi currency account and everything went fine.  I brought a bunch of USD and a bunch of RMB and deposited the USD.  However, for the RMB they wanted to charge about a 2.8% fee just to make the deposit, so it was abouit 4만원.  Since no one here ever mentioned that, I was surprised and decided not to deposit the RMB, and only the USD. 

The USD interest rate the teller quoted me was good (1.21%), but what's with this fee that I never heard about before?  She said all other currencies besides USD, if I were to make a deposit, would incur this fee.  Anyone else experienced this?  It was the KEB Hana location at 부천시청역 FYI.

I know that they charge a fee to take out cash is foreign notes (I.e. Take CAD from your CAD balance), but I hadn't noticed deposit fees for cash.... but I don't do that often.

[cescudero95]

If you don't mind verifying in your account history, I'd appreciate it.  Trying to figure out if it was a miscommunication, or a location specific thing, or what exactly.  Thanks.

Curious about this, I just opened the KEB multi currency account and everything went fine.  I brought a bunch of USD and a bunch of RMB and deposited the USD.  However, for the RMB they wanted to charge about a 2.8% fee just to make the deposit, so it was abouit 4만원.  Since no one here ever mentioned that, I was surprised and decided not to deposit the RMB, and only the USD. 

The USD interest rate the teller quoted me was good (1.21%), but what's with this fee that I never heard about before?  She said all other currencies besides USD, if I were to make a deposit, would incur this fee.  Anyone else experienced this?  It was the KEB Hana location at 부천시청역 FYI.

I know that they charge a fee to take out cash is foreign notes (I.e. Take CAD from your CAD balance), but I hadn't noticed deposit fees for cash.... but I don't do that often.

[JNM]

If you don't mind verifying in your account history, I'd appreciate it.  Trying to figure out if it was a miscommunication, or a location specific thing, or what exactly.  Thanks.

Curious about this, I just opened the KEB multi currency account and everything went fine.  I brought a bunch of USD and a bunch of RMB and deposited the USD.  However, for the RMB they wanted to charge about a 2.8% fee just to make the deposit, so it was abouit 4만원.  Since no one here ever mentioned that, I was surprised and decided not to deposit the RMB, and only the USD. 

The USD interest rate the teller quoted me was good (1.21%), but what's with this fee that I never heard about before?  She said all other currencies besides USD, if I were to make a deposit, would incur this fee.  Anyone else experienced this?  It was the KEB Hana location at 부천시청역 FYI.

I know that they charge a fee to take out cash is foreign notes (I.e. Take CAD from your CAD balance), but I hadn't noticed deposit fees for cash.... but I don't do that often.

I looked, but I am missing the book which includes my deposits of stashed holiday leftovers just before tax time.

Sorry.