Wire transfer

To transfer money in Korea, you must designate only one bank as your foreign transmitter. If you have only one bank, great, that's your transmitter. All you need to do is fill in the paper work.

If you open a second bank account and want to use them as your transmitter, you must notify both banks. Go to the second bank, and tell them that you want them as your designated foreign transmitter. The second bank will then telephone the first bank to transfer authorization. You will need to sign some papers.

Outside of Citibank and KEB, bank transfers tend to take a bigger cut of your money. Possible fees:

  1. Conversion rate. The bank rate is usually slightly different than the market rate.
  2. Intermediary bank fee. If your foreign bank is not a major international bank, the Korean bank will use an intermediate bank to get the funds to your foreign bank. An example: KEB --> Citibank New York --> Somewheretown Credit Union. The intermediary bank will take their fee from the transmitted amount.
  3. Foreign currency fee. If your money is sent as a different currency (for example Korean won is sent to an American bank), your foreign bank may charge anywhere between 20-60 US dollars to change it to the local currency.

 

Citibank Global Transfer

 

 

KEB EasyOne

 

Paypal

 

Bitcoin

This method is the cheapest, and, assuming the market remains stable, will cost you less than 500 won (approx. 50 US cents) in transfer fees and currency exchange losses. However, you must know how to secure your accounts. Enable Two-Factor Authentication at all times.

The leading Bitcoin exchanges (with English support) are Korbit, Coinplug, and XCoin. XCoin has the most active exchange, due to wide usage by Koreans - but the website is flagged as insecure by Google. Korbit's exchange is the next most active, and more active than Coinplug. Coinplug credits can be purchased from 7-11 or Ministop convenience stores (with YouTube walkthrough).

To use this method, you need to find a trustworthy bitcoin exchange that operates in your home country.

 

Exchanging KRW to foreign currency

  1. Transfer KRW to Korean bitcoin exchange.

  2. Use KRW to buy bitcoin.

  3. Send bitcoin from Korean bitcoin exchange, to foreign bitcoin exchange.

  4. Use bitcoin to buy foreign currency.

  5. Withdraw foreign currency to foreign bank account.

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