Won to Dollars: Wiring money from Korea to an American Bank Account

Disclaimer: This was my experience based on the two banks I use. I bank with USAA; find out the receiving fees for your American bank. I do not know the process for expats wiring money to other countries.

So...I mistakenly thought once I had a Korean bank account that I would be able to transfer money immediately from my Korean to US bank account, to pay bills back home. Disappointedly, I found out 2 things: 1. Koomin Bank or KB requires 6 months proof of residency to transfer funds to an US account, for account holders and 2. that I had to wire money home to pay American companies that do not allow you to use foreign bank accounts to pay your monthly bills.  Once I found out no. 1 I figured let me just call the companies and pay them directly, instead of using my US bank's online/app bill pay system. I went to my local post office, Korea Post, to send a little over $1500 USD. The post office's fee fluctuates depending on the amount of money you want to wire. [I am not entirely sure, but I believe Korea Post uses a company called Ever Rich to complete wire transfers. The post office I went to had a Ever Rich logo in- and outside.] The post office fee was 10,000 KRW (the day and time of the transaction the conversion was $8.40 USD; however, as I write this post the conversion is $9.02 and continues to change throughout the day).

Step By Step
1. Acquire Alien Registration Card (ARC), number Passport number, bank ABA or Routing number, US bank address, US account number, foreign address, US home address (residence your American bank recognizes), US and foreign phone numbers, and ca$h to wire.  
2. Obtain wire money transaction form (I went to the post office a few days before my transaction to obtain the form and completed it before I returned)
3. Complete the form with all information listed in step 1 and sign the document - the form is mainly in English
4. Pick a number to be served
(Side note: the post office, banks, cellular carriers, grocery store/market customer service counter, and many other businesses in Korea require customers to pull a number to be serviced in the order you arrived)
5. Ask for a representative who speaks English; have a printed document explaining the requested service written in Korean; or use Google Translate to use basic words*
(i.e. Wire money to American account)
6. Wait patiently for all the information to be entered and verified by the Korea Post/Ever Rich attendant.
7. Give the attendant the funds to wire, plus the 10,000 KRW fee
8. Get a receipt (yellow copy)
9. Check your account that the funds were received.

I want to highlight that at this point I used Google Translate to ask for the time frame it would take for the funds to reach my account. The attendant stated 7 business days. The money was there and ready to use in 2 days!! =D
My US bank did not charge a fee to receive the funds. However, a third party (which I cannot fully explain at this time, but hopefully can one day) charged me a 15,000 KRW fee.
Total amount spent sending a little over $1500 USD to a US bank account was less than $25 USD. I would have liked to spend less. I am currently in the process of finding a Korean bank that will allow me immediately transfer funds from my account to avoid fees or pay much less. Overall, I would recommend the process if you are in a pinch, because it was expedient and efficient. I speak very little Korean at this point and was able to handle this situation without assistance from an additional person.

* I have learned writing out a complete sentence in Google Translate is confusing for the native speaker of that language. For example: In the past I would have written "Hi, I would like to wire Korean money to my American bank account." Often the direct translation does not make sense to the person who needs to read what I have written, so I learned to narrow down the basic nouns and verbs necessary for comprehension and clear, concise communication. It is very effective now.

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