gazz21

Hi! I'm hoping someone could give me some advice on what to do!

I need to send a lump sum of money from South Korea to the UK.

I have an international remit account, but the limit on that is only $50,000 per year.

I need to send more than that home, but Korean law stops me from opening up another one.

The money could be sent in my Korean wife's name, but most sites I've looked at don't list Korean won (money).

I spoke to a woman in the local bank, she told me to get (I forget the exact name) but basically a cheque made out in my wife’s name.

They convert the Korean money into US dollar and we can then cash in the US dollar when we arrive in the UK.

But the US to pound exchange rate is HORRIBLE at the moment, plus we'll be taking a hit on exchange rates twice!

To complicate matters further, my wife won't have a UK bank account set up until after we arrive in the UK...

So to summarize!

I'm looking for a straight swap from Korean won to pound sterling. The payment would probably have to be in my wife’s name and paid into my UK account.

I don’t really want to be paying 5% commission either!

Any ideas?

Mummy in the foothills

I did a straight bank to bank transfer using my US bank and UK bank. Is that possible from Korea to UK? I also have used Xe they will do larger amounts but you have to set it up with them in advance.

pennylessinindia

I know nothing about Korean situation but wonder if it is similar to Indian. Lots of restrictions on sending money out of the country etc etc
The money sending companies will probably have to send in USD and then convert to GBP as you say you do loose a lot.
I ended up sending it from HSBC account in India to UK, not a great rate but very easy and quick. I realise you say your wife does not have an account in the UK yet. When I wanted to close my indian account my local HSBC in the UK suggested I write a Rupee cheque and they could clear it, with an added cost depending on the sum involved. I wonder if this would work with your wife coming with a cheque in her name, opens account and then pays the cheque in.

gazz21

I'm replying to my own thread here, just in case a fellow Brit has the same issues in Korea in the near future.

I went to KEB last week (feb 2014) and spoke to some of the people there.

It appears that i've been told rubbish in the past (sigh Korean 'style' - instead of saying 'I don't know' - just make something up to 'save face')

Anyway, back on topic:

It appears that you can send up to $50,000 US dollars back per year jan 1st-jan 1st and then your take home pay ON TOP OF THAT.

The woman told me (and showed me the rule book). Your take home pay can be back dated too.

So if you worked in Korea for 5 years earning 20,000 dollars per year you could send back and additional 100,000 US dollars on top of the 50,000 per year remit allowance.

You would have to get some kind of documentation from your employer to make sure the payments were all legal and taxed beforehand (not pay slips).

This would allow you to send (some/all) of your partner’s wage (and/or) any other money you may have invested in Korea...

Time will tell if this actually works.....