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Check, Check
09/30/08
09:16:41 pm, by admin 
, 170 words 
Categories: ...and Takes On, 사랑?, America, Vicarious Culture Shock
Check, Check
"OK, have you ever written a check?" I ask Good Man. Checks don't exist in South Korea. Well, "bank checks," which are basically bills bigger than 10,000 won exist, but not checks as we have them in America.
"Um...no."
"OK, so first put the date and name, then the amount..." I watch him and point, "You need to include the decimal-zero-zero for the cents."
Good Man looks at me, "But there are no cents."
"Right, that's why you put zeros. Now, put the amount in written words.... And then write 00/100s and draw a horizontal line."
Good Man lifts his pen from the page and stares at me. "Huh?"
"Like this," I show him on some scratch paper.
Good Man sighs, "Why? This is crazy!"
"Because you don't want people to steal the check and change numbers and stuff."
"This is stupid. America should just do bank transfer like in Korea."
I laugh and agree with him. I love bank transfers, and I wish America would switch to that method.
8 comments
Comment from: Jennifer [Visitor] · http://www.jennipal.blogspot.com
I second that!!!!
10/01/08 @ 03:29
Comment from: Robbin [Member]
Since I have no clue how to search on that concept could you give me a search term or a link?
10/01/08 @ 07:48
Comment from: Wanda [Visitor]
Goodman welcome to the first of many stupid things we do in America.
10/01/08 @ 07:50
Comment from: admin [Member]
Korean bank transfers work like this: I get the receiver's account number and bank name. I go to the ATM and enter my info, then press the "transfer" button. I enter the other person's bank name and account number, then the amount I want to send. A "are you sure you want to send this amount to this person" message comes up, I press send, and ta-da, it's out of my account and in their account.
All bills are paid this way. Water, gas, etc. It costs something like 1000-1500 won (less than $1.50) to do it. I will HAPPILY pay that amount to not have to worry about lost checks, stamps, ordering new checks, etc. It's fantastic.
It's like doing a regular transfer in America, except you can do it from an ATM and the fees are a hell of a lot lower.
Korea also has this awesome passbook system. It's like a check book register, except you don't need to write down anything! You stick it in the machine open to the next blank spot. You enter your pin number and his "update passbook" and the machine prints out every single transaction done to that account since your last update. It can even do multiple pages. DAMN, I love that thing!
Oh, and "bank checks" are given out when you want money larger than 10,000 won. You ask for a check and they usually come out of the machine in 100,000 denominations, I think. I hate bank checks and only ever got cash from the machine, so I'm not sure if you can change the denom amount.
All bills are paid this way. Water, gas, etc. It costs something like 1000-1500 won (less than $1.50) to do it. I will HAPPILY pay that amount to not have to worry about lost checks, stamps, ordering new checks, etc. It's fantastic.
It's like doing a regular transfer in America, except you can do it from an ATM and the fees are a hell of a lot lower.
Korea also has this awesome passbook system. It's like a check book register, except you don't need to write down anything! You stick it in the machine open to the next blank spot. You enter your pin number and his "update passbook" and the machine prints out every single transaction done to that account since your last update. It can even do multiple pages. DAMN, I love that thing!
Oh, and "bank checks" are given out when you want money larger than 10,000 won. You ask for a check and they usually come out of the machine in 100,000 denominations, I think. I hate bank checks and only ever got cash from the machine, so I'm not sure if you can change the denom amount.
10/01/08 @ 15:59
Comment from: Robbin [Member]
My bank lets me pay bills online in a similar fashion. I write 2 checks a month now. And save a bunch in postage.
10/01/08 @ 21:10
Comment from: Jin [Visitor]
I pay all of my monthly bills online and if I use my credit card that is paid online as well. It does save me time and postage as I can schedule a bill payment in advance and on what day I want the payment to be deducted.
I agree that doing bank transfers are really convenient in Korea, but even after the IMF, banking institutions are still quite different btw Korean and the US. Also with the financial crisis, you hear about some no name bank going under and having the FDIC come in, we have a lot of banks in the US compared to the amount of banking institutions in Korea.
I wish Korea would change or add another denomination to their currency. It sucks that the largest currency in Korea is around $10.
So when I visit Korea my wallet looks like it is about to explode or I have had a hard time changing 100,000 to 500,000 bank checks, because places that accept bank checks usually accept credit cards.
With regards to 10,000 won being the largest currency, could you ask Good Man if the reason they don't add a larger currency is due to money laundering? I remember watching a news program 8 or 10 years ago showing a house in Korea filled to the brim with 10,000 notes. The soon to be felons would travel outside of the country with a carry on filled with cash to launder. I remember the journalist/hack mentioned the rate they were trying to launder the money would take like 2 years.
I agree that doing bank transfers are really convenient in Korea, but even after the IMF, banking institutions are still quite different btw Korean and the US. Also with the financial crisis, you hear about some no name bank going under and having the FDIC come in, we have a lot of banks in the US compared to the amount of banking institutions in Korea.
I wish Korea would change or add another denomination to their currency. It sucks that the largest currency in Korea is around $10.
So when I visit Korea my wallet looks like it is about to explode or I have had a hard time changing 100,000 to 500,000 bank checks, because places that accept bank checks usually accept credit cards.
With regards to 10,000 won being the largest currency, could you ask Good Man if the reason they don't add a larger currency is due to money laundering? I remember watching a news program 8 or 10 years ago showing a house in Korea filled to the brim with 10,000 notes. The soon to be felons would travel outside of the country with a carry on filled with cash to launder. I remember the journalist/hack mentioned the rate they were trying to launder the money would take like 2 years.
10/02/08 @ 14:06
Comment from: admin [Member]
I don't think the banks that are going under are no-name banks at all. WaMu? Huge.
10/02/08 @ 18:27
Comment from: Jin [Visitor]
Sorry for the misunderstanding...
Granted Indy Mac and Wamu are big, but I was referring to the other failed banks on the FDIC list.
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html
Or from what I hear on NPR, for example First Heritage Bank, N.A., Newport Beach. I thought there is such a bank?
Also I believe there will be more bank consolidations and failures in the future, especially the mid sized banks in my area where they invested in sub prime loans.
But this goes back to my statement of the number if various banks in the US vs the number of banks in Korea and why bank transfers are not as common as in Korea.
Banks as an institution are still new in Korea compared to the US/European institution. You know blah blah blah, the older the institution the harder it is to change. (insert Obama campaign slogan) But hey what do I know....there could be a variety of reasons....
For example @ one bank they charge $45 to do a wire transfer to Korea vs. another bank down charging $20. Go figure...
Granted Indy Mac and Wamu are big, but I was referring to the other failed banks on the FDIC list.
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html
Or from what I hear on NPR, for example First Heritage Bank, N.A., Newport Beach. I thought there is such a bank?
Also I believe there will be more bank consolidations and failures in the future, especially the mid sized banks in my area where they invested in sub prime loans.
But this goes back to my statement of the number if various banks in the US vs the number of banks in Korea and why bank transfers are not as common as in Korea.
Banks as an institution are still new in Korea compared to the US/European institution. You know blah blah blah, the older the institution the harder it is to change. (insert Obama campaign slogan) But hey what do I know....there could be a variety of reasons....
For example @ one bank they charge $45 to do a wire transfer to Korea vs. another bank down charging $20. Go figure...
10/03/08 @ 15:51
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