Bringing Cash Overseas

[hcolumbus]

Hey, guys, I'll be heading over to Korea from Australia sometime this Nov/Dec. I compared all the modes of transfer for currency and found that the way to get the most out of my money is through bringing cash over. My current plans are to bring AUD$10,000 cash in my carry on, KRW 200,000 cash for transport, and another AUD$3,000 in the form of a Debit Card (Partly because of the US$10,000 custom limitation hassle and to diversify my money). After touching down at the airport, I'll get the cash exchanged in Myeongdong to KRW and subsequently use that amount to pay for my surgery + tide me over for around 1 week of expenses. If I need more cash in the following week, I can always withdraw from the ATM and convert them at Myeongdong again.

Does this sound like a feasible plan to those that have experience bringing huge sums of cash into Korea for your surgery/daily expenses? Thanks in advance for your contributions and suggestions!

P.S. The reason why I'm not choosing to use Credit Card is because I want to reduce as much processing fee as possible. I'm fairly certain that Seoul is a safe place so I'm willing to take the risk of carrying large amounts of cash at any given time. Also, I can't withdraw all AUD$10,000 from the ATM as there is a daily cash limit imposed (no processing fee though, so that's good).

 

[twocupcakes]

Gosh, don't do that. Yes, Seoul is pretty safe, so you probably won't get robbed. But you could just as easily accidentally leave something at a restaurant or in a taxi. Plus, if you withdraw cash from a Korean ATM, it's going to be in Korean won, and Myeongdong isn't even the best place to exchange currency. And custom limits on taking cash out of the country also applies to foreign currency, so 10,000 AUD and 200,000 KRW is going to tip you over. Yes, customs is stupid.

Here's what you do.

1. Open a Citibank Plus account in Australia. (No fees, so it doesn't cost you anything.)
2. Deposit money in Citibank Plus account.
3. Call Citibank and tell them you're going to Korea, and that you want to raise your daily withdrawal limit to $5,000.
4. Fly to Korea.
5. Visit a Citibank ATM (the ones attached to branches are better than the ones in the subway) and withdraw cash (no international fees, plus the Visa exchange rate is better than anything you'll get elsewhere).
6. Take the money and spend it. Tada!

Just bring $200-300 in cash and exchange it at Incheon (save $50 or so for when you're back in Australia). You'll get better conversion rates in Korea than in Australia. Depending on where you're going first, either take the train to Seoul Station, or take the limousine bus to wherever (the bus is nicer and usually more convenient). Then you can go to the nearest subway station or a convenience store and buy a T-Money card and top it up with, say, 50,000 won (you could probably just do this at the airport if you wanted, but they only have the T-Money cards rather than the dongle variety). If you only take the bus/subway, 50,000 will probably cover your whole stay. If you use it to pay for taxi fare, maybe not.
If you have your accommodation sorted, your initial 200,000 won or whatever should last you food/transport-wise until you actually need to pay for your surgery. If not, just visit a Citibank and take what you need as you need it (you'll have to put in your amount in KRW, so be conservative on the exchange rate and make sure you don't overdraw). And when you do need to make a larger withdrawal, remember that the daily limit resets at 10pm Seoul time, so you could theoretically pull out $10,000 in the one day if you needed to.

And maybe keep a little extra to bribe your consultant into giving you a cheaper rate.

Then get your surgery, come back to Australia, and have customs harass you at the airport because you're Asian and they've racially profiled you as someone who's going to try and smuggle food into the country.

 

[erichyung]

twocupcakes said: ↑

Gosh, don't do that. Yes, Seoul is pretty safe, so you probably won't get robbed. But you could just as easily accidentally leave something at a restaurant or in a taxi. Plus, if you withdraw cash from a Korean ATM, it's going to be in Korean won, and Myeongdong isn't even the best place to exchange currency. And custom limits on taking cash out of the country also applies to foreign currency, so 10,000 AUD and 200,000 KRW is going to tip you over. Yes, customs is stupid.

Here's what you do.

1. Open a Citibank Plus account in Australia. (No fees, so it doesn't cost you anything.)
2. Deposit money in Citibank Plus account.
3. Call Citibank and tell them you're going to Korea, and that you want to raise your daily withdrawal limit to $5,000.
4. Fly to Korea.
5. Visit a Citibank ATM (the ones attached to branches are better than the ones in the subway) and withdraw cash (no international fees, plus the Visa exchange rate is better than anything you'll get elsewhere).
6. Take the money and spend it. Tada!

Just bring $200-300 in cash and exchange it at Incheon (save $50 or so for when you're back in Australia). You'll get better conversion rates in Korea than in Australia. Depending on where you're going first, either take the train to Seoul Station, or take the limousine bus to wherever (the bus is nicer and usually more convenient). Then you can go to the nearest subway station or a convenience store and buy a T-Money card and top it up with, say, 50,000 won (you could probably just do this at the airport if you wanted, but they only have the T-Money cards rather than the dongle variety). If you only take the bus/subway, 50,000 will probably cover your whole stay. If you use it to pay for taxi fare, maybe not.
If you have your accommodation sorted, your initial 200,000 won or whatever should last you food/transport-wise until you actually need to pay for your surgery. If not, just visit a Citibank and take what you need as you need it (you'll have to put in your amount in KRW, so be conservative on the exchange rate and make sure you don't overdraw). And when you do need to make a larger withdrawal, remember that the daily limit resets at 10pm Seoul time, so you could theoretically pull out $10,000 in the one day if you needed to.

And maybe keep a little extra to bribe your consultant into giving you a cheaper rate.

Then get your surgery, come back to Australia, and have customs harass you at the airport because you're Asian and they've racially profiled you as someone who's going to try and smuggle food into the country.[/QUOTED]

When will you be doing the surgery? Withdrawing the large sum of money abroad is quite a hassle, though I had a korean bank account and did not use citibank. If you're confident you wont lose it, I'd bring 60% in cash at least.

Click to expand...

 

[hcolumbus]

twocupcakes said: ↑

Gosh, don't do that. Yes, Seoul is pretty safe, so you probably won't get robbed. But you could just as easily accidentally leave something at a restaurant or in a taxi. Plus, if you withdraw cash from a Korean ATM, it's going to be in Korean won, and Myeongdong isn't even the best place to exchange currency. And custom limits on taking cash out of the country also applies to foreign currency, so 10,000 AUD and 200,000 KRW is going to tip you over. Yes, customs is stupid.

Here's what you do.

1. Open a Citibank Plus account in Australia. (No fees, so it doesn't cost you anything.)
2. Deposit money in Citibank Plus account.
3. Call Citibank and tell them you're going to Korea, and that you want to raise your daily withdrawal limit to $5,000.
4. Fly to Korea.
5. Visit a Citibank ATM (the ones attached to branches are better than the ones in the subway) and withdraw cash (no international fees, plus the Visa exchange rate is better than anything you'll get elsewhere).
6. Take the money and spend it. Tada!

Just bring $200-300 in cash and exchange it at Incheon (save $50 or so for when you're back in Australia). You'll get better conversion rates in Korea than in Australia. Depending on where you're going first, either take the train to Seoul Station, or take the limousine bus to wherever (the bus is nicer and usually more convenient). Then you can go to the nearest subway station or a convenience store and buy a T-Money card and top it up with, say, 50,000 won (you could probably just do this at the airport if you wanted, but they only have the T-Money cards rather than the dongle variety). If you only take the bus/subway, 50,000 will probably cover your whole stay. If you use it to pay for taxi fare, maybe not.
If you have your accommodation sorted, your initial 200,000 won or whatever should last you food/transport-wise until you actually need to pay for your surgery. If not, just visit a Citibank and take what you need as you need it (you'll have to put in your amount in KRW, so be conservative on the exchange rate and make sure you don't overdraw). And when you do need to make a larger withdrawal, remember that the daily limit resets at 10pm Seoul time, so you could theoretically pull out $10,000 in the one day if you needed to.

And maybe keep a little extra to bribe your consultant into giving you a cheaper rate.

Then get your surgery, come back to Australia, and have customs harass you at the airport because you're Asian and they've racially profiled you as someone who's going to try and smuggle food into the country.

Click to expand...

Hey twocupcakes, thanks for your input!

On Citibank’s site, they said that although “there is no processing fee, standard foreign exchange rates apply.” If I’m not wrong, Visa has a 1% conversion fee that will still set me back to around a loss of $100.

Thanks for the reminder about outgoing customs, slipped my mind for a bit. Perhaps I’ll adjust to around $7000 AUD instead.

I got the news that the exchange rate was best at Myeongdong, opposite the China embassy from a friend that recently returned from Korea. The rates are around 25KRW higher than the local currency converters so I’d get at least $150,000 KRW more out of conversion there (825 KRW per 1 AUD compared to 800 KRW per 1 AUD).

I guess now the problem lies with whether I’m able to handle huge amounts of cash without losing it or opt for the safer option of withdrawing via Citibank and pay around 2% conversion fee (withdrawing twice). I’ll still be using Citibank’s ATM though, but for daily expenses of around $100 AUD for 2 weeks post op.

Thanks for the bribe advice though, definitely helpful!

 

[hcolumbus]

Thanks for the advice! I'm going around end Nov. Would probably be bringing cash now. I've looked up opening a foreign bank account and there seem to be quite a few regulations in place such as early termination fees for the account and global transfer rates. My ultimate goal here is to save as much possible and avoid those processing fees while ensuring I can get as much money converted at one go for safety reasons. Crossing my fingers on not losing my carry on bag when overseas

 

[gats]

Exchange rate just refers to whatever their exchange rate is, there should be no 1% fee if they say no processing fee.

 

[ijustloveyou]

Hcolumbus said: ↑

Thanks for the advice! I'm going around end Nov. Would probably be bringing cash now. I've looked up opening a foreign bank account and there seem to be quite a few regulations in place such as early termination fees for the account and global transfer rates. My ultimate goal here is to save as much possible and avoid those processing fees while ensuring I can get as much money converted at one go for safety reasons. Crossing my fingers on not losing my carry on bag when overseas

Click to expand...

I'm an avid traveller and mostly relied on the citibank debit card - there are NO processing fees at all and the exchange rates are on par with the standard exchange rates. The exchange rate will be pretty much the same and sometimes would be better than the ones found at the bank. I'm not sure where you've read that there is a 1% visa conversion fee because I'm 100% there is no hidden conversion fee . At least in my 2 years of using it while travelling, i've come across no extra fees. LOL

The myeongdong rates aren't always great for us Aussies btw.( ps, i'm from Australia too and travelled to korea every year.) I never exchange at myeongdong. The good rate doesn't exactly apply to aud LOL - mainly for chinese people with RMB or american with USD. the AUD isn't as popular so the vendors in myeongdong give a similar rate to the banks, sometimes even worse. In my experience, I know which particular bank branch offers the best rate and always go there to exchange. Otherwise, i'd suggest you to do some walking around and checking a few bank branches at different locations for the exchange rate and exchange your money there.

As for credit card - look into the 28 degree mastercard - no extra fees - perfect credit card for travelling.

You should really do some more research into the cards available because, these days, taking cash is like the LAST option you would use e.g. travelling to the middle of nowhere otherwise there are a bunch of travel cards out there that offer no processing fee.
Oh, and I'm going to Korea Nov/Dec this year as well

 

[yasminn_n]

iJUSTloveYOU said: ↑

I'm an avid traveller and mostly relied on the citibank debit card - there are NO processing fees at all and the exchange rates are on par with the standard exchange rates. The exchange rate will be pretty much the same and sometimes would be better than the ones found at the bank. I'm not sure where you've read that there is a 1% visa conversion fee because I'm 100% there is no hidden conversion fee . At least in my 2 years of using it while travelling, i've come across no extra fees. LOL

The myeongdong rates aren't always great for us Aussies btw.( ps, i'm from Australia too and travelled to korea every year.) I never exchange at myeongdong. The good rate doesn't exactly apply to aud LOL - mainly for chinese people with RMB or american with USD. the AUD isn't as popular so the vendors in myeongdong give a similar rate to the banks, sometimes even worse. In my experience, I know which particular bank branch offers the best rate and always go there to exchange. Otherwise, i'd suggest you to do some walking around and checking a few bank branches at different locations for the exchange rate and exchange your money there.

As for credit card - look into the 28 degree mastercard - no extra fees - perfect credit card for travelling.

You should really do some more research into the cards available because, these days, taking cash is like the LAST option you would use e.g. travelling to the middle of nowhere otherwise there are a bunch of travel cards out there that offer no processing fee.
Oh, and I'm going to Korea Nov/Dec this year as well

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience! After reading both you and twocupcakes posts I'm definitely going to look into citibank before I head over!! Saves the hassle of exchanging thousands of dollars!

Do you know if I can do this easily in Japan as well? I'm going to Tokyo after Seoul and I remember last time I went to Tokyo we exchanged cash before we left because we were told there weren't a lot of money vendors in Tokyo. So I was thinking a citibank card sounds pretty easy.

Would I just open up a standard everyday account and request for my debit card limit to be increased?

 

[ijustloveyou]

yasminn_n said: ↑

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience! After reading both you and twocupcakes posts I'm definitely going to look into citibank before I head over!! Saves the hassle of exchanging thousands of dollars!

Do you know if I can do this easily in Japan as well? I'm going to Tokyo after Seoul and I remember last time I went to Tokyo we exchanged cash before we left because we were told there weren't a lot of money vendors in Tokyo. So I was thinking a citibank card sounds pretty easy.

Would I just open up a standard everyday account and request for my debit card limit to be increased?

Click to expand...

The citibank card is amazing. As long as there is an ATM, you can withdraw and you don't need to worry about finding a good exchange rate. SOMETIMES, the ATM itself will charge you some fee for withdrawing from their atm but then you can just find a free atm - which will be the major banks.

There should be atms everywhere in Tokyo so I don't see a problem.

You just need to open up a citibank plus account - I *THINK* the usual withdrawal limit is $1000 if i remember correctly, so if you're looking to do a bigger withdrawal than that in one day then you'll need to call and request for them to increase your limit temporarily. I've had that done once to $3000. I haven't tried requesting for more than that before because I haven't had to withdrawal that much in one day. But even if it doesn't work, you can just do it within 2 consecutive days or something.

You should look into the 28 degree Mastercard too. I don't like carrying cash so I generally only use this credit card abroad and withdraw a few hundred in cash for emergency purposes.

 

[twocupcakes]

iJUSTloveYOU just said everything I was going to say!

Citibank is super convenient for overseas travel, especially around Asia where they have a bunch of branches. If you're going to open up an account, I suggest hitting up a Chinatown branch because I think they're doing some promotion at the moment where they're giving out a box of mooncakes for every new Citibank Plus account. Eat them now, liposuction them out later~

Yeah, the daily limit is $1,000. I got caught out on that when I went to put a deposit on my apartment in Seoul and it maxed out my limit for the day. I called them up, and they raised the limit, but said it wouldn't go into effect until the next business day. I guess the lesson there is to call them up beforehand.

The 28 Degrees card is good, too! Just make sure you don't use it for a cash advance. But that's why you have the Citibank card, of course.

Oh! I might be going to Korea around November/December as well! It's going to be one big Australian adventure by the looks of things~

 

[yasminn_n]

twocupcakes said: ↑

iJUSTloveYOU just said everything I was going to say!

Citibank is super convenient for overseas travel, especially around Asia where they have a bunch of branches. If you're going to open up an account, I suggest hitting up a Chinatown branch because I think they're doing some promotion at the moment where they're giving out a box of mooncakes for every new Citibank Plus account. Eat them now, liposuction them out later~

Yeah, the daily limit is $1,000. I got caught out on that when I went to put a deposit on my apartment in Seoul and it maxed out my limit for the day. I called them up, and they raised the limit, but said it wouldn't go into effect until the next business day. I guess the lesson there is to call them up beforehand.

The 28 Degrees card is good, too! Just make sure you don't use it for a cash advance. But that's why you have the Citibank card, of course.

Oh! I might be going to Korea around November/December as well! It's going to be one big Australian adventure by the looks of things~

Click to expand...

LOL I know a couple other girls going in early November from NSW too. I guess most Australian students start they're holidays around that time When do you think you're going cupcakes and ijustloveyou? (sorry i still don't know how to hyperlink usernames because i'm dumb haha)

I'm going 28th Nov - 12th Dec

 

[leena315]

iJUSTloveYOU said: ↑

I'm an avid traveller and mostly relied on the citibank debit card - there are NO processing fees at all and the exchange rates are on par with the standard exchange rates. The exchange rate will be pretty much the same and sometimes would be better than the ones found at the bank. I'm not sure where you've read that there is a 1% visa conversion fee because I'm 100% there is no hidden conversion fee . At least in my 2 years of using it while travelling, i've come across no extra fees. LOL

The myeongdong rates aren't always great for us Aussies btw.( ps, i'm from Australia too and travelled to korea every year.) I never exchange at myeongdong. The good rate doesn't exactly apply to aud LOL - mainly for chinese people with RMB or american with USD. the AUD isn't as popular so the vendors in myeongdong give a similar rate to the banks, sometimes even worse. In my experience, I know which particular bank branch offers the best rate and always go there to exchange. Otherwise, i'd suggest you to do some walking around and checking a few bank branches at different locations for the exchange rate and exchange your money there.

As for credit card - look into the 28 degree mastercard - no extra fees - perfect credit card for travelling.

You should really do some more research into the cards available because, these days, taking cash is like the LAST option you would use e.g. travelling to the middle of nowhere otherwise there are a bunch of travel cards out there that offer no processing fee.
Oh, and I'm going to Korea Nov/Dec this year as well

Click to expand...

twocupcakes said: ↑

iJUSTloveYOU just said everything I was going to say!

Citibank is super convenient for overseas travel, especially around Asia where they have a bunch of branches. If you're going to open up an account, I suggest hitting up a Chinatown branch because I think they're doing some promotion at the moment where they're giving out a box of mooncakes for every new Citibank Plus account. Eat them now, liposuction them out later~

Yeah, the daily limit is $1,000. I got caught out on that when I went to put a deposit on my apartment in Seoul and it maxed out my limit for the day. I called them up, and they raised the limit, but said it wouldn't go into effect until the next business day. I guess the lesson there is to call them up beforehand.

The 28 Degrees card is good, too! Just make sure you don't use it for a cash advance. But that's why you have the Citibank card, of course.

Oh! I might be going to Korea around November/December as well! It's going to be one big Australian adventure by the looks of things~

Click to expand...

@twocupcakes and @iJUSTloveYOU, thank you for the great information. I was really worry about bringing large amt of cash. I don't want to carry it around during consultations because I was planning to spend 2 days doing that. Plus don't want to carry leftover cash when I am in surgery. Don't know wear to put it.
I am from USA so this will be my first time. What or where is myeongdong? I am so clueless about transportation, where to stay, where to exvhange money....etc. the crazy thing is that I haven't select or contact any clinics yet but booked my flights for the end of Oct. All I've done is reading this wonderful forum. Lol

@twocupcakes and @iJUSTloveYOU, do you guys have Kakao? Do you mind adding me or I can add you? I would love to learn about traveling to Korea for plastic surgery. You guys seem very knowledgeable and could help make my trip much less stressful.

Thanks in advance!

 

[narut0]

twocupcakes said: ↑

Gosh, don't do that. Yes, Seoul is pretty safe, so you probably won't get robbed. But you could just as easily accidentally leave something at a restaurant or in a taxi. Plus, if you withdraw cash from a Korean ATM, it's going to be in Korean won, and Myeongdong isn't even the best place to exchange currency. And custom limits on taking cash out of the country also applies to foreign currency, so 10,000 AUD and 200,000 KRW is going to tip you over. Yes, customs is stupid.

Here's what you do.

1. Open a Citibank Plus account in Australia. (No fees, so it doesn't cost you anything.)
2. Deposit money in Citibank Plus account.
3. Call Citibank and tell them you're going to Korea, and that you want to raise your daily withdrawal limit to $5,000.
4. Fly to Korea.
5. Visit a Citibank ATM (the ones attached to branches are better than the ones in the subway) and withdraw cash (no international fees, plus the Visa exchange rate is better than anything you'll get elsewhere).
6. Take the money and spend it. Tada!

Just bring $200-300 in cash and exchange it at Incheon (save $50 or so for when you're back in Australia). You'll get better conversion rates in Korea than in Australia. Depending on where you're going first, either take the train to Seoul Station, or take the limousine bus to wherever (the bus is nicer and usually more convenient). Then you can go to the nearest subway station or a convenience store and buy a T-Money card and top it up with, say, 50,000 won (you could probably just do this at the airport if you wanted, but they only have the T-Money cards rather than the dongle variety). If you only take the bus/subway, 50,000 will probably cover your whole stay. If you use it to pay for taxi fare, maybe not.
If you have your accommodation sorted, your initial 200,000 won or whatever should last you food/transport-wise until you actually need to pay for your surgery. If not, just visit a Citibank and take what you need as you need it (you'll have to put in your amount in KRW, so be conservative on the exchange rate and make sure you don't overdraw). And when you do need to make a larger withdrawal, remember that the daily limit resets at 10pm Seoul time, so you could theoretically pull out $10,000 in the one day if you needed to.

And maybe keep a little extra to bribe your consultant into giving you a cheaper rate.

Then get your surgery, come back to Australia, and have customs harass you at the airport because you're Asian and they've racially profiled you as someone who's going to try and smuggle food into the country.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info but can you actually bribe a consultant and would they accept it or depends on their personality if they would take it. How much do you suggest is the acceptable bribery amount to offer to the consultant in order to get a cheaper rate? Thank you.

 

[jnoseye]

Will banks in korea charge you fees for exchanging money?

Thanks in advance!

 

[erichyung]

jnoseye said: ↑

Will banks in korea charge you fees for exchanging money?

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

yes. all banks have their own rates which are usually worse rates. They make money from the lousy rate and transaction fees.

I don't know about bribery but they will know something is clearly off if the consultant always charges 5k and then gives you a 2.3k price, especially if you are a foreigner. They have their own in-clinic policies too. Its likely they will lose their job as well.