Shinhan Bank: Sending money home by ATM!

That’s right folks…you read the title right. Starting now at Shinhan Bank, you can remit money overseas through an ATM machine.

There are some minor limitations, such as a 1,000USD/transfer limit as well as a yearly limit of 20,000USD. (The limit bumps up to 50k/year if you are a Korean National)

After reading about this in the paper the other day, i set out to my local branch to do the monthly chore of remitting money home. I’ve been doing this at the same branch, at about the same time for the past 72months.  I tell you, you would think that it gets easier each time…but i can confirm that it Doesn’t. In fact, the past few times i’ve spent more than 40 minutes in front of a bank associate, explaining that i wanted the SAME amount remitted to the SAME place as i had for the prior 72 months. You would think with all the technology here, that they would be able to save my details, bring it up each month, and make life a whole lot easier…You would think.

SO, i had some doubts about this new program. Perhaps it was a typo. Perhaps it was only for Koreans. Perhaps my local branch wouldn’t know the details. There were a lot of ifs.

So, with high hopes i entered my Shinhan Bank…and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Now, it wasn’t completely pain-proof. I did end up spending 1hr. 10 minutes explaining what i wanted and about the new program. And another 50 minutes for the guy to find out about the program himself by calling the head office. Then he tried to set me up in the system, that took FOREVER. Only to be stopped by a computer glitch.

I left the bank that day due to time constraints, but my Shinhan Guy promised a call when everything was fixed. He called me back later that afternoon…and now, drumroll please……………………

I can remitt money overseas by a frickin ATM!