Saving Money the Multicultural Family Style in Korea
Banks are a fickle sort, aren’t they? After finishing up a two year savings CD in Korea, we were looking into another one and I heard through the multicultural family grapevine, over which much information is passed, that there were CDs especially available for us with higher interest rates.
What? Did multicultural savings accounts in Korea exist two years ago too? They indeed had. Why hadn’t the bank teller mentioned this when it was clear that a multicultural family was sitting in front of her? Questions such as this and many more were answered on a recent trip to a branch of Kookmin Bank. Yes, this type of savings account did exist two years ago for anyone that was wondering. See if they have them still!
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The teller probably hadn’t mentioned it, the woman behind the desk told us, because it’s a government mandated account type and the banks don’t particularly want to pay a higher interest rate if they don’t have to. That means that you need to walk into the bank knowing what to ask for or you probably won’t get this type of account.
After numerous searches on bank websites, it became clear that you’d have to search specifically for this type of savings account and were unlikely to just come across it on the bank’s main page or savings plans page.
The friendly woman behind the desk also said that we could open an account at every bank that offered them if we wanted to because there was no limit on how many a multicultural family could open. As an aside, she said if she could do it, she would because the interest rates are so much better.
Some banks haven’t caught up with the times and make the assumption that multicultural families consist of only foreign women that have married Korean men though so, if you’re a foreign guy married to a Korean woman, they don’t have you listed as a viable candidate at some of the banks. Hopefully, that will change in the coming years.
If you’ve got some money sitting in a dusty jar or an old bank account with a low interest rate not doing much, grab it up and open one or a few of these accounts today! Information is as of 2014 and may change from year to year.
Bank Information:
The names of the savings programs may change over time. Go into your local bank and ask them if they have a savings account for multicultural families to be sure you’re getting up to date information.
Kookmin Bank (KB) 국민은행
- Kookmin Happy Savings (국민행복적금)
- Interest:
- 4.5% on initial deposits and 3% added upon completion of deposits
- The 3% addition at the end is reserved for the higher monthly deposit accounts, if you choose to deposit W100,000 there will only be an additional 2% added, ask the teller for more information.
- Duration: 1 year
- Maximum monthly deposit: W100,000 ~ W500,000 per month
- Eligible: Only a foreign woman married to a Korean man is eligible for this account.
Woori Bank 우리은행
- Woori Hope Dream Savings (우리희망드림적금)
- Interest: 7.5%
- 4% on initial deposits and 3.5% added upon completion of deposits
- Duration: 1 year
- Maximum monthly deposit: ~ W300,000
- Eligible: Either the woman or man in a multicultural marriage is eligible.
Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) 기업은행
- Love Share Savings (사랑나눔적금)
- Interest:
- If the duration of the account is 1 to 2 years: 3% on initial deposit and 3% added upon completion of deposits
- If the duration of the account is 2 to 3 years: 3.1% on initial deposit and 3.1% added upon completion of deposits
- Duration: 1, 2 and 3 year options
- Maximum monthly deposit: W100,000 ~ W500,000
- Eligible: Only a woman married to a Korean man is eligible for this account.
Shinhan Bank 신한은행
- New Hope Savings (새희망적금)
- Interest:
- 4.5% on initial deposits and 1.5% added upon completion of deposits
- If the account is closed before 3 years, there will be a lower interest rate on the amount paid out.
- Duration: 3 years
- Maximum monthly deposit: ~ W200,000
- Eligible: Only for the married immigrant in the multicultural relationship.
Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) 외환은행
- Cheerful Gift Savings (1004 나눔적금)
- Interest:
- duration of account 1 year: 2% on initial deposits and 3% added upon completion
- duration of account 2 years: 2.5% on initial deposits and 3% added upon completion
- duration of account 3 years: 3% on initial deposits and 3% added upon completion
- Duration: 1, 2 or 3 year options available
- Maximum monthly deposit: W100,00 ~ W300,000
- Eligible: Anyone in a multicultural family including the children can have an account opened in their name.
Documents necessary to open one of these accounts:
For the non-Korean citizen:
- Bring your ARC card
- A copy of your family register (가족증명사) which can be found at your local dong office. The copy of your family register will be used to confirm that you are in fact married to a Korean national.
- You will also need to take enough money for an initial deposit into the account.
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15 Comments
missuskimchi
thank you for sharing this article! these are really very useful information for me 🙂
Hallie
No problem. I think it’s super useful too. I hope more families here take advantage of the opportunities. ^^
Jenna
Do you know time deposit in nonghyup bank for marriage immigrants?
Hallie
Hi Jenna, I’m not sure I understand the question. Do you mean how often you should make deposits? Or how long you should make them for? Usually you make deposits once a month for anywhere from 1 to 3 years. Does that help? I would suggest having the bank call their English help line to assist you if you have questions or take a trust Korean friend/spouse if available. I always want to make sure I understand all banking in my own language before I sign, hehe.
Matti
Hi, thanks for the tips! I just opened an account in KEB today. The interest rates are right now: 1.5% for 1 year, 1.6% for 2 years, 1.7% for 3 years. Plus 3% on completion. So altogether 4.5 – 4.8%, which is a little bit less than two years so ago, but not bad compared to current standard rates.
Hallie
Yeah, all of the banks seem to have lowered since I wrote this article. We just went in to open another one since ours recently finished. I should try to get some updated info especially since some banks aren’t even having these kinds of accounts anymore.
Han Seoul
Can you help me with saving interest rates for foreigner, without a Korean spouse, I kept looking through the internet but there was no hope, if you can, it would be big THANK !!!!!!!!!!
Dollar Lifestyle (@dollarlifestyle)
I’ve heard that Ever Rich, NH (Nong Hyup), and KDB (Korea Development Bank) may also have a program. Is that true? If so, does anyone have any details.
Hallie
They likely do have similar programs. I’m not sure what the names of theirs are or the info, but it seems that every bank does have something like this going on.
Shawn
Thank you for doing all this research, organizing and sharing it. Wish I had known about this earlier. We opened up an account with Woori a couple of weeks ago. The interest rate is a bit misleading in that you can’t deposit the total amount at the beginning (thereby limiting the interest you can earn). You’re limited to monthly deposits reducing your overall annual interest.
Example: if you max out the Woori account by depositing W 300,000/mo, then over 12 months you will have deposited W 3.6 mil. At the end of the year, you will have earned a total interest of W 146,250 which ends up being 4.06% interest on W 3.6 mil. Still better than anything else you’re going to get. But just didn’t want people to think they’d end up with 7.5% interest on the total amount they deposit over a year (which would be W 270,000).
Hallie
Yes, you’re right, it’s a bit confusing, but it will end up more than a normal CD currently unless you have a substantial lump sum to put in right away.
Eom Hana
Ohhhhh this is golden! We were just looking into consolidating our earnings and saving into a joint account and couldn’t decide which bank best suits our needs. I wish more people would read your post. I’ll share it on my own blog and will spread the word to friends. This is really helpful, so thanks for the insight~
Also, I’ve just found out via your posts that your a pregnant?! Congratulations to the happy family. I wish you an abundance of health and happiness. 🙂
Best,
Hana
Lili Bayou
This is super-helpful!
Hallie
I’m glad you think it is. ^^ I can’t believe how much information I have to hear through the grapevine when it should really be common knowledge among the mixed couples. Do spread the word to others that could use it. ^^
Rosh
Wow, that’s a nice find!