Anyone used Revolut in South Korea?

Hi there,

Did anyone use Revolut in South Korea?

If so, how was your experience at shops? Any specific tips to share? How about ATM withdrawals (without fees)?

Any info is welcome as I’ll be travelling there soon…

Thanks!

Short version: Yes, it works great for me.

Long version:
Have been in South-Korea now for a couple of weeks, at shops and everything it worked good without problems. The rate at shops seems to be pretty good (compared to online XE-rates which I use as a benchmark when travelling), really close to it and I think I saw even better at times.

I did my first cash withdrawal today. My pin was locked at first and the ATM kept giving me errors (probably because I lost and reset it a few weeks before). Contacted customer support and they unlocked it without a hitch (you can double check it in the app at “my card”). The ATM probably will give you the choice “foreign card” or “local card”, Revolut support told me to always use local, but this didnt work. Then I opted for the foreign option, selected savings account cash withdrawal, and it worked. There were no fees and indeed it works as a local card. The exchange rate at 1% (again compared to online XE rates) on about eu350 was not optimal, and also the rate euro-won and dollar-won was strangely the same, at the expense of the euro. But then again, it would have cost me a lot more if I had to do it with my bank card or credit card.

Edit: I assume the exchange rate fluctuates, and maybe is better on other days.

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Thanks so much for the info :slight_smile: What bank did you withdraw money from without fees?

You’re welcome. KB-bank, it has a yellow store front. Didn’t even see it was a bank at first from the outside though, lettering was in Korean too if I remember correctly. But perhaps in the tourist areas it is more visible.

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I agree with Hosnii.
It works perfectly with KBstar with a yellow logo KB.
The process is the following one at the atm: Others languages > English > foreign > cash in advance (the other options don’t work).

However, i needed cash at the airport and it cost 3600W as fees for 100000W requested. I don’t remember the bank but not KB for sure.

In addition, revolut works perfectly in this country and i don’t have any issues and I pay in W each time (restaurants, starbucks, lotte mart, etc).

Hello, just more information about KB atm. A KB atm is located at Seoul Station just close to the tickets office for express train to airport (floor B2) :wink:

I’m just back from South Korea… The card worked flawlessly and I can confirm there’s no ATM fees charged with KB. I didn’t try any other bank tho.

Overall South Korea doesn’t require lots of cash as almost every shop accepts MasterCard even for very small amounts. You’ll probably only need cash to top up your TMoney card (for public transports) and for street food and night markets.

Make sure you enable mag stripe transactions as the payments here is almost always done with swiping.

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Cross posting from the thread of ATMs without fees.

Just come back from a trip in South Korea and I withdrew cash several times at Shinhan bank with no fees. Didn’t try KB Star though but I’ve seen it referenced here several times.

So in South Korea, banks without fees are:

  • Shinhan Bank
  • KB Star

I tried other Banks and ATMs: Woori, KEB Hana, IBK, Standard Chartered, those inside the convenience stores… and all of them asked me for 3000 - 3600 KRW.

Hope that helps!

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Hi,

Here’s a repost of my contribution to another thread, thought it might be useful here as well.

Below is my feedback after using Revolut (basic card) as my only source of money in South Korea for two weeks :

Payment with Revolut card in South Korea: great

Not much to say really other than it works perfectly fine : payment by card, Visa or Mastercard at least is accepted pretty much everywhere in Korea. No fee imposed whatsoever when paying with Revolut and the exchange rate applied is very favorable. The transaction is registered in your Revolut account immediately and you receive confirmation on your smartphone within seconds of your payment. I never had any trouble. Very very useful.

However, one difficulty you might face if you have not anticipated it the maximum limit of international payment from you “traditional” bank account (see below).

Withdrawing cash with the Revolut card : not so great

Withdrawing cash was a much less satisfactory experience for 2 main reasons, one general to Revolut in any country, the other more specific to South Korea.

The first one is that you have to always keep in mind that Revolut (with a basic Revolut card anyway) allows you to withdraw cash in foreign currencies without any fee but only in the maximum limit of 200 €/£/$ (whichever your revolut account is in) per month.

This is not a lot ! Even in a country like South Korea where payment by card is accepted almost everywhere, 200 Euros or Pounds (even more 200 USD) a month are very likely to be insufficient even for the few expenses you have no choice but to pay in cash.

The second problem I faced is that after two weeks I have only found one single bank in South Korea where i was able to withdraw cash without fee with my Revolut card, which is Shinhan Bank.

I read on other threads that people had been able to do it at KB Star offices, however i was never able to get cash from a KB Star, with ot without a fee, the transaction would get straight up rejected everytime.

Other banks I have tried which requested a fee include KEB, Korean Commercial bank (or something like that) and Bank of Busan.

Thus what I would recommend is to run into the first Shinhan Bank you come across upon arrival (this is a vey big bank, you will see many at least in Seoul), and withdraw your 200 € (approx. 264,000.00 KRW today) or the quivalent in GBP or USD, since it is all you can get for a month anyway as explained above.

Warning : be aware of the international payment maximum limit on your “traditional” bank account

Another difficulty you might encounter is not related to Revolut, but to your “traditional” bank account that you might use to top-up your Revolut account.

You have to bear in mind that Revolut is a UK-based company. Thus, your Revolut account is considered to be based in the UK as well in the banking/financial/legal system.

Thus, if you are not a UK resident yourself, and use a card from a “traditional” bank account to top-up your Revolut account, this transaction will be considered by your " traditional" bank to be an international payment, for which most banks impose a monthly maximum limit that is lower that your limit for domestic payments.

I strongly recommend anyone to go check what their monthly limit for international payments is before starting topping-up their Revolut account, as once you’ve reached the limit you will not be able to add money to your Revolut account anymore (unless you have other “traditional” bank accounts), nor pay anything with your “traditional” card while travelling (unless you have other bank accounts), which might put you in a very difficult situation …

Hope this is helpful,

Sat

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Hey @Sat,

Thank you for your updated review! :r:

I am in korea and i couldn’t pay with my revolut card at a store. My card was rejected. I tried to withdraw at woori bank and my card was rejected as well. Don’t u think my card has an issue as the payement didnt even go?
Am i suppose to do something on the app for my card to work here ?

I am actually in south korea. I tried to buy something in a shop at itaewon and my revolut card was rejected. I then went to woori bank and i had the same issue card rejected. I think mt card has a problem as i can’t even pay anything with it. What should i do? Has anyone had this pb before?

Which card was it? Mastercard or Visa?
I didn’t have issues with Mastercard but other users in this forum had trouble with Visa.

In my latest trip to China I had issues withdrawing cash from all ATMs at a certain branch. I simply changed the branch and it worked as usual.

Hello I used my card in Korea no problem -
However as most places do not take card payments for items under approx. $20 USD.
Also very few places have touch payment systems.
Took cash out from selective bank machines with international payment sign only no problem in Korea or Japan.

My card revolut is a Visa card. Nothing in my security features blocks the card because i used my card without any issue in amsterdam. Any ways my card works now I notices that in korea not all ATMs take international cards. You have to go to a global service ATM. I did it and even in stores now i could pay. I had contacted revolute then may be they did something i dnt know

It seems like i can t pay everywhere with this card. I currently want to check in a hotel and my card isn’t working their machine is rejecting my card. I Don’t get it. It worked yesterday and this afternoon. So i dnt know what is wrong. I asked him if his machine takes international cards he said yes but …

I had no problem paying with my Mastercard in all merchants that accepted cards during 2 visits to South Korea last year but I’ve seen reports of problems with Visa in the country. Personally that’s why I prefer Mastercard :slight_smile:

Revolute doesnt work in all korean stores i had issues sometimes. Plus for banks toi need to use a global service

Hi everyone, Im planning to use my revolut mastercard during my trip to Korea but there isn’t a Korean Won account, then how does it work? Does it exchange the money I have on my CHF or EUR account when Im paying?

I too want to use Revolut in South Korea this summer! How does that work? Or have won been removed?