KEB HanaCard Service Changes

For those in Korea who bank with KEB, which is probably a majority of expats here, here is some big news that will affect you this month. The KEB merger with Hana will disrupt some of your card use in July, so be sure to read this information carefully and note the dates/times. KEB posts so much useless information on their Facebook feed that this almost slid past me without my knowing, if a friend hadn't alerted me to it.

Here is their recent Facebook post, and I'll also reprint the full text of it below for your convenience:

Posted by Korea Exchange Bank for Expats on Wednesday, July 15, 2015

KEB HanaCard - Service Changes

July 15, 2015 at 4:56pm
To prepare for the launch of an integrated IT system for KEB HanaCard on July 20, 2015, some KEB HanaCard services will be suspended in phases and others will be changed. Note: This message provides a translation of a recent Korean text message sent to Card customers.
Temporary Service Suspensions:
-- Card usage: July 20 from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.
(Includes: certain transactions related to check cards, credit cards that also serve as check cards, online bill settlement, taxis, text messages).

-- Card usage on online shopping sites: July 20, from 12 a.m. to 8 a.m.

-- Changes to personal information: July 11 at 12 a.m. to July 20 at 9 a.m.

-- Issuing new cards: July 17 at 12 a.m. to July 20 at 6 a.m.

-- Automated Response System (ARS): July 18 at 12 a.m. to July 20 at 9 a.m.

-- Cash Advances: July 17 at 10 p.m. to July 20 at 5 a.m. (when provided by ATM: suspended from July 20 at 1 a.m.)

-- Card loans: July 17 at 9 p.m. to July 20 at 8 a.m.

-- Other services (enrolling in new card-related services): July 18 to July 20 at 9 a.m.

-- After the IT integration on July 20, some card services will be changed, including: standards for accruing/redeeming reward points, calculation of previous month's overseas spending, billing for transit cards/calculation of previous month's transit card usage, accrual of airline mileage; operation of membership/product services.

*****

-- KEB HanaCard website:The website (www.yescard.com) has provided English service to support the merger of KEB Card with Hana SK Card, which began in December 2014. On July 20, 2015, the website will be closed and integrated into www.hanacard.co.kr. Some English services, including information on card products and card usage, will be provided on the integrated site. Other services, such as inquiry of card spending and card limits, will be provided through the KEB HanaCard Foreign Customer Service Center (1544-3500).

For more information, please contact KEB HanaCard Customer Center at 1544-3500; hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday

It's a bit hard to stay up-to-date with news about KEB banking. Here are my two main complaints in that area:

1. Their Facebook feed is usually just useless give-aways and event promotions, or daily conversion rates for the won.
2. Their public news site and monthly newsletter site are those Korean-style message boards, with no RSS subscription option. Who is going to remember to 'check back' all the time?

It's not perfect, but here's one workaround that you might find useful. Although Facebook Pages no longer publish RSS feeds for each posts, you can still subscribe to a Page's "Notes" posts. Some Pages post the more important, long-form information as Notes, including the posting above from KEB. So one suggestion is to subscribe to the KEB Facebook Page's "Notes" feed, here:

https://www.facebook.com/feeds/notes.php?id=127134467361562&viewer=3629014&key=AWgiV4lXkV8zxHNU&format=rss20