Paying your bills online with KEB

One of the things that attracted me to KEB was their promise of online banking in English. Since the banks share the same hours as schools, it's almost impossible to get to the bank without ducking out of school during lunch, and even then, I have to hope and pray that a taxi will stop to pick me up.

So now that I've set up online banking, I decided to try to pay my bills. I've never paid bills before, but this seemed easy enough.

I logged onto KEB and used the digital certificate that is saved to my USB drive, and clicked 'Pay Bills'

That took me to a menu where I could choose from all the different kinds of bills. I decided to do Electricity first because Gas wasn't on the list. It popped up with a request for an e-payment number. Ah. See, the problem is that the whole bill is covered in numbers and hangul, and none of the hangul translated as e-payment number. So I searched online and they said there's a list of bank names next to the e-payment number for each of those banks.

NO. THIS IS NOT THE E-PAYMENT NUMBER. Damn you, internet. This is the account number if you're doing a direct transfer to the Electricity company's bank account.

After a long chat to a nice English speaking guy on the KEB helpline, I was told to give up and pay at a convenience store.

Give up?

GIVE UP?

I decided to try one more time. And this time I tried a different number. The big number above all the bank account numbers. And guess what? That is the e-payment number! I filled in the other details and success - my bill has been paid. Easy peasy. Pretty fool-proof once you get past the hangul bill.

I was feeling a bit cocky so I decided to try to pay my gas bill too. This one is a little more tricky, at first. Because you'll notice that the menu for bill payments does not mention Gas.

Do not be afraid! Click 'Pay without Inquiry (With GIRO no)'

The giro number (7 digits) is written in blocks on your bill, next to the words OCR or MICR. The hangul next to it is the phonetic spelling of Ji Ro.

Fill in yours and hit 'next'.

Oh no! It's a form with a whole lot of fields and you have no idea what they mean? Fear not. KEB provides a handy diagram.

It's like colour by numbers, only more expensive. Fill in the details as described, hit next, punch in your assorted passwords, and you're home free.

Fool-proof banking guide:  that little card in the plastic wrapper is very important. Open it, and don't lose it, ever. You need the numbers in it if you want to do any kind of transaction on KEB. It is your Safety Card.

So, not as scary as it looks and a hell of a lot easier than rushing to the bank. Plus, if you make 'pewpewpew' noises every time you kill (a) bill, it's way more fun. Good luck!