Toss Prepaid Card Review: High Top-Up Fees, but Bank Transfers Make It Worth It

Toss recently launched a prepaid card that foreigners can sign up for.

I'm the type who has to try new stuff myself 😂

So I signed up before I landed in Korea and picked the card up as soon as I got to the airport.

Short version: it comes in handy now and then.

That's about it?

I signed up as a foreigner with my Canadian passport, before I applied for my F-4 visa.

No Korean phone number or bank account needed.

There aren't many places to pick up the physical card, so sign up ahead and grab it at the airport.

Both Incheon and Busan's Gimhae Airport work.

I picked mine up at the CU in Gimhae Airport.

The Olive Young cashback was nice too.

But the real win was something else.

It lets you make Korean bank transfers without a Korean bank account.

Status (Oct 13): using it myself. Everything below is from my own Toss app and Toss's official page.

At a glance

Why it's so useful

In Korea, a surprising number of things take a bank transfer only.

Bus ticket kiosks, unmanned cafés, older kiosks in general and old websites often won't take a foreign card.

Being able to pay with the Toss card, or by bank transfer, was super useful.

• Korean websites that only accept Korean cards or a domestic bank transfer
• Bookings where you send money first to hold your spot (like a tennis court slot)
• Street food stalls that don't take cards when you have no cash (a lot of them take a bank transfer)

With the Toss Prepaid Card, you send money straight from your balance (Toss Money) to any Korean bank account.

Type in the account number.

Done.

Your Canadian card can't do that.

That alone makes it worth getting.

Topping up: avoid the card (or do a little legwork)

There are five ways to top up.

Visa?

Not on the list at all.

6.44%?

Ouch.

And since it's charged in won, your card's foreign transaction fee can land on top, unless you have a card with no FX fee.

The two cheapest ways:

1. Ask a friend or family member with a Korean bank account to send money to your Toss account. Your Toss account number is right there on the top-up screen.
2. Take out won at an ATM, then top up with cash at a convenience store. For the ATM, I'd use the Wealthsimple prepaid card: no foreign transaction fee, and it reimburses ATM fees anywhere in the world. Then top up at GS25 or Emart24 for ₩100.

CU charges ₩700, so skip it when you can.

Most convenience stores have an ATM inside, so you can take out cash and top up in one stop.

Not that much of a hassle.

Oh, and I tried sending money from my Wise account to Toss.

Didn't work.

Looks like incoming international transfers are blocked.

The limit goes up to ₩1,000,000

The default limit is ₩500,000.

On the top-up screen, tap to increase your limit, verify with your passport, and it goes up to ₩1,000,000.

I'm just using the ₩500,000 limit myself.

Toss never announced this publicly.

But it's live in the app.

Korea's Financial Services Commission approved it in January, on the condition that the app reads your e-passport chip by NFC and does a live face check.

The 20% cashback: ₩10,000 in total

The app spells out the cashback rules:

• 20% back as Toss Points on every in-store payment
• Up to ₩10,000 in total per person (the rate drops below 20% as you get close)
• Only foreigners aged 14+ who signed up with a passport during the event
• From July 16, 2026, until the budget runs out

I maxed it out in Busan in seven payments: coffee, fast food, a Chinese restaurant and a photo studio 😂

You can move the points to Toss Money and spend them with the card, or use them with Toss Pay.

Cashing out Toss Points normally costs 10%, but the event terms say the regular withdrawal fee rules don't apply to this cashback.

So think of it as a ₩10,000 welcome bonus.

Olive Young: up to ₩20,000 off until October 31

My app also showed an Olive Young offer:

• A 5% off coupon on orders over ₩100,000, up to ₩10,000
• 50% cashback when you pay with the Toss Prepaid Card or Toss Pay QR, up to ₩10,000

Spend ₩200,000 or more and you max out both: ₩20,000.

(And ₩200,000 goes fast at Olive Young...)

Show the coupon barcode to the staff, then pay with the prepaid card or Toss Pay QR.

It runs August 18 to October 31, 2026, and can end early if the budget runs out.

It's only for members Toss has marked as eligible, so check that it shows up in your app.

Transit: a separate T-money balance

The transit side has its own balance, separate from your Toss Money.

You recharge it from your Toss Money.

In the app, open the transit fare screen and tap Recharge.

Pick an amount (there are ₩5,000, ₩10,000 and ₩50,000 buttons), then hold the card to the top of the back of your phone for 3 seconds.

Before it goes through, the app warns you:

So top it up in small amounts as you go.

Toss's card terms back that up: money moved to the transit balance belongs to the transit partner, can't be moved back to Toss Money, and is refunded under the partner's own rules.

Honestly, these days you can just download the T-money app, add it to Apple Wallet and use your phone.

So I barely use the physical card for transit.

You can top it up with Apple Pay too. Only Amex and Mastercard work, and the fee seems to be around 5 to 6%, but I use it anyway for the convenience.

How much are you really topping up for the subway?

Toss vs WOWPASS

Online payments are the big difference. Toss can also take money in from a Korean account, which WOWPASS can't right now.

WOWPASS still wins on getting your leftover money back when you leave.

But honestly, I don't think you really need WOWPASS anymore.

Leftover money when you leave

Toss's card terms say you can get leftover Toss Money refunded, with the method and fees announced in the app.

Toss's service terms list a refund to a bank account in your name, cash from a machine, or another method Toss sets.

A refund fee may apply.

As far as I can tell, you can't take it out as cash at an ATM with the card.

The good news?

The balance doesn't vanish when you fly home.

Toss Money only expires 5 years after your last top-up or use, so it can wait for your next trip.

Or just spend what you need and send the leftover change to family or a friend.

Just note that Toss can restrict a card that goes unused for more than a year (with a month's notice).

Toss's limits and fees page also lists cash withdrawals at convenience stores: up to ₩30,000 a day, ₩500 each.

That probably doesn't work on a foreigner account, though.

Final Thoughts

Not a must-have, but for anyone in Korea without a Korean bank account, it comes in handy now and then.

Never getting stuck at a "bank transfer only" moment is the big win.

The ₩10,000 cashback is a bonus.

Just watch how you top up.

Card top-ups cost 6.44%, so a friend's transfer, or ATM cash topped up at GS25 or Emart24, is the way to go.

WOWPASS and the other visitor perks are in my Korea perks roundup.

Korea is still a bit of a Galápagos.

But what I like is that it keeps improving, even if it's slow.

Some countries in Southeast Asia are just hopeless on this.

Sources: Toss Prepaid Card, Wealthsimple ATM fee reimbursement policy, Toss prepaid card terms, Toss service terms, Financial Services Commission designation (January 2026), WOWPASS