You exchanged your money at the machine. The card has a balance. You walk to the subway gate, tap, and it refuses you.
Nothing is broken. You loaded the wrong wallet.
One card, two balances
WOWPASS is a single piece of plastic doing two unrelated jobs, and it keeps two separate pots of money to do them.
The shopping balance is what the exchange machine fills. That is the one that pays in shops and restaurants.
The transit balance is a 교통카드 (gyotong-kadeu, transit card) chip riding on the same card. It pays for the subway and buses. Exchanging foreign currency does not put a single won into it.
You load the transit side separately, with Korean won cash, at a convenience store counter or a subway ticket machine. Say “T-money charge” and hand over notes.
Getting one
Machines sit in about 379 places — airports, subway stations, hotels, some convenience stores. You can also reserve online before you fly.
Issuing costs 6,000 won at the machine, or 5,500 won if you book ahead. That fee comes out of your first top-up rather than being added on, so exchanging 100,000 won leaves you about 94,000 to spend.
The service is closed to South Korean nationals. It is built for visitors, which is also why it sidesteps the 본인인증 (bon-in-injeung, identity verification) wall that blocks so much else here.
What it costs to run
| Issue the card | 6,000 won at a machine, 5,500 won pre-booked |
| Reissue a lost card | 4,000 won |
| Take cash back out | 1,000 won per withdrawal |
| Exchanging, paying, holding the card | nothing |
Sixteen currencies go in. The exchange rate beats the airport counters and lands near what a bank in 명동 (Myeongdong) would give you. The dedicated money changers in Myeongdong and 남대문 (Namdaemun) still beat it, but only slightly, and they do not then remove the foreign transaction fee from every purchase you make for the rest of the week. That second part is where the card actually earns its place.
The limits
| One top-up | 1,000,000 won |
| Per day, at machines | 2,000,000 won |
| Per week, at machines | 10,000,000 won |
| Through the app | 200,000 won a time, 1,000,000 won a month |
| Cash withdrawal | 100,000 won at a time |
Loading the transit side from the app works on iPhone only. On Android it is cash at a counter, same as everyone else.
Leaving with money on it
This is the part to plan around. The balance does not convert back to your own currency. Your options are to spend it, or to withdraw it as Korean won cash at a machine for 1,000 won a time in 100,000 won slices.
Leftover money stays valid for six years, which sounds generous and mostly means people forget it. Aim to land near zero on your last day.
Whether it is worth it comes down to your own bank. If your card already charges nothing for foreign purchases, WOWPASS mostly saves you carrying cash. If it charges two or three percent on everything, a week of meals and taxis pays for the card several times over.
Either way, load the transit side before you walk to a gate.
