175th Financial Management Center

I found this wonderful link for the 175th Financial Management Center.  It has a lot of useful informaiton regarding finance and pay while in Korea.

Command Sponsorship Incentive Pay

Despite what we were told by a finance clerk, this pay does not automatically kick in when Housing submits your Command Sponsorship memo and housing paperwork to Yongsan Garrison. It requires filling out some paperwork by the service member. Begin with your company PAC office, who will send you to your Battalion S-1. There, they gave us an example of the packet. It requires a DA Form 4187, a copy of the Command Sponsorship Approval memo, and a copy of your ERB or ORB. Submit to your PAC office for routing and signatures, who will then route up to S-1 for action. We will let you know how long it takes to actually start receiving the incentive pay.

*It took about two months for the pay to kick in. We did get back paid to the day I got here.

Incentives to Bring Your Family

What is the incentive to request a Command Sponsored tour in Korea?
Soldiers who elect to serve 36-month Accompanied tour with 2CAB (Camp Humphreys, Pyongtaek, Area III) or with 2CAB: 2-2AVN (K16-Base, Yongson, Area II) will receive $300 per month; Soldiers who elect to serve a 24-month Accompanied tour with 1HBCT or 210th FA Bde (Dongducheon, Area I), or 2ID HQ (Uijeongbu, Area I) will receive $300 per month, if their Family resides with them in Area I.

This information was found on the 2ID web page.

COLA

You will qualify for COLA. To check your current rate, which will change based on the WON, go to this link. COLA is set up to help off set the extra expenses you have living over seas.

OHA

This is an idea of what your OHA will be like. This is just a guideline so you have an idea of what you will be getting. Finance will help you with the actual amounts. You can also go to this OHA calculator.

Allowances (Effective: 20100101)

OHA Rental Allowance
1880000.00 SOUTH KOREAN WON = $ 1723.63

Utility/Recurring Maintenance/Misc. Allowance
740498.00 SOUTH KOREAN WON = $ 678.91

Move In Housing Allowance (MIHA)
393704.00 SOUTH KOREAN WON = $ 360.96

The MIHA is a one time allowance for expenses incurred while setting up your apartment. For instance we had to have a washer and dryer hooked up in our apartment. This amount more than covered it. The rest of the money I used to purchase curtain rods.

The Utility allowance is for you to use to pay for your utility bills. If your bills exceed the amount you're allotted then you will have to pay out of pocket for the difference. However, if your utility bill is lower then you can just keep the extra.

The rent allowance is simple. The rent goes directly to the landlord. You don't keep any difference.