Card Companies Increasing Support for Businesses Affected by COVID-19

Including Special Financial Support for Livelihood-Distressed Card Recruiters
and Small Business Consulting Through Big Data Analysis

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] As the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) spreads, credit card companies are also expanding support for small business owners who have suffered damage.

According to the industry on the 4th, KB Kookmin Card includes card solicitors and automobile installment finance salespeople who are struggling to make a living due to COVID-19 in the special financial support target for small and medium-sized merchants with annual sales of less than 500 million won. Accordingly, they plan to support payment deferrals and loan interest discounts.

Card solicitors who attract new credit card customers are a type of individual business owner. Although they are exclusively contracted with credit card companies, they are freelancers, so they do not receive a base salary but receive recruitment commissions. As people avoid face-to-face contact due to COVID-19, card solicitors operating in multi-use facilities such as amusement parks, large marts, and department stores inevitably suffer damage to their business itself.

Accordingly, credit card companies are reviewing measures to partially compensate the income of card solicitors by each company. Major measures include changes to the commission system such as increasing card solicitation commissions. An industry official said, "Each company has a different and complex commission system, so it is not an issue that can be easily decided," adding, "Various measures are being reviewed regarding income compensation for card solicitors."

Shinhan Card has presented additional support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners struggling due to COVID-19. Shinhan Card plans to open a dedicated section for small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owner products through its shopping mall All That Shopping on the 6th. Through promotions such as drastic discounts and My Shinhan Points accumulation, they plan to activate sales of small business owner products.

According to the COVID-19 related financial support status announced by the Financial Services Commission on the 28th of last month, credit card companies supported about 9.1 billion won (1,059 cases) by promoting interest-free installments and payment deferrals for small and medium-sized merchants for 14 business days from the 2nd to the 26th of last month. This includes interest and late fee discounts of 7.72 billion won (955 cases) and payment deferral of 1.41 billion won (104 cases).

In the future, credit card companies plan to provide big data consulting using regional card sales information through agreements with local governments. Through this, they aim to enable customized support for local small business owners.

An industry official said, "All credit card companies have presented support measures for small merchants and small business owners who suffered damage from the early stages of COVID-19," adding, "As COVID-19 spreads, support measures are being expanded."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.