"Disaster Relief Fund Donation Cancellation Always Possible"... Card Companies Improve Systems (Comprehensive)

Card Companies Complete Development of Donation Correction System One After Another
Donations Can Be Changed Until the 31st, but Extension Is Possible

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] As applications for the 14 trillion won-scale 'Emergency Disaster Relief Fund' have surpassed 80%, credit card companies are enhancing customer convenience services such as donation correction and usage guidance. Since 60% of households applying for the Emergency Disaster Relief Fund received the support via cards, the convenience for those receiving the disaster relief funds by card is expected to improve.

According to the industry on the 21st, after the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and credit card companies agreed on the 14th to establish a donation refund system independently, most card companies have completed the development of related systems. Samsung Card and BC Card have been providing donation change services since the 16th, two days after the agreement. KB Kookmin Card has been operating a system allowing donation corrections since the 18th, and Shinhan, Hyundai, and NH Nonghyup Cards have been doing so since the 19th. Lotte Card and Hana Card also plan to have related systems in place within this week to allow donation amount modifications.

The issue of donation modification has been controversial since the Emergency Disaster Relief Fund application began on the 11th. Because the support application screen and the donation application screen were not separated, many people mistakenly donated, leading to numerous demands for improvement. Initially, if donation corrections were not possible on the day of application, the only option was to visit the community center in person later to receive the amount back as local gift certificates. However, with this system development, donations can now be corrected anytime, not just on the day of application.

The period during which donation amounts can be changed is until the 31st of this month. Some have raised the possibility of an extension. NH Nonghyup Card is informing that donation amount changes are possible until 23:30 on the 31st. This aligns with the government's initial discussion to allow online applications for disaster relief funds via credit or debit cards until the 31st. The industry expects that the donation change period may be extended according to government policy. An industry official said, "The donation correction period may be extended," adding, "Therefore, no separate end date has been announced."

The Emergency Disaster Relief Fund has been applied for and distributed at a rapid pace, with 84% of all eligible households applying within ten days of the start of applications. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, from the 11th to the 20th since the start of applications, 18.3 million households, or 84.3% of the total 21.71 million eligible households, applied for the disaster relief fund. The total application amount is 11.5203 trillion won. Among these, households applying via credit or debit card charging methods account for 60.2%, showing that those receiving disaster relief funds by card are overwhelming in number.

Accordingly, credit card companies are rolling out various services one after another. Currently, most card companies provide regional merchant search services where users can check where the disaster relief funds can be used. Services have been developed to suit customer convenience, including search and map types. KB Kookmin Card, Shinhan Card, and BC Card offer disaster relief fund usage merchant map services based on customer location. Samsung Card and Lotte Card allow searching for usable merchants by region on their websites.

For households that moved their address after March 29, plans to allow the use of support funds in the new city or province will be improved in related systems once the government establishes specific policies.

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