Disaster Relief Funds, Settlement Begins... Card Companies "Breathe a Sigh of Relief"

The Full Settlement Begins on the 1st

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] The government's emergency disaster relief fund settlement has begun. With this settlement, credit card companies, which had been self-financing until now, are expected to breathe a sigh of relief.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the card industry on the 29th, from this day forward, local governments have started settling about 95%, approximately 9 trillion won, of the disaster relief funds paid via credit and debit cards with the card companies.

The disaster relief funds are sourced by combining 80% national funds and 20% local government contributions. When the government sends national funds to each local government, the local governments proceed with settlement to the card companies through executing their own contributions.

It is known that card companies need to receive settlements from about 220 local governments. For disaster relief funds paid by card, since the card companies first pay merchants with their own funds within two days from the approval date, settlement is necessary. The required funds at this time are arranged by the card companies bearing interest rates of 1 to 2%.

The card industry wants quick settlements to reduce the burden of financing. Initially, the government planned to pay the disaster relief fund settlements monthly based on one month's usage, but this was not followed due to reasons such as securing funds. Because of this, concerns have arisen that next month's settlement might also be delayed.

A card industry official said, "The later the settlement, the greater the cost burden," and added, "We want the settlement to be as quick as possible."

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