Two Funeral Service Companies Close... "Beware of Unauthorized Withdrawal of Deposits"

Fair Trade Commission Discloses Major Information Changes of Prepaid Installment Sellers in Q2

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Two prepaid installment transaction operators (funeral service companies), Mujigae Life and Asan Sangjo, have closed their doors. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) plans to closely inspect illegal activities such as unauthorized withdrawal of deposits by funeral service companies to prevent consumer damage.

On the 28th, the FTC announced that Mujigae Life was canceled due to financial difficulties, and Asan Sangjo's registration was canceled due to termination of the consumer damage compensation insurance contract.

In particular, it was confirmed that Asan Sangjo manipulated consumers' cancellation application documents and submitted them to the deposit bank to withdraw deposits without authorization. The deposit contract with the bank was naturally terminated as well.

The FTC reported that nine companies had changes in registration details in the second quarter, with a total of 14 changes occurring.

The FTC discloses changes related to ▲ bankruptcy/closure, registration cancellation/deletion, and new registration ▲ capital and consumer damage compensation insurance contracts ▲ changes related to business name, representative, address, email address, and phone number.

Source=Korea Fair Trade Commission

No new companies were registered in the second quarter. As a result, as of the end of the second quarter (end of last month), there are 82 funeral service companies, down two from 84 at the end of the first quarter (end of March).

The FTC urged consumers to regularly check the business status and deposit preservation status of the contracted company, as there have been recent cases of funeral service companies unauthorizedly withdrawing advance payments.

It was announced that consumers can check the business status, advance payment payment details, and deposit preservation status of companies on the website 'Nae Sangjo Chajwo' (Find My Funeral Service).

If the address or contact information changes, consumers must notify the funeral service company. This is because if the funeral service company closes (including registration cancellation or deletion), the deposit preservation institution sends a notice of closure and consumer damage compensation application to the consumer's address and contact information.

Consumers can use the 'Nae Sangjo Geudaero' (My Funeral Service As Is) service. This service allows consumers to receive 50% of the paid amount as damage compensation from the closed company while being provided with a product similar to the existing subscription.

Hong Jeongseok, Director of the Installment Transaction Division at the FTC, said, "We will inform consumers of changes in funeral service companies' registration details to help them understand the status of the companies they have joined," adding, "The FTC plans to actively cooperate with local governments and deposit preservation institutions to closely inspect illegal acts such as unauthorized withdrawal of deposits by funeral service companies to prevent consumer damage."

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