Last Year’s Lost Card Points Worth 100 Billion Won... "1 Won = 1 Point, Don’t Forget"

Yoon Kwan-seok, Chairman of the National Assembly's Judiciary Committee,
Announces 'Recent 5-Year Point Status of 8 Major Credit Card Companies' Through Financial Supervisory Service

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] It has been revealed that the amount of credit card points that disappeared last year due to non-use reached approximately 100 billion KRW.

According to the "Status of Points from 8 Major Credit Card Companies in the Market over the Past 5 Years," received by Yoon Kwan-seok, Chairman of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee and member of the Democratic Party of Korea, through the Financial Supervisory Service on the 2nd, the expired credit card points as of the end of last year amounted to 101.71 billion KRW. During the same period, points issued totaled 3.203939 trillion KRW, and points used were 2.99263 trillion KRW.

Although expired points have been decreasing annually, they still amount to around 100 billion KRW. The figures were 119.8 billion KRW in 2016, 115.1 billion KRW in 2017, 102.4 billion KRW in 2018, and 101.7 billion KRW in 2019. As of the first half of this year, 48.3 billion KRW worth of points have expired.

As of the first half of this year, the company with the lowest amount of expired card points was Lotte Card, with expired points totaling 2.314 billion KRW. On the other hand, the company with the highest amount was Hyundai Card, with 10.959 billion KRW.

The company with the lowest amount of points issued was BC Card, while Shinhan Card issued the most. As of the first half of this year, BC Card's points issued amounted to 13.967 billion KRW, and Shinhan Card's were 338.722 billion KRW.

As of the first half of this year, BC Card had the highest ratio of expired points to points issued at 23.6%. In contrast, KB Kookmin Card recorded the lowest ratio at 2.2%.

The amount of points accumulated from credit card usage has been increasing every year. Although the validity period of points varies by card company, it is generally about five years. The accumulated point balances were 1.8258 trillion KRW in 2016, 1.8877 trillion KRW in 2017, 1.9012 trillion KRW in 2018, and 2.0261 trillion KRW in 2019. As of the first half of this year, the balance was 2.0747 trillion KRW.

Card points can be converted into cash starting from 1 point and can also be used for national tax payments, donations, and more. By applying for point cash conversion through the card company's website, mobile application, or call center, users can convert points starting from 1 point into cash and have it deposited into their own accounts. For credit cards affiliated with commercial banks, ATM withdrawals are possible in units of 10,000 KRW. When donating points through each card company's website, users can also receive tax deductions during year-end tax settlements. However, it is necessary to check the validity period and applicable uses for points before using them, as these vary by card company.

Yoon Kwan-seok, Chairman of the Political Affairs Committee, stated, "Since card points are rewards given based on consumers' card usage performance, both card companies and financial authorities need to consider ways to reduce expired points and maximize consumer benefits."

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