11 Trillion 'Gukmin Support Fund' Usage Locations, 82% Are Card Merchants... What About Complaints?

Local Love Gift Certificate Merchants as Standard
Usable Only Within Registered Address
Differences in Business Types and Merchant Numbers by Region

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] As the 'COVID-19 Coexistence National Support Fund' amounting to 11 trillion won begins to be distributed in earnest, credit card companies are concerned that complaints related to the usage locations of the support fund may increase. This is because the number of local gift certificate affiliated stores, which serve as the standard for the usage locations of the National Support Fund, is only about 80% of the number of credit card affiliated stores. Card companies are closely monitoring whether complaints will surge as they did during last year's disaster relief fund distribution.

According to the card industry on the 7th, from this day forward, only customers who applied for the previous day's Coexistence National Support Fund can have the support fund charged in the form of points and use it. The support fund can be used from the day after applying with a credit or debit card. If you receive a usage confirmation text message from the card company, you can use the support fund at local gift certificate affiliated stores.

Unlike last year's nationwide disaster relief fund, this National Support Fund can only be used at local gift certificate affiliated stores within the registered address area. Citizens with addresses in special cities or metropolitan cities can use the local gift certificate affiliated stores in those special or metropolitan cities, and those with addresses in provinces can use the local gift certificate affiliated stores within the city or county corresponding to their detailed address. Franchise affiliated stores such as Paris Baguette are allowed, but franchise directly operated stores like Starbucks cannot use the support fund.

The number of local gift certificate affiliated stores is about 82% of the number of credit card affiliated stores. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety explained that there would be no significant inconvenience in using them, but if the affiliated stores used for last year's disaster relief fund were not local gift certificate affiliated stores, the support fund cannot be used there this time. The number of affiliated stores available for use is also expected to vary by region. This is because the types of businesses where local gift certificates can be used and the number of registered affiliated stores differ according to local government ordinances.

For this reason, card companies are concerned that customer complaints related to usage locations will increase. If a store where a customer tries to use the support fund does not accept it, the customer is likely to first inquire with the card company. Card companies explained that the launch of a service to check available affiliated stores as a convenience service for the National Support Fund was a measure to minimize such consumer inconvenience.

An industry official said, "Not only consumer complaints but also inquiries from affiliated stores may follow," expressing concern that "some affiliated stores may not know that they cannot accept National Support Fund payments because they have not separately registered as local gift certificate affiliated stores."

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