'Sangsaeng Consumption Support Fund' Distribution Begins... Large Mart Payments via Simple Payment Must Be Returned Next Month

Sangsaeng Consumption Support Fund Cashback on 15th
Performance of Indirect Payments via Simple Payment
Settlement at Once on 15th Next Month... Consumer Confusion Inevitable

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] As the cashback payment for the Win-Win Consumption Support Fund began on the 15th, the government decided to exclude card usage amounts paid through simple payment methods at excluded industries from the performance calculation when paying cashback next month. Although this is a desperate measure hastily prepared due to fairness issues, consumer confusion is expected to be inevitable.

According to the government and industry sources, card usage amounts paid via simple payment methods such as Naver Pay and Kakao Pay at excluded industries like large marts and department stores will be excluded from the performance calculation when paying the November cashback on the 15th of next month. The cashback for October, which starts being paid from this day, will include such simple payment performances and will be settled all at once next month. Each card company plans to notify customers of this via text messages when paying the October cashback.

The Win-Win Consumption Support Fund is a policy that refunds 10% of the excess amount spent over 3% compared to the average monthly card usage in Q2 (April to June) of this year, up to a maximum of 200,000 KRW, in cash-equivalent card points for two months from October to November when using credit or debit cards.

To revitalize the local economy, large marts, department stores, and large online malls were excluded from the eligible industries, but controversy arose as purchases made with Naver Pay at stores like Emart Mall and Homeplus, which are listed on Naver, were recognized as eligible for the Win-Win Consumption Support Fund. The same applies to luxury goods purchased through Kakao Gift.

Even when purchasing the same product from the same seller at the same price, whether cashback performance applies differs depending on the payment method, raising fairness issues. There were also criticisms that this goes against the original purpose of introducing the Win-Win Consumption Support Fund.

Due to the payment structure, card companies had no way to distinguish detailed merchants within simple payments, causing the card industry to struggle to find a solution. Although a method was eventually found, time was tight. Accordingly, consumer confusion is expected to be inevitable when cashback is paid on the 15th of next month. Even if cashback was received this month, excluding the performance of indirect payments through simple payments may reduce the cashback amount or, in the worst case, require returning the entire cashback already received.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the card cashback amount paid last month was 387.5 billion KRW, expected to be paid to 8.1 million people. This is about 55.4% of the total budget of 700 billion KRW. So far, 15.09 million people have applied to participate in the Win-Win Consumption Support Fund.

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