"Penalty Fee? We Won't Tell You"…The 'Elastic Terms' of Marriage Brokerage Agencies

1083 Recent Related Damage Relief Applications
Non-disclosure of Fees and Membership Dues

Domestic marriage brokerage companies have been investigated for unfair business practices such as excessively charging penalties based on their own terms and conditions when contracts are terminated.

Image unrelated to the article content. [Photo by Pixabay]

According to the Korea Consumer Agency on the 25th, there were a total of 1,083 specific damage relief applications related to domestic marriage brokerage services received from 2020 to June of this year.

The number of damage relief applications has been increasing annually, with ▲257 cases in 2020 ▲321 cases in 2021 ▲326 cases in 2022. This year, 179 cases were reported in the first half alone, and the total for the year is expected to surpass last year's figures.

Among consumers who applied for relief, 59.9% (649 cases) were male and 40.1% (434 cases) were female.

The age group most affected was those in their 30s, accounting for 41.5% (449 cases), followed by those in their 40s (28.4%, 308 cases) and 50s (11.9%, 129 cases).

The contract amounts between 2 million and less than 4 million KRW accounted for about half at 45.6% (494 cases). Contracts between 4 million and less than 6 million KRW also accounted for 13.4% (145 cases).

In particular, in the first half of this year, high-value damages of 4 million KRW or more accounted for 33.5% (60 cases), more than doubling compared to the same period last year.

Status of Domestic Marriage Brokerage Service Damage Types.
[Photo by Korea Consumer Agency]

The main reasons for damage relief applications were refusal to cancel or terminate contracts and excessive penalty charges, accounting for 68.1% (737 cases), followed by contract non-fulfillment at 20.6% (223 cases).

Actual on-site investigations by the Consumer Agency revealed that many companies have been excessively charging penalties based on their own unfavorable terms instead of the standard terms and conditions.

Some companies violated the Marriage Brokerage Business Act by not disclosing fees, membership dues, and procedures for claiming damages on their websites.

Accordingly, the Korea Consumer Agency urged consumers to carefully check ▲business operator information before contracting ▲transaction conditions in the contract (such as whether it is a session-based or period-based contract) ▲and whether there are unfair refund clauses compared to the refund standards in the standard terms and conditions to prevent consumer damages related to marriage brokerage services.

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