"Deceased's Payment of OO Million Won"... Funeral Service Company Must Notify Annually

Enforcement of the Amendment to the
'Installment Transaction Act Enforcement Rules'
Prepaid Installment Transaction Products
Consumer Guidance on Payment Amounts and Installment Counts

Operators selling 'prepaid installment transaction' products such as funeral services or installment travel must annually inform consumers of payment amounts and the number of payments, among other subscription details.

On the 22nd, the Korea Fair Trade Commission announced that the revised Enforcement Rules of the Installment Transactions Act and the Consumer Protection Guidelines for Prepaid Installment Transactions, which include these provisions, will take effect from this day.

According to the revision, prepaid installment transaction operators, such as funeral service companies, must notify consumers at least once a year of information related to advance payments, including payment amounts and the number of payments. Notifications can be made through various methods such as phone calls, emails, text messages, or KakaoTalk, and records of these notifications must be kept for five years.

The notification requirement applies not only to consumers who enter into prepaid installment contracts after the system's implementation but also to those who signed such contracts beforehand. Consumers who have completed payments but have not yet used services such as funerals or travel (matured payment consumers) will also receive key information notifications.

Until now, consumers who subscribed to prepaid installment transaction products found it difficult to check their payment amounts or the number of payments unless they directly inquired with the operator via phone or website. Additionally, these products typically have an average contract payment period of about 10 years, making it challenging for consumers to remember the fact of their contract or its key terms.

The Fair Trade Commission expects that "approximately 8.33 million consumers subscribed to prepaid installment transaction products (as of the end of March last year) will receive information on payment amounts and the number of payments at least once a year, significantly strengthening consumer protection in the prepaid installment transaction sector."

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