12 Billion Won in Points Missing Due to 'Card Company Negligence'... Automatic Refund This Month

The point accumulation system of credit card companies has been inadequate, resulting in nearly 1.2 billion KRW worth of uncredited points over the past five years. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) plans to return all uncredited points to their owners by the end of this month and revise related terms and conditions to ensure points are automatically accumulated.

On the 26th, the FSS announced that it had prepared a "Rational Improvement Plan for Card Point Accumulation to Enhance Consumer Rights."

Earlier, the FSS confirmed that some card products that accumulate points up to a certain limit when using cards had uncredited points due to system deficiencies of the card companies.

Financial Supervisory Service, Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Huh Younghan younghan@

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In 2021, Hyundai Card launched the "Naver Hyundai Card," which grants Naver Points equivalent to 5% (10,000 KRW) on 200,000 KRW of usage if the monthly usage amount exceeds 300,000 KRW. Mr. A paid 200,000 KRW with Hyundai Card and received 10,000 Naver Points. Later, due to personal reasons, he canceled the original 200,000 KRW payment and made a new payment of 100,000 KRW. Mr. A expected that the Naver Points (5,000 KRW) for the 100,000 KRW would be credited again, but in reality, they were not credited.

Accordingly, the FSS decided to revise ambiguous or potentially disadvantageous phrases related to point accumulation in card product terms and conditions by the second quarter of this year.

By the third quarter, the FSS plans to establish a point inspection and correction process for each card company to improve systems so that cases of uncredited points do not occur. Even if an original payment is canceled and re-paid, points will be automatically credited the following month without a separate application procedure.

An FSS official stated, "We plan to refund all uncredited points from the past five years by the end of this month and notify consumers of the refund details in advance via text messages (SMS), etc. Until system improvements are completed, uncredited points occurring this year will be refunded within this year according to each card company's schedule."

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