House byline
Credit Cards correspondent
Sooyeon Choi is a house byline for InfoHandle’s Credit Cards desk.
BC Card links Korail app top-ups to transit-mile accrual through the Hangul Day long weekend, when cash-market closures push card spend toward domestic rail and highway rest stops.
Samsung Card and peers kept October cashback events live while the FSC’s caution-level alert warned households that leaked loan-application data could fuel customized voice-phishing pitches.
Financial Supervisory Service officials pitched a regulatory sandbox trial that would let licensed consumer-finance firms guarantee bank loans to thin-file borrowers, mirroring a Japanese model now barred under Korean credit-guarantee law.
Assembly audit exhibits show KB Kookmin Card and Woori Card shortened average interest-free installment periods on revolving checkout plans, tightening a cushion households used while card-loan rates stayed high.
Eight specialized card lenders reported a 14.15 percent average rate on new card loans in July as three-year AA+ card bond yields briefly topped 4.64 percent, pushing issuers toward overseas ABS and syndicated funding.
Woori Card is running an October lottery for Card's the Standard2 holders who charge at least 1 million won, with apartment-fee discounts and gift cards on the line.
KB Kookmin Card is reminding first-time online applicants that spending 100,000 won by 31 October can qualify for annual-fee cashback on select cards when payments run through KB Pay under published promo rules—not a Hyundai Card offer.
Hyundai Card said Oct. 1 it will bundle domestic travel insurance into October flight-point redemptions after a spike in Jeju route dispute claims during Chuseok.
BC Card’s push to relay direct-approval traffic for Coupang, Baemin, and Naver merchants has reopened a fee fight with Korea’s payment gateways, which accuse the card company of cherry-picking large accounts.
BC Card is testing tap-to-verify authentication for large jeonse lease deposits at hybrid real-estate counters, aiming to cut impersonation fraud after a spike in holiday scam reports.
Shinhan Card Co. tightened push alerts on overseas QR and contactless charges after the Financial Supervisory Service logged a holiday-week jump in voice-phishing reports tied to fake refund texts.
The FSC is routing Korea's first mandatory climate and ESG disclosure through stock exchange listing rules rather than a new statute, with FSC Vice Chairman Kim So-young running the KSSB process and the earliest phase built on correction orders and light penalties. For card holders the fee line does not move — the filing line does.
The Financial Supervisory Service has drafted IT standards for freezing and returning money from foreign-currency accounts, closing a gap that voice-phishing crews use to move stolen won offshore before the amended victim compensation law takes effect on Oct. 1, 2026.
Shinhan Card pushed optional Chuseok spend alerts after aggregate data showed gift-set and rice-wine charges clustering around ancestral rite weekends, a pattern-recognition tweak—not a fraud accusation against individual cardholders.
KB Kookmin Card tightened daily overseas contactless ceilings and mandatory fraud alerts after a Chuseok phishing wave hit retirees booking holiday flights, keeping chip-and-PIN limits higher for duty-free runs while blocking tap-to-pay paths criminals tested in relay scams.
Hyundai Card linked Ioniq 5 lease renewals to salary-deduction EV charging rebates for employees at Hyundai Motor Group affiliates, bundling home and public kWh credits that stack with ministry slow-charger subsidies in a push to keep fleet drivers on brand.
KB Kookmin Card capped daily overseas contactless totals on Senior Platinum products after a fraud wave hit retirees, pairing tap-to-pay limits with SMS alerts while keeping full limits for chip-and-PIN spend aimed at long-haul Chuseok return trips.
KB Kookmin Bank bundled jeonse deposit guarantee insurance premiums with mortgage rate-lock products for Seoul renters upgrading to owner-occupier loans, quoting a single won fee sheet ahead of autumn lease turnover.
Woori Card capped KakaoPay auto-reload triggers linked to its cards after police linked teenage scam rings to rapid micro-top-ups, cutting default reloads to 30,000 won for minors and requiring parental app consent.
Samsung Card widened a zero-percent installment window for premium heat-pump packages as Samsung Electronics shifts EHS production to Gwangju and dealers bundle government subsidies.
KB Kookmin is tightening ATM cash rules ahead of Chuseok, and customers who forgot year-long inactivity limits are seeing vacation statements with failed withdrawal lines.
Lotte Duty Free renewed mileage accrual toward Incheon Terminal 1 lounge access for Lotte Members, tying LDF Mileage tiers to Star Lounge visits before the Chuseok departure rush.
KakaoBank temporarily raised daily limits on zero-fee overseas account transfers to the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand ahead of Chuseok, targeting factory and service workers sending holiday money home through its 4,900-won flat-fee corridor.