Refund of 240,000 KRW per Small New Card Merchant for 194,000 Locations

Total Scale of 46.4 Billion KRW

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jin-ho] Approximately 194,000 small-scale credit card merchants, such as restaurants and convenience stores that opened in the first half of this year, will receive an average refund of 240,000 KRW per business, totaling 46.4 billion KRW in card fees.

The Financial Services Commission announced on the 25th the results of the "2021 First Half New Merchant Fee Refund."

The refund targets are about 194,000 small and medium-sized merchants who became new credit card merchants between January 1 and June 30 of this year.

The total refund amount is approximately 46.4 billion KRW (35.6 billion KRW for credit cards and 10.7 billion KRW for check cards), with about 71% of the total amount going to small merchants. The average refund amount per eligible merchant is about 240,000 KRW. However, the actual refund amount may vary depending on the card sales amount of the new credit card merchant and the preferential fee rate applied.

The refund amount can be checked through the "Merchant Sales Transaction Information Integrated Inquiry System" operated by the Korea Financial Telecommunications & Clearings Institute, the call center, or each card company.

Additionally, in the second half of this year, 2,948,000 credit card merchants with annual sales of 3 billion KRW or less, who are eligible for preferential fees, account for 96.1% of all merchants. The Korea Financial Telecommunications & Clearings Institute plans to send notices regarding the application of preferential fee rates to merchant business sites starting from the 28th. This information can also be confirmed through the institute's call center or the Merchant Sales Transaction Information Integrated Inquiry System.

Preferential fees will also be applied to 1,234,000 sub-merchants under electronic payment gateways (PG) or transportation settlement operators who accept card payments, as well as 165,000 individual taxi operators, even if they are not credit card merchants.