The scale of card company point expiration reaches 80 billion won annually… Need to protect consumer rights

Despite the increase in the amount of points accumulated by card companies each year, approximately 80 billion won worth of points are confirmed to expire unused every year. This indicates that consumers are not effectively utilizing the benefits available to them.

According to data titled 'Status of Card Company Point Expiration over the Past 5 Years' obtained from the Financial Supervisory Service by Lee Yang-su, a member of the National Assembly from the People Power Party, the point expiration amount for eight major card companies (Shinhan, Samsung, Hyundai, KB Kookmin, Lotte, Hana, Woori, and BC) reached 36.5 billion won as of the first half of 2024.

Moreover, it is noteworthy that the affiliate point details from Hyundai, Lotte, and BC cards were excluded from the tally, suggesting that the actual expiration scale could be even larger than this estimate.

Point expiration status by card company and increasing accumulation amounts

Looking at point expiration by card company, Hyundai Card had the highest expiration amount at 10.2 billion won.

Following it were Hana Card with 7 billion won, KB Kookmin Card with 5.8 billion won, Samsung Card with 4.7 billion won, Woori Card with 4 billion won, Shinhan Card with 2.9 billion won, Lotte Card with 1.8 billion won, and BC Card with 500,000 won.

The total amount of expired card company points from 2021 to 2023 reached 316 billion won. By year, 80.8 billion won expired in 2021, 83.2 billion won in 2022, 80.3 billion won in 2023, and 71.7 billion won last year, indicating an average expiration of about 80 billion won each year.

On the other hand, the amount of points accumulated has been showing a steady increase. The accumulation amount of 3.9 trillion won in 2021 has grown to 5.9437 trillion won in 2024—a 92% increase (2.8533 trillion won) over three years.

This year, the accumulation amount for the first half alone recorded 3.0753 trillion won, and it is expected to surpass 6 trillion won by the end of the year. During the same period, the point expiration rate was around 1% to 6%, with Hana Card showing the highest expiration rate at 6.2%.

Need for institutional improvements to protect consumer rights

In response, the Financial Services Commission and the Credit Finance Association have been operating a 'Card Point Integrated Inquiry and Account Deposit Service (Cash Conversion)' since January 2021 to reduce consumer non-use of points.

However, there are criticisms regarding the lack of industry-level promotion and insufficient support for digitally vulnerable groups.

Lee Yang-su emphasized, "Even though the scale of card company point accumulation is increasing every year, a significant amount of points still expire, infringing upon consumer rights," and stressed, "Institutional improvements are necessary for consumers to practically enjoy the accumulation benefits."

Image source: Reference images for understanding the article / gettyimagesbank, reference images for understanding the article / photo = Insight