By Kwon Mee-yoo
More Koreans than ever are using their credit cards overseas or to shop on international websites.
When people use credit card overseas, they check the exchange rates and use discount coupons to save as much as possible.
What’s unavoidable, however, is the 1 percent service charge they generally have to pay to international card firms such as Visa and MasterCard when making international purchases.
BC Global Card is an economic alternative for those who want to save on credit card use abroad.
The card doesn’t charge any handling fees for international use and requires only 2,000 won in annual charges, similar to domestic cards.
Launched in April 2011, it is the first Korean credit card that can be used overseas through its own brand, independently of Visa and MasterCard. Due to the popularity of international shopping, more than 1 million BC Global Cards have been issued in seven months.
The card is usable in 103 countries, including the United States, China, Japan and Australia. It be used at affiliates of Discover, Diners Club, JCB in Japan and CUP in China and it is trying to find more affiliates commonly used by Koreans.
Despite the lack of physical affiliates, BC Global Card is a favorite with international shoppers as it can be used to make purchases at many online shopping malls. “Sixty percent of BC Global Card’s overseas use was used in e-commerce, while e-commerce accounts for about 25 percent of Visa or MasterCard holder’s overseas use,” a BC Card representative said.
The company expects the type of card to reduce the burden of international card fees since much of the plastic issued by Visa or MasterCard here are only used domestically or incur fees abroad.
To celebrate the issue of 1 million cards, BC Global Card is offering a variety of discount promotions. The firm has formed an alliance with Hotels.com, a global hotel booker, and provides 20-percent discounts for customers who make reservations at the Korean site (https://kr.hotels.com) from February to April.
Tourists to Hawaii will receive 10-percent discounts, up to 30,000 won per month, if they use their BC Global Card there from February to June and the same benefit will be given to visitors to Guam and Saipan from March to June.
Those who prefer to shop rather than travel will also enjoy between 5- and 20-percent discounts at popular online malls among Koreans including Shopbop, iHerb, Amazon and ETS in February and March.
The amount of purchases with BC Global Card took up about 1 percent of BC Card’s overall international sales. The credit card firm aims to increase the ratio to 5 percent this year and 15 percent by 2014 by establishing more points-of-sales.