BC, Hyundai Motor agree on card transaction fee

By Lee Kyung-min

gettyimagesbank

BC Card said Monday it had reached an agreement with Hyundai Motor to charge it a transaction fee of 1.89 percent, as proposed by the automaker.

Customers seeking to buy cars from the automaker will be able to use cards issued by BC for monthly installment payments.

The last-minute agreement on an increase of 0.05 percentage points has ended a months-long conflict between the card firm and the automaker sparked by the government's policy to impose restrictions on card transaction fees.

The Financial Services Commission revised the card fee system to have “larger, “lucrative” businesses pay more following an outcry from the self-employed and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who claimed fee transactions were unreasonably impacting their bottom lines.

Meanwhile, no agreement is expected any time soon with the three major card firms, Shinhan, Samsung and Lotte, all of which maintain the carmaker should pay up to 0.15 percentage points more.

Hyundai Motor has not officially sent letters terminating its contracts with the three, but ordered its staff not to accept customers' requests to pay with cards issued by them.