Hyundai Card revamps, streamlines its lineup

Hyundai Card CEO Ted Chung talks at a press conference yesterday at company headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul. Provided by the company

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, Hyundai Card will revamp its credit card portfolio by rolling out plastics largely in two types: one with reward points that can be redeemed for products and services and another one with a cash-back feature.

Hyundai Card said yesterday it will launch Hyundai Card X, which offers cash back, and Hyundai Card M Edition 2, an upgrade of reward-point-based Hyundai Card M, which has 8 million users.

“For the past 10 years, Hyundai Card has sought bold and endless innovation,” Hyundai Card CEO Ted Chung said in a press conference at company headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul.

“We created a new way to market credit cards by using the alphabet and numbers. I figure it’s time to move to the next level, where customers no longer have to worry about choosing among many cards and can just decide whether they want to get points or get discounts.”

Starting next month, the company will stop issuing new alphabet cards, but will keep issuing the premium cards Black, Purple, Red, T3 and Zero.

Customers who spend between 500,000 won ($450) and 1 million won per month with M Edition 2 will get up to 2 percent in points and those spending over 1 million won will get a high get a higher rate. M Edition 2 comes in three cards: M, M2 and M3.

Consumers using the X or X2 card can get up to 1 percent of the price of goods or services in cash back either as a discount at the time of purchase or through their bank accounts.

Chung grew Hyundai Card’s market share to 13.8 percent in 2012 from 1.8 percent in 2001, when Hyundai Motor Group’s Hyundai Capital entered the card business after taking over debt-ridden Diners Club Korea.

It is the third-largest credit card company after Shinhan and Samsung.

BY KIM MI-JU [mijukim@joongang.co.kr]