Numbers of credit cards shrinks but not spending

Koreans are carrying around fewer credit cards and more debit cards, but still use the credit cards more, government data showed.

The total number of credit cards in use in the first half of this year shrank about 30,000 to 92 million, while the number of debit cards rose 3.4 million to 104 million, a report from the Financial Supervisory Service said Thursday. Retail purchases by credit cards jumped 5.5 percent year-on-year, and debit cards surged 16.5 percent during the same period. Still, the increase in spending by credit card at 13.4 trillion won was more than by debit card at 8.8 trillion won.

While cash withdrawals by credit cards fell 6.3 percent, so-called “card loans” - offering loans with higher lending rate - swelled 19.7 percent, leading the total amount of loans by credit cards.