The Korea Herald

지나쌤

[Graphic News] Credit cards per person decrease

By Korea Herald

Published : Nov. 26, 2015 - 18:28

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The average economically active Korean holds 3.4 credit cards, data showed Thursday.

According to the Credit Finance Association, there were 27.1 million people using 92.3 million credit cards, which translates to roughly 3.4 cards per person.

The number of credit cards peaked at 4.9 cards per person in 2011, but has decreased for four consecutive years since.

Meanwhile, the average Korean only had 1.7 debit cards in 2007, but numbers increased each year, reaching 3.8 cards per person in 2012.

Experts suggest that government policies in trying to automatically close inactive cards resulted in the declining number of credit cards and increasing preference for debit cards instead.