President Lee Dong-cheol of KB Kookmin Card.

KB Kookmin Card will no longer automatically issue paper receipts for transactions less than 50,000 won from July 1, as the credit card firm decided to introduce selective issuance system so cardholders can decide whether or not to get receipts for transactions less than 50,000 won, the card firm said on June 10.

Receipts are now issued when the payments are made with credit cards, one for the member firms and the other for cardholders. But under the new system starting from July 1, only the receipts for the businesses will be issued, not for the cardholders. For card companies, issuing paper receipts is becoming more costly due to last year’s reduction in transaction fees.

Card companies argue that issuing paper receipts is not necessary since card users can check their transaction log via smart device applications or online.

Under the item 8 of Article 5 of the Credit Card Law, the member firms are allowed not to issue the receipt for credit card transactions under 50,000 won if the cardholder doesn’t want it. But they needed to upgrade their computers and the card companies have to find ways to cover the fees paid to VANs.

KB Kookmin Card has decided to forgo the automatic issuance of paper receipts to introduce the paperless finance with the SMS informant service becoming a regular practice and the non-signatory payments expanding fast.

Its consultations with VANs were concluded in January. So the credit card firm decided to go ahead with the system of not issuing the receipts for the transaction smaller than 50,000 won from July 1 and complete the new system on Jan. 1 next year when the new system is accepted by all member firms.

The card firm came to a conclusion that some 90 percent of the paper receipts, totaling some 1.8 billion pieces of papers, will be saved under the new system foregoing the issuance of paper receipts for the transaction less than 50,000 won saving some 10 billion won in expenses spent on the issuances of the receipts for the small amount of transactions involving credit cards.

President Lee Dong-cheol of KB Card said the new system for the paperless finance will save the social costs and at the same time making contribution to environmental protection. We will work to continuously introduce new safe and convenient credit card services through the development of the digital technology, he claimed.

Credit card companies are currently consulting with financial authorities to make issuing paper receipts optional. For card companies, issuing paper receipts is becoming more costly due to last year’s reduction in transaction fees. Card companies argue that issuing paper receipts is not necessary since card users can check their transaction log via smart device applications or on its website.

KB Kookmin Card Co., for instance, plans to introduce a new policy to make issuing credit card sales slips optional starting next month. “Financial authorities are positively considering the idea,” said a source familiar with the credit card industry. “We hope that they will decide on a plan that will ease off the cost.

Last year, the NY Times wrote a piece about the trend in credit cards to eliminate signatures on credit card transactions. Mastercard did it globally; Visa did it regionally, Amex followed, and so did Discover.
The reasoning: no one looks at credit card signatures.

The headline cried: “Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S.” The article cites an Alabaman sales manager who fools the system by replacing his signature with a doodle-of a dog wagging his tail.

KB Kookmin "AlphaONE" card

A view of the head office building of KB Kookmin Card located in Gwanghwamun, downtown Seoul. (Photos: KB Card)