The Financial Services Commission said on the 23rd that it will issue an advance notice of legislation and a notice of rule changes for amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act and the supervisory regulations on specialized credit finance businesses. The public comment period runs through Mar. 4.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) will establish a legal basis to issue family cards to minors through this amendment. Under current law, credit cards can be issued only to adults under the Civil Act, so, in principle, minors cannot be issued credit cards, including family cards.
Accordingly, if a parent applies for a minor age 12 or older, a family credit card may be issued and used for the child's use, and a legal basis will be established. This policy change is expected to resolve the practice of card transfers and lending prohibited under specialized credit finance laws and regulations, such as the use of so-called "mom cards," and to reduce inconveniences in reporting loss or seeking compensation arising from using another person's card. The system is currently being operated by five card companies designated as an innovative financial service.
Non-face-to-face merchant sign-ups will also be allowed. Currently, in the process of signing up as a credit card merchant, a merchant recruiter must verify the applicant's actual business operations through an on-site visit. Through this amendment, the regulation will be rationalized to allow verification of business operations through non-face-to-face methods in addition to visits. This measure is also currently designated and operated as an innovative financial service.
Brokerage and arrangement services for leases and installment sales will be allowed. The scope of business will be expanded so that specialized credit finance companies can concurrently conduct brokerage or arrangement of other companies' lease and installment products.
The system for suspending authorization reviews will also be improved. To increase predictability for applicants for credit card business licenses and prevent review delays, the periods not counted toward the review period will be specified in detail in the law, and an obligation will be imposed to periodically review whether to resume when a review is suspended. Accordingly, the periods for criminal proceedings; investigations or inspections by the Korea Fair Trade Commission, the National Tax Service, or the Financial Supervisory Service; and the time required to verify whether statutory licensing requirements are met will be specified as reasons for excluding time from the review period. In addition, every six months from the date the review is suspended, a determination will be made on whether to resume the review.
The criteria for small merchants will also be revised. Currently, in addition to the sales criterion of annual revenue of 300 million won or less, there is a separate criterion for simplified taxpayers, but this will be streamlined to unify the recognition of small merchants based on sales. However, the sales threshold itself will remain the same as before, so those who operate a simplified-taxation business site alone or whose combined revenue across multiple business sites is 300 million won or less will continue to be classified as small merchants as before.
A standard for the interest rate on additional charges for refunds of overpaid amounts will also be established. When a court ruling cancels the Financial Services Commission (FSC)'s disposition imposing a penalty surcharge and the surcharge is refunded, there has been no standard for the applicable additional charge interest rate, which will now be set at the interest rate for national tax refund additional charges.
The amendments to the enforcement decree and supervisory regulations will undergo an advance notice of legislation and a notice of rule changes from Jan. 23, 2026, to Mar. 4. After that, the amendments are scheduled to be completed in March 2026 following a review by the Ministry of Government Legislation, a Vice Ministerial meeting, and approval by the Cabinet.