Credit card spending up 10.9 pct in H1

SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) -- The use of credit cards by South Koreans rose 10.9 percent in the first half from a year earlier as more people tapped cards for their transaction convenience and due to the economic recovery, the central bank said Wednesday. Credit card spending amounted to 1.46 trillion won (US$1.35 billion) per day in the January-June period, compared with 1.32 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The data is based on spending via plastic money at home and abroad, issued by local credit card firms. Transactions based on credit cards reached a daily average of 17.4 million in the first half, up 14.5 percent from the previous year, the BOK said. As of end-June, the issuance of credit cards reached 122 million in the cited period, up 9.3 percent from a year ago. This means that an average of 2.5 credit cards per person was issued. The data came as the financial regulator is seeking to limit credit card companies' total assets and new card issuance, and marketing costs in an effort to curb snowballing household debt. South Korea's household credit, which includes loans and credit purchases, reached 876.3 trillion won as of end-June, spawning concerns about snowballing household debt.