More Koreans spending heavily overseas

More South Koreans are swiping their cards outside the country.

Overseas credit card spending is increasing every year, according to Korea Customs Service on Wednesday, and over 60,000 spent more than $20,000 (21.8 million won) last year.

The biggest spenders reached 63,727 in number in 2011, a jump of 16.9 percent compared to 2010 and 64 percent compared to 2009, when the won-dollar exchange rate hit the ceiling right after the global financial crisis, KCS’s report on 2008-2011 credit card spending showed.

The total amount spent overseas is also on the increase; it marked $1.8 billion in 2009 but rose to $2.51 billion in 2010 and reached $3.1 billion last year, a rise of 73.7 percent in two years. Of last year’s amount, $1.88 billion was spent at the point of purchase, and $1.24 billion was withdrawn at ATMs.

The big spenders each used their cards an average 180 times per year outside of Korea ― about 11.48 million times last year all together ― and spent over $49,000.

Experts say that credit card use is growing as more Koreans travel overseas. The number of Koreans who traveled overseas reached 12.7 million last year.

Credit card users spent the most, $1.08 billion, in the U.S. last year, followed by the Philippines ($344 million), China ($331 million), Japan ($220 million), and Singapore ($120 million).

Notably, self-employed businessmen who, for example, run their own online shopping malls by selling items they bought overseas, are included among the big spenders.

The spending habits of some of these users are considered problematic, however, as they illegally use their credit cards overseas, such as to profit by borrowing cash in dollars to pay it back in Korean back home to capitalize on the exchange rates.

KCS detected 43 illegal acts, which were worth 19.3 billion won, by investigating the report offered by the Credit Finance Association, containing details on the big spenders’ credit card spending situation from 2008 to August this year. The illegal acts included violations of the customs law, such as smuggling, and also breaches of the foreign exchange trade law.

By Park Min-young  (claire@heraldcorp.com)