According to the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday, there were 28.2 million inactive credit cards as of the end of September 2006. That's 32.6 percent of all 86.44 million cards issued in Korea.

Some 16.12 million unused credit cards were issued by credit card companies such as Samsung and Hyundai Card, while the other 12.08 million came from banks.

There are so many unused credit cards because issuers aggressively pursued customers to build up their member bases. Although they were persuaded to take out the cards, many customers rarely use them.

But the credit card companies still collect an average of W6.3 billion (US$1=931) in annual membership fees from inactive cards. If membership fees collected on inactive cards issued by banks are included, that figure adds up to W10 billion, the FSS estimates.

Card holders have to terminate their cards personally to avoid paying the membership fees. Kim Joon-hyun, an FSS official, said the issuers will be instructed to change their contracts so that they can terminate long-term inactive cards without their owners' request.

(englishnews@chosun.com )