Credit Card Revolving Fees: A 900,000 Won Carried Balance Costs About 13,000 Won a Month -- How to Calculate the 17.4% Average and Check, Reduce and Cancel
When a card payment alert arrives, the option to "pay part now and carry the rest over" catches the eye. A revolving plan switched on just to get through one month often stretches into several. Revolving is not delinquency, but the carried-over amount accrues a fee every month, which makes it a loan-like way of paying. Based on card-company disclosures and financial-authority guidance, this post shows how to work out for yourself what a carried balance costs per month, how to check your set payment ratio, and the order in which to cancel.
What revolving actually carries over
Payment-type revolving means paying only an agreed percentage of this month's card bill and moving the rest to next month. With a 10% ratio, paying 100,000 won in a month you spent 1,000,000 won is not treated as delinquent. In exchange, the 900,000 won that moves forward becomes a carried balance that accrues fees from that day. The minimum ratio is generally said to be set between 10% and 30% depending on credit standing, so the ratio on your own card is best confirmed in the revolving menu of your card app or in the terms.
Fees average about 17% a year, and are higher for lower credit scores
According to press reports, the average payment-type revolving rate at the eight main card issuers (Shinhan, Samsung, KB Kookmin, Hyundai, Lotte, Hana, Woori and BC) was 17.40% a year as of August 2026, and 19.04% for scores of 700 or below. The full range across issuers is said to run from the low 5% band up to about 19.9%. That means different people at the same issuer are charged different numbers, so treat the average as a reference only and calculate with the rate printed on your own statement.
What a 900,000 won carried balance costs per month
The simple formula is carried balance x annual fee rate x days / 365. Carrying 900,000 won for 30 days at 17.4% comes to about 12,900 won, and at 19.04% about 14,100 won. If the balance builds up to 3,000,000 won and stays there, the fee is roughly 43,000 won a month, or about 520,000 won over a year. Issuers may prorate differently, so the real charge can be off by a few hundred won, but this is enough to judge the scale. Once you calculate it, you can see the gap between the feeling of "just carrying a little" and the actual amount.
A sign-up bonus can be smaller than one month of fees
Issuers sometimes offer 5,000 to 10,000 won in points, or an annual-fee cashback, to customers who enroll in revolving for the first time. But as the calculation above shows, carrying 900,000 won for even one month costs around 13,000 won in fees, so the offer may not even cover one month of fees. If the plan is to take the bonus and cancel right away, there is no problem, but if the carryover runs a month or two longer, you pay more than you received. Press coverage repeatedly warns against enrolling just for the sign-up bonus for this reason.
How it can show up in your credit score
The general explanation is that merely enrolling in revolving does not make your score drop right away. The problem is when the carried balance stays for a long time. Financial information sites explain that a pattern of carrying over repeatedly can be read as a sign of repayment strain. Because each scoring agency handles this differently, a specific drop cannot be stated, so if you are about to apply for a loan or a new card where the score matters, it is safer to reduce the carried balance first. If it has already gone as far as delinquency, how long the record stays is covered in when a delinquency record is registered and how long it stays.
What the financial authorities asked for: a disclosure sheet, monthly rates and tiered ratios
The Financial Services Commission pointed to users signing without fully understanding revolving and issued an improvement plan. It has three core points. Issuers must provide a separate revolving explanation sheet, explain the rate against similar products such as card loans, and give a fee-calculation statement. The disclosure cycle was also shortened from quarterly to monthly, so issuer-by-issuer rates can be compared every month in the Credit Finance Association disclosure. If you kept the sheet you were given at sign-up, reread the payment-ratio and fee-rate fields first.
How to cut it down: raise the ratio, repay in a lump, then cancel
Reducing the carryover is not hard. First, raise the payment ratio in the card app. If it is set at the minimum, raising it from next month alone makes the balance fall noticeably. Second, when you have spare cash, repay the carried balance in a lump. How to repay and how fees are settled by timing differ by issuer, so check in the app or with the call center. Third, if you will not use it again, cancel the carryover agreement. Cancellation can be requested through the app, the website or the call center, but how a remaining balance is handled should be read in the terms. Keep in mind that you may have to repay the accumulated principal and fees all at once. A way to cover part of it with saved points is set out in cashing out card points before the five-year expiry.
Order of steps and where to check
First, check your current carried balance, applied fee rate and payment ratio in the card app. Next, estimate the monthly fee as carried balance x annual fee rate / 12. Then decide whether to raise the ratio, repay in a lump, or cancel. If the balance has grown beyond what you can repay, it is time to look at public debt-adjustment programs, and the timing for getting a card again after that is in when you can get a credit card again after a personal rehabilitation plan is approved. This post does not recommend enrolling in any particular card or product; please confirm the applicable fee rate and cancellation terms in the issuer's terms and disclosures, or through the Financial Supervisory Service consumer line (1332).
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