Five major banks hold 15.53 million dormant accounts with 108.71 billion won in balances

Korea Inclusive Finance Agency returned 205.8 billion won in dormant assets in the first half alone

Amounts up to 20 million won can be claimed online and deposited the same day

Card points scattered across issuers can be checked through the Credit Finance Association's integrated lookup

[Created using ChatGPT]
[Created using ChatGPT]

Kim Jin-a, a 29-year-old office worker, recently checked some long-unused bank accounts and found money she had forgotten about. It took her about 10 minutes to confirm the total: roughly 320,000 won ($235).

"Most of them were accounts I opened in college or briefly set up when I took out a loan," she said. "I had been using only my current accounts for so long that I completely forgot there was still money sitting in the old ones."

The chuseok holiday is a good time to check for dormant deposits, unclaimed insurance payouts and card points scattered across issuers — what financial circles call "hidden financial assets." The amounts may seem small individually, but the total waiting to be claimed runs into the hundreds of billions of won. A simple online identity verification is all it takes to check everything at once and have the money transferred directly to an account.

15.53 million dormant accounts — reclaim them online instantly

Data submitted to the office of Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Son Myung-su last August showed that as of the end of June, the five major commercial banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup Bank — held a combined 15,529,132 dormant accounts, with balances totaling 108.71 billion won.

The dormant deposits and insurance funds managed by the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency are also substantial. The agency returned 414,000 cases worth 205.8 billion won ($151 million) to their rightful owners in the first half of this year alone, averaging 497,000 won per case. Cumulative payouts since the agency began handling such claims in 2008 through June this year have reached 2.54 trillion won.

Dormant deposits are savings, installment savings and similar products at banks and savings banks whose statute of limitations has expired — meaning they have gone unclaimed for five years after the last transaction, such as an interest payment. Dormant insurance funds refer to money such as surrender refunds, maturity benefits or policyholder dividends that have gone unclaimed for three years after becoming payable.

Customers can check all dormant deposits and insurance funds held in their name through the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency's dormant-deposit lookup website or its mobile app. For amounts of 20 million won or less, they can apply for a transfer to their own account entirely online. If the application is processed normally, the money arrives the same day.

Amounts exceeding 20 million won require a visit to the relevant financial institution's branch or a comprehensive financial support center. Claims can also be checked and filed through the Government24 portal, the Account Info service, the insurance lookup platform, and select bank and MyData apps. Those who find online access difficult can call the agency's financial support hotline or visit a branch or support center in person.

In the first half of this year, 63.9 percent of dormant-deposit payouts were processed through non-face-to-face channels such as Government24, Account Info and bank apps. Since June, the agency has also allowed customers to check dormant deposits of up to 500,000 won through the Toss app and convert them to Toss Pay money. Within a month of the service launching, 60,000 cases worth 1.04 billion won had been claimed.

Banks are also working to alert customers before their accounts become dormant. "We notify customers whose accounts are about to be reclassified as dormant and run events to encourage them to reclaim their funds," an official at one commercial bank said. "If you have not used a financial institution in a long time, it is worth checking first whether the contact information and address on file are still current."

Internet-only banks are also improving access to dormant deposits. Kakao Bank operates a service linked to the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency that lets customers check dormant deposits and insurance funds and apply for payment all within the app. Toss Bank guides users to tools such as Account Info and the dormant-account integrated lookup system through its hidden-financial-assets content feature.

Check card points from multiple issuers at once through the Credit Finance Association's integrated lookup

Card points are another form of hidden money. Points accumulated through credit and debit card use can be checked all at once through the Credit Finance Association's integrated card-point lookup and account-transfer service. Points typically expire five years after they are earned, but validity periods vary by card issuer and point type, so it pays to check in advance.

Data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Lee Yang-su showed that points worth a combined 501.82 billion won expired at eight dedicated domestic card companies between 2021 and 2025. The annual breakdown: 101.82 billion won in 2021, 106.59 billion won in 2022, 102.66 billion won in 2023, 97.08 billion won in 2024 and 93.67 billion won last year. In other words, roughly 100 billion won in points goes unused and expires every year.

Customers can visit the Credit Finance Association's integrated card-point lookup site, consent to the use of personal information and complete identity verification to see remaining points by card issuer and how much is convertible to cash — all in one step. Selecting the account-transfer option and entering an account number in the customer's name completes the cash-out request. Depending on the card issuer, the money arrives either in real time or by the next business day. No separate app installation or fees are required.

Points eligible for cash conversion can be transferred in increments of one point. However, some points managed separately by partner companies — such as airline mileage — may be excluded from the integrated lookup and cash-out service. Account-transfer requests are available only to individual members and are limited to once per card issuer per day.

For users, the main appeal is being able to see points scattered across multiple card companies in one place. "When I looked at each card separately, it was only a few thousand or tens of thousands of won, so I never thought much of it," one user said. "But when I checked everything together, it added up to quite a bit more than I expected. A few rounds of verification and the money went straight to my account — it was easy."

"Quite a few people sign up for a card to get a one-time promotion or benefit and then stop using it," an official in the credit finance industry said. "Points left on cards that haven't been used in a long time are easy to forget unless the consumer actively checks." The official added that using the integrated lookup service to review points by issuer all at once is a practical way to use them before they expire.


snsd@heraldcorp.com
won@heraldcorp.com