"Tame the Monthly AI Bill"—Card Companies Compete to Win New Customers

[Financial News] As generative AI subscription fees have become a new fixed expense, card companies are moving to attract customers who subscribe to AI services. In particular, as a growing number of consumers now subscribe to multiple generative AI services simultaneously rather than using only ChatGPT, card companies are diversifying their offerings, from discounts and rewards to AI packages.
According to the card industry on the 4th, card companies have been rolling out products that either include AI services in their existing recurring-payment benefits or are tailored to AI subscription fees. The strategy is to lock in customers' payment methods to their cards by offering discounts and rewards on recurring monthly subscription charges.
Hana Card's 'MOVING Card ONLINE Mode' earns 50% of subscription payments for ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity AI in points, capped at 10,000 points per month. Shinhan Card's 'KakaoBank Chakbut Shinhan Card' offers a 10% discount on recurring payments for ChatGPT and Claude. Woori Card's 'Cardui Jeongseok 2 ROUTINE' applies a 30% discount to digital subscription services, including ChatGPT.
AI subscription benefits are also expanding among premium cards. Hyundai Card's 'the Orange' earns 10% of spending in tech categories, including ChatGPT, Perplexity AI and Google One, as M Points. Woori Card's 'the OPUS blue' offers a 10% discount in categories that include ChatGPT, Claude and Grok.
Competition among card companies is expanding beyond subscription-fee discounts to AI packages. Hyundai Card and Hana Card have each launched products in partnership with the integrated AI platform 'Usu AI,' allowing users to access approximately 30 AI services and functions, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Grok. Hyundai Card's 'AI All-in-One Pack' costs 28,900 won or 55,900 won per three months, while Hana Card's 'AI Smart Pack' costs 9,900 won or 19,800 won per month.
AI packages target consumers who use multiple AI tools for purposes such as work, search, and image and video production. Rather than offering a discount on a single service, the strategy is seen as an effort to bring demand for multiple AI subscriptions into card companies' recurring-payment business.
Cards without AI-specific benefits can also be used for their overseas payment benefits. Since major AI services such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude are billed through overseas providers, cards that waive or discount overseas payment fees can also help reduce subscription costs.
An official in the card industry said, "As generative AI has become an everyday digital service, related subscription fees are also being recognized as recurring fixed expenses each month." The official added, "Going forward, competition among products designed to secure customers' recurring payments will become even more diverse, not only through simple discounts but also by bundling multiple AI services or combining them with other subscription services."
[email protected] Hong Ye-ji Reporter