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Busan City Signs MOU for “Three-Free Hope-Link Credit Card” to Support Small Business Owners

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On April 23, the Busan Metropolitan City held a signing ceremony for a new MOU titled “Three-Free Hope-Link Credit Card Program for Small Business Owners”, in collaboration with BNK Busan Bank and the Busan Credit Guarantee Foundation.

This program will provide up to KRW 500 million per person in business operation credit to 40,000 eligible small business owners, with a total scale of KRW 2 trillion.

The credit card offers three major benefits:

• ●No interest for up to 6 months,

• ●No annual fee, and

• ●No guarantee fees.

In addition, users can receive up to KRW 100,000 per year (maximum KRW 400,000 over 4 years) in cashback through the Dongbaekjeon local currency platform, amounting to 3% of eligible spending.

The card can only be used for essential business operation expenses such as utility bills or supplies. It cannot be used for cash advances, card loans, or entertainment industry expenses.

The program was funded by KRW 20 billion allocated in Busan’s first supplementary budget of 2025.

Eligible applicants must:

• ●Be small business owners operating in Busan for at least 6 months, and

• ●Have a NICE credit score of 595 or higher.

Applications will be accepted in person starting April 30 at Busan Credit Guarantee Foundation branches. More details can be found by calling 051-860-6600.

Mayor Park stated, 

“As economic uncertainties grow, local small business owners are facing greater hardships. I sincerely thank BNK Busan Bank for joining this initiative. We will continue to craft meaningful financial policies to support small businesses through partnerships with financial institutions and the credit guarantee foundation.”

The city also announced that its total small business special financial aid has been expanded from KRW 417.5 billion to KRW 650 billion, a KRW 232.5 billion increase, as part of the 2025 first supplementary budget to counter the economic slowdown and support struggling entrepreneurs.