소액생계비대출 대상(Seoul = Yonhap Infomax) Reporter Lee Hyun-jung = Starting in September, those who have fully repaid their small-sum living expenses loans will be able to refinance at a low interest rate of at least 9.4%.
On the 12th, the Financial Services Commission held a meeting on the 1st anniversary of the small-sum living expenses loan, chaired by Vice Chairwoman Kim So-young, at the Jung-gu Small Business Finance Integrated Support Center and announced these future operating plans.
The small-sum living expenses loan is a policy finance product hosted by the Small Business Finance Promotion Agency, which provides loans of up to 1 million won to adults with a credit score in the bottom 20% and an annual income of 35 million won or less.
If you faithfully repay the interest for 6 months, the loan interest rate of up to 15.9% per annum will be lowered to 9.9% per annum.
According to the Financial Services Commission, as of last month, 182,655 people received small-sum living expenses loans worth a total of 140.3 billion won. The bottom 10% of double credit reached 92.7%, and those in their 20s and 30s accounted for 43.6%. The delinquency rate reached 20.8%.
Vice Chairman Kim said, “The small-sum living expenses loan has contributed to alleviating the financial difficulties of vulnerable borrowers with low credit,” but diagnosed, “However, as the economic recovery is delayed, the delinquency rate is also showing a continuous increase.”
He added, “Due to the nature of small-sum living expenses, it is difficult for private financial companies to provide sufficient funds,” and “The small-sum living expenses policy should improve the inclusiveness of finance based on serious consideration of the issue of inequality.”
Vice Chairman Kim said, “We will allow users who have repaid the small-sum living expenses loan in full to use it again if they need small living expenses again.”
When the small-sum living expenses loan was launched, it was only allowed to be used once in a lifetime, but this reflects the opinion that the system should be improved so that it can be used again as there may be situations where living expenses are urgently needed. Accordingly, from September, users who have repaid the principal and interest in full will be able to receive a re-loan. When re-loaning, the final interest rate (minimum 9.4%) applied to the previous loan will be applied.
In addition, debt adjustment for users of small-sum living expenses loans will be strengthened.
The Korea Small Business Finance Agency plans to establish a system in the fourth quarter to extend the maturity on the condition of partial payment of principal and interest if it is determined that users will be able to repay interest in the future even if the conditions for extension of maturity are not met.
Vice Chairman Kim emphasized, “We will also continue efforts to fundamentally increase users’ repayment ability through finance-employment-welfare linkage programs.”
hjlee@yna.co.kr
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