Ordinary people unable to bear high-interest debt, 100,000 people received debt adjustment in the first half of the year... 5.7 trillion won in scale

Increasingly, individuals and small business owners struggling with high-interest, high-price debts are turning to debt restructuring in the first half of the year. According to data submitted to the National Financial Recovery Committee by lawmaker Park Sung-hun on January 31st, 97,199 people (total debt of ₩5.7426 trillion) finalized debt restructuring in the first half of the year, including rapid debt restructuring, pre-debt restructuring, and individual work-out.

Most of these were individuals (84,544 people or ₩4.7193 trillion in debt). Self-employed people accounted for 12,155 (₩1.233 trillion).

The debt restructuring system is divided into rapid debt restructuring, pre-debt restructuring, and individual work-out. A person's account becomes overdue after 30 days, triggering rapid debt restructuring. If the overdue period is longer, pre-debt restructuring (31-89 days) or individual work-out (90 days or more) comes into play.

The sharp increase in rapid debt restructuring was notable. In 2022, 16,766 people finalized rapid debt restructuring, compared to 35,551 in 2023, marking a three-year increase of more than three times. The same trend continued in the first half of the year, with 27,003 people finalized rapid debt restructuring.

Older people are particularly affected. Those over 70 years old increased from 239 in 2022 to 1,684 in 2023, a sharp rise. The 60s also saw a surge, from 1,015 in the same period in 2022 to 5,339 in 2023. In the first half of the year, older people made up 14.1% of all cases. The number of individual work-out finalizations also rose, from 89,520 in 2022 to 99,912 in 2023.

The first half of the year saw 55,213 people complete this process, a recent peak in the past five years. The number of people finalized in debt restructuring has increased every year for the past three years, from 12,109,500 in 2022 to 16,737,000 in 2023, 17,484,100 in 2024, and 18,906,200 in the previous year, a 56.1% increase in just three years.