This year's first half saw the delinquency rate of large lending companies recorded at 13.1%, breaking the all-time high.
On the 30th, the Financial Supervisory Service announced the results of the '2024 first half lending business status survey.' As of the end of June, the delinquency rate of large lending companies with assets over 10 billion won rose by 0.5 percentage points to 13.1% compared to the end of last year (12.6%). The delinquency rate of lending companies, which was 6.1% at the end of 2021, recorded 7.3% at the end of 2022, and 12.6% at the end of 2023, has surpassed 13%, setting a new high since the delinquency rate of lending companies began to be tabulated in 2010.
The delinquency rate for collateral loans jumped 0.3 percentage points to 17.3% compared to the end of last year, leading the upward trend in delinquency rates. The delinquency rate for credit loans also soared 0.9 percentage points to 8.8%.
During the same period, the average loan interest rate was 13.7%, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points. The Financial Supervisory Service explained that since the reduction of the legal maximum interest rate (24% to 20%) in 2021, the average interest rate for personal credit loans from large lending companies has continuously decreased from 21.7% at the end of 2021 to 20.0% at the end of 2022, 18.5% at the end of 2023, and 18.1% at the end of June.
The outstanding loan balance was 12.21 trillion won, a decrease of 2.4% compared to the end of last year (12.51 trillion won). The Financial Supervisory Service noted that the decrease in the outstanding loan balance was due to rising procurement rates and delinquency rates. During the same period, the number of lending users was 714,000, a decrease of 14,000. As of the end of June, the average loan amount per person was 17.11 million won, maintaining the level of the end of last year.