Last month, the credit card loan balance approached 43 trillion won, setting a new all-time high.
The Korea Credit Finance Association noted that the credit card loan balance of nine card companies (Lotte, BC, Samsung, Shinhan, Woori, Hana, Hyundai, KB Kookmin, NH Nonghyup Card) was 42.9888 trillion won at the end of February. This amount is approximately 250 billion won more than the previous record high balance of 42.7309 trillion won at the end of January.
The credit card loan balance was 42.3872 trillion won at the end of December last year, a decrease of about 158.1 billion won from the previous month, but it has continued to rise this year.
The balances of other card loans also increased. Last month, the cash service balance was 6.744 trillion won, an increase of 130.3 billion won from the previous month (January), while the payment revolving balance rose by 9.1 billion won to 7.0613 trillion won. The debt consolidation loan balance, for those who could not repay their credit card loans and borrowed again from the card company, increased to 1.6843 trillion won from 1.611 trillion won at the end of January.