A, who works in consulting for small business policy loans, waited on the 9th to apply on behalf of a client for the Small Enterprise and Market Service (SEMAS) "credit-vulnerable small business funds" loan. After logging into the website at 9 a.m., the person clicked the apply button as soon as it turned 10 a.m. But a message appeared saying tens of thousands of people were already ahead of A in line.
After waiting about 30 minutes, it was A's turn and the person tried to complete the application, but the website suddenly froze. Ten minutes later, upon reconnecting to the site, the same message appeared that tens of thousands were waiting. Soon after, SEMAS announced that the loan funds had been exhausted. A said, "This problem has kept happening since January this year. There are countless people who haven't been able to get a loan for three months."
Complaints are mounting as SEMAS handles policy loans for vulnerable small businesses on a same-day, first-come, first-served basis. In contrast to other agencies that divide application days by business registration number or resident registration number to manage surges in applicants, SEMAS's approach stands out.
SEMAS operates 12 products under its small business policy funds. Of these, five are products for which SEMAS provides loans directly without going through banks. Because applications are accepted on the SEMAS website, the site has been crashing repeatedly on application days. The loan for credit-vulnerable small businesses, which is particularly problematic, offers up to 30 million won for up to five years to small business owners with a credit score of 839 or below.
Policy funds are mainly used by vulnerable groups that find it difficult to keep their businesses running immediately. If they fail to get a loan once, they have to wait another month. B, who runs a kimbap franchise shop, also tried to apply for a loan to match the timing of paying for ingredients but failed. B said the person was ultimately able to hold on by pleading with headquarters and receiving one month's worth of ingredients for free.
On the national petition site, a post said, "Even if you log in at 10 a.m., cases keep occurring where the funds are exhausted before you can proceed with the application. Since policy funds only have meaning when used at the time they're needed, please fix the imbalance in application opportunities."
SEMAS plans to review whether to improve the overall system. Through Mar. 20, SEMAS will solicit opinions in seven areas—including solutions for first-come applications and complaints from those who miss out, and improvements to application and submission convenience—via the "Small Business Policy Fund Restructuring Ideas Contest."