Applications submitted to banks in the first half of this year requesting interest rate cuts totaled 2,679,000, a 77% surge from the second half of last year (1,513,000). During the same period, the number of accepted requests for interest rate cuts rose 22.5%.
The Korea Federation of Banks on the 31st disclosed "first-half 2026 bank sector performance in operating the right to request interest rate cuts." The right to request interest rate cuts allows a borrower whose credit status has improved due to employment, promotion, or higher income to ask a financial company to lower the lending rate. For corporations and sole proprietors, improved financial conditions or a higher credit rating apply.
The Korea Federation of Banks said the number of applications jumped after it introduced in February a service that allows regular applications for the right to request interest rate cuts through MyData operators.
According to the disclosure, the number of accepted requests for interest rate cuts was 512,000 in the first half of this year, up 22.5% from the second half of last year (418,000). In contrast, the acceptance rate fell by 8.5 percentage points, from 27.6% to 19.1%.
Total interest reduction amounted to 73.43 billion won, up 550 million won (0.8%) over the same period. Household loans increased by 6.54 billion won, while corporate loans decreased by 5.99 billion won.
By bank, KakaoBank(323410) received 1,374,507 applications, accounting for more than half of the total. The acceptance rate was highest among the five major commercial banks at Shinhan Bank with 47.8%.