The Seoul city government announced on the 18th that it will start accepting applications for the 'Safe Account No. 2' targeting livelihood-type self-employed individuals from the 28th.
The Safe Account is a negative balance account designed to reduce the risk of self-employed individuals being pushed into illegal private loans when accessing regulated financial loans is difficult. It provides support up to a maximum of 10 million won per person for self-employed individuals. According to the Seoul city government, the interest rate for the Safe Account loan is 4.5%, which is 9.5 percentage points lower than the average interest rate of 14% for credit loans from commercial banks.
The Safe Account launched by the Seoul city government this time is the second following the launch in March. The first Safe Account depleted its entire 200 billion won in just 58 business days. This second account is also being released with a scale of 200 billion won.
The Safe Account No. 2 has expanded its cooperating banks to four, including Woori Bank, KakaoBank, Toss Bank, and Hana Bank. This is an increase of three from the previous account.
The target beneficiaries are small and medium enterprises and small business owners based in Seoul, specifically those who ▲ have been in business for more than one year ▲ have a total revenue of more than 2 million won in the last three months or an annual reported revenue of over 10 million won ▲ individual business owners with a NICE personal credit score of 600 or higher.
However, the Seoul city government decided to relax loan conditions for young entrepreneurs and long-established business owners. Young entrepreneurs under 30 years old who have been in business for less than three years may apply even if they have been in business for less than a year, as long as they have been in operation for more than six months. Business owners who are 60 years or older with over ten years of business experience will have the restrictions on the number of second financial sector institutions they can use lifted, allowing them to apply even if they have used four or more institutions.
Applications can be made through the Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation mobile application starting from 9 a.m. on the 28th until funds are depleted. Detailed information can be found on the Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation's website.
Lee Hae-seon, the head of the Seoul city government's Minsheng Labor Bureau, noted, "We will continue to implement financial support policies that small business owners can truly feel."