Seongnam City Launches Support for 'Student Loan Defaulter Youth'

[Asia Economy (Seongnam) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province is stepping up to support credit recovery for young people who have become 'credit delinquents' due to failure to repay student loans on time, helping them start normal social lives.

On the 29th, Seongnam City announced that it signed a business agreement with the Korea Student Aid Foundation for the 'Student Loan Young Long-term Delinquent Credit Recovery Support Project.'

According to the agreement, Seongnam City will support 10% (up to 1 million KRW) of the total debt amount of those who have failed to repay their student loans for more than six months and whose credit information has been registered by the Korea Student Aid Foundation, as an initial payment for installment repayment of the student loan.

Upon receiving the initial payment, the Korea Student Aid Foundation will immediately cancel the registration of credit information for the delinquent student loan borrowers.

The remaining student loan amount will be repaid in installments over a maximum of 20 years through a separate agreement between the delinquent borrowers and the Korea Student Aid Foundation.

As of the end of May, there are 193 young people aged 19 to 34 in the Seongnam area registered in the Korea Student Aid Foundation's credit information, with a total debt amount of 1.792 billion KRW. Including those delinquent for less than six months, there are 815 people with a total debt of 7.15 billion KRW.

The city will accept support applications from registered young people between July and September, review eligibility, and select the final support recipients.

A city official emphasized, "Youth debt is increasing every year amid economic recession and social instability, and this year, due to COVID-19, young people are finding it difficult even to get part-time jobs. We will do our best to support young people whose employment and economic activities are hindered by being registered in credit information."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.