Year-End Loan Access Tightens... KakaoBank Halts Credit Line Loans

"Temporary Suspension for Household Debt Stabilization"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] Internet-only bank KakaoBank has also joined the ranks of banks suspending loan issuance.

According to the banking sector on the 17th, KakaoBank will temporarily halt new overdraft account loans for high-credit salaried workers from this day until the end of the year.

KakaoBank explained that this measure is "to stabilize the rapidly increasing household debt."

Additional transactions such as loan extensions on existing overdraft accounts are still possible.

KakaoBank is rapidly expanding its customer base by absorbing a large demand from younger generations, thanks to the spread of non-face-to-face transaction culture due to COVID-19 and other factors.

As of the end of last month, KakaoBank's outstanding credit loans amounted to 15.7502 trillion KRW, an increase of 555.3 billion KRW compared to 15.1949 trillion KRW at the end of October.

Reference image of bank loan counter (Source=Yonhap News)

With financial authorities pressuring the management of household loans such as credit loans, banks have been tightening loan issuance one after another. As KakaoBank suspends overdraft account loans, consumers' access to loans will be significantly restricted until the end of the year.

Shinhan Bank decided not to accept non-face-to-face applications for salaried worker credit loans, including the 'Solpyeonhan Salaried Worker Credit Loan,' from the 15th of this month until the end of the month, and from the 14th, lowered the credit loan limits for professionals such as doctors and lawyers uniformly to 200 million KRW.

KB Kookmin Bank has been blocking all household credit loans exceeding 100 million KRW in principle from the 14th until the end of the year. Refinancing home mortgage loans from other banks to KB Kookmin Bank's home mortgage loans is also not allowed until the end of the year.

Woori Bank stopped selling its main non-face-to-face credit loan product, 'Woori WON (WON) Salaried Worker Loan,' on the 11th.

Hana Bank also plans to reduce the basic credit loan limit for professionals such as doctors and lawyers from 150 million KRW to 50 million KRW as early as the end of this month.

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