[Reporter’s Notebook] Naver and Kakao Must Also Join the Fight to Eradicate Illegal Private Loans

One of the hot topics when meeting with financial authorities recently is 'illegal private loans.' As it becomes increasingly difficult for ordinary people to access quick cash channels, concerns about falling into illegal private loans have grown. The Financial Supervisory Service even declared a special eradication period for illegal private loans until October.

In the field, there are voices saying that while authorities need to strengthen monitoring, it is also important to block illegal private loans from the perspective of the users. A financial authority official said, "Even if we try to expose the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency at the top of the portal, it is not easy because the advertising costs are too expensive to bear."

Most ordinary people who need quick cash search for terms like 'small loan' or 'emergency loan' on Naver's search bar, but placing the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency at the very top of the portal site can cost tens of millions of won per month. When searching for these terms, the top results are ads from loan brokerage sites that have paid high advertising fees to the portal site through competitive bidding. Public institutions do not have the financial capacity to bear such costs.

The financial sector's view is that even guiding ordinary people to public channels such as the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency through portal searches would help prevent them from falling into illegal private loans. In fact, a group that illegally collected 3 billion won in fees from victims by receiving loans on their behalf through the Sunshine Loan program was recently caught, and it is known that the victims were unaware that they could receive Sunshine Loans without intermediaries. Because of this, the police also requested the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency to promote the Sunshine Loan program.

Of course, it is not fair to criticize private portal companies for making money by charging advertising fees. However, it is worth noting that the global company Google has decided not to allow 'payday loan' advertisements as part of its corporate social responsibility. Payday loans are unsecured short-term loans mainly used by vulnerable groups who pay high interest rates. Naver and Kakao also operate separate foundations to contribute to social causes. Now is the time to also contribute to eradicating illegal private loans.

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