CCRS Marks 24th Anniversary, Supports Debt Restructuring for 2.97 Million People Over 24 Years

Received 1,018 Messages of Encouragement from Fully Repaid Customers
Matching Donation of 10,180,000 Won
“People Who Save Lives” Award Presented to 30 On-site Employees

The Credit Counseling & Recovery Service (CCRS), marking its 24th anniversary, is reflecting on its achievement of supporting debt restructuring for about 2.97 million people over the past 24 years and is connecting encouraging messages from customers who have fully repaid their debts to support for vulnerable groups.

On October 1, the CCRS announced that it held its 24th anniversary ceremony at the Press Center’s main conference hall in Jung-gu, Seoul, under the slogan “Finance that Saves Lives, 24 Years of Saving Lives.” Since its launch in October 2002, the CCRS has helped approximately 2.97 million people with debt restructuring over 24 years, supporting the economic recovery of citizens struggling with excessive debt.

The organization has continuously expanded both its beneficiaries and scope. What began as support for debtors after delinquency was broadened by introducing pre-delinquency restructuring in 2009 and rapid debt restructuring in 2019, extending proactive support to the pre-delinquency stage. The eligible categories for debt restructuring also expanded sequentially to include student loans in 2022, telecommunications bills in 2024, and electricity bills in 2025.

At the ceremony, messages of encouragement from “fully repaid customers,” who had repaid all their debts with the help of CCRS’s debt restructuring program, were released to customers currently experiencing debt difficulties.

The CCRS anonymously collected a total of 1,018 encouragement messages from fully repaid customers and selected 24 representative messages. These messages will be delivered this month to waiting customers via customer tablets installed at counseling branches nationwide. To expand these encouragements into social contribution, the CCRS will donate winter supplies worth a total of 10,180,000 won to vulnerable groups in the winter, matching 10,000 won per message received.

The donation fund will be sourced from the “Hope Ladder Fund,” which the CCRS’s executives and staff have raised by collecting small change from their salaries. The winter supplies will be packed and delivered directly by an employee volunteer group in early November. Thirty employees who have been responsible for on-site debt restructuring counseling and support work will also be recognized with the “People Who Save Lives” award.

CCRS Chairperson Eun Kyung Kim stated, “It is not the system but the people beside those sitting before the system who truly save lives,” adding, “The thirty award recipients are proof of that.” She continued, “A second chance is not charity—it is the right of the people,” and promised, “We will continue to focus our efforts on practicing ‘finance that saves lives’ by reaching out first, before a crisis strikes.”

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