[2026 Parliamentary Audit] 40,000 Self-Employed Borrowers Closed Businesses After Internet-Only Bank Loans in Five and a Half Years: "Review Borrower Protections"

Borrowers who closed their businesses this year had a delinquency rate of 9.5% on loans as of the end of July
Assemblyman Park Seonghun: "Need to assess whether debt support is easing repayment burdens"

Nearly 40,000 self-employed people who had taken out loans for individual business owners from the three internet-only banks (KakaoBank, K Bank and Toss Bank) closed their businesses over the past five years and six months.

Calls are growing for internet-only banks to jointly review the soundness of their lending to individual business owners and the measures they have in place to protect borrowers.

Data submitted to Assemblyman Park Seonghun of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, by the Financial Supervisory Service show that 40,000 borrowers who used individual business owner loans from internet-only banks closed their businesses between 2022 and July 2026.

By industry, 16,000 borrowers were in food and lodging, 10,000 in wholesale and retail, 3,000 in education, health and services, and 12,000 in other industries.

A total of 1,726 borrowers used debt restructuring during this period: 515 in wholesale and retail, 473 in food and lodging, 84 in education, health and services, and 654 in other industries.

The delinquency rate as of the end of July on loans held by borrowers who closed their businesses this year stood at 9.5%. Wholesale and retail had the highest rate at 14.8%, followed by other industries at 12.4%, food and lodging at 5.1%, and education, health and services at 3.2%.

Internet-only banks are expanding their individual business owner lending, targeting the sector to avoid household loan restrictions and secure new growth drivers.

The outstanding balance of individual business owner loans at the three internet-only banks rose from 1.5 trillion won at the end of 2022 to 3.7 trillion won at the end of 2023, 4.6 trillion won at the end of 2024 and 6.8 trillion won at the end of 2025. It reached 8.6 trillion won as of the end of July this year.

Of the individual business owner loans, 3.5 trillion won were guaranteed loans, 4.1 trillion won were unsecured loans, and 1 trillion won were secured loans.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, internet-only banks offer low-interest refinancing loans with long-term installment repayment to support business owners closing their businesses, and also provide debt restructuring under the Act on the Protection of Individual Financial Debtors.

However, calls are growing for further review of whether support is sufficient for borrowers whose delinquencies worsen after closing their businesses, and whether debt restructuring is actually easing their repayment burdens.

Assemblyman Park stressed, "Financial authorities must establish a supervisory framework that comprehensively manages not only the expansion of lending by internet-only banks, but also delinquencies and debt restructuring after business closures, as well as support for borrowers to make a fresh start."

Park Seonghun, a People Power Party lawmaker

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