Gyeongnam Province Provides One-Stop Household Debt Service at Financial Welfare Counseling Center

Debt Adjustment, Financial Counseling, Welfare Connection, etc.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kang Woo-kwon] The Gyeongsangnam-do Financial Welfare Counseling Center is playing a solid role as a reliable support for ordinary citizens suffering from long-term debt.

According to Gyeongnam Province on the 5th, the Financial Welfare Counseling Center resolved household debt issues for residents through a total of 6,096 various financial welfare consultations as of the 28th of last month.

Gyeongnam Province was selected in 2018 for the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's public contest project for the Financial Welfare Center for the underprivileged, and has been operating the Financial Welfare Counseling Center from 2018 to 2020 with an annual budget of 150 million KRW in national funds and 200 million KRW in provincial funds.

As of the end of June this year, the number of consultations was 1,661, an increase of 7.3% compared to 1,547 cases in the same period last year. By consultation field, debt adjustment consultations such as bankruptcy discharge and credit recovery accounted for 1,495 cases (90% of the total), the highest, followed by household financial consultations at 3.4%, and debt negotiation at 1.7%.

This is analyzed to be due to the increase in residents suffering from debt as the economy of small and medium-sized enterprises, small business owners, unpaid leave workers, freelancers, and unemployed persons has become more difficult due to decreased sales and income caused by COVID-19.

By household type, socially vulnerable groups such as basic livelihood security recipients and single-parent families accounted for 47.1% of the total, and by debt size, 30 to 50 million KRW was the most common at 25.7%.

The center plans to diversify consultation fields and increase on-site consultations considering the worsening household economic environment due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to existing debt adjustment consultations, they will expand household financial consultations and welfare service linkage functions to support the economic stability of ordinary citizens. They also plan to expand on-site consultations in the western region, including Jinju, in cooperation with related organizations such as city and county offices and self-support centers.

Kim Ki-young, Director of the Job Economy Bureau, said, "Debt problems can happen to anyone in the situation of COVID-19," and urged, "Residents with financial problems should no longer worry alone and actively utilize the Financial Welfare Counseling Center, which can provide professional support."