Seoul City Provides 300 Billion Won Loan Support to Small Business Owners Starting or Restarting After COVID-19 Outbreak... 4-No Worry Financing

No Interest + No Guarantee Fee + No Collateral + No Paper Documents 4-No Loan Method... Applications Accepted from the 2nd
For Startup Small Business Owners Registered Since 2020... Loans Up to 70 Million Won Available

The prolonged COVID-19 crisis has deepened the worries of small business owners and self-employed individuals. On the 6th, Myeongdong felt bleak. With tourists and citizens ceasing to visit, rental inquiries, temporary closure, and business termination notices were posted throughout the streets. We captured over 100 closed stores on camera. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] A fund of 300 billion KRW will be provided to small business owners who started or restarted their businesses after January 2020, the onset of COVID-19.

On the 2nd, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will supply 300 billion KRW of 'Safe Startup and Restart Business Funds' using a 4-no (no interest, no guarantee fee, no collateral, no paper documents) loan method to small business owners who started (or restarted) their businesses after January 1, 2020. Loan applications can be made immediately.

The 4-no safe business funds being supported this time target small business owners who registered their businesses after January 1, 2020, and depending on the startup period and preparation process, loans of up to 70 million KRW are available. The loan period is 5 years, with a 1-year grace period followed by 4 years of equal installments. Businesses in entertainment, gambling, pleasure, speculation, and other loan-restricted industries are excluded from support.

Seoul City started the '4-no Safe Finance' program with a scale of 2 trillion KRW in June last year to significantly reduce the burden on small business owners struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and to provide funds quickly. The entire loan amount was exhausted within 5 months of the loan start, and an additional 300 billion KRW was supplied in November of the same year. Adding 1 trillion KRW earlier this year, a total of 3.3 trillion KRW has been invested, receiving great response. As of April, loans totaling 3.222 trillion KRW have been completed for 119,000 small business owners, consuming 97.6% of the total funds.

In particular, for low-credit small business owners (credit score 744 or below) who were inevitably unable to overcome the high loan barriers of formal financial institutions due to sales decline and other reasons, some screening criteria have been relaxed to enable loan financing, playing a role in inclusive finance. So far, a total of 10,027 low-credit small business owners have received 212.1 billion KRW in loans.

Han Young-hee, Director of Labor, Fairness, and Coexistence Policy at Seoul City, said, “We have decided to expand the supply of the 4-no Safe Finance, which offers long-term low-interest benefits, to support the rapid recovery and stable management activities of small business owners who started during the COVID-19 outbreak and have faced prolonged difficulties. In addition to loan financing, we will continue to promote practical support measures that small business owners can feel, such as supporting online market development, preparing measures to restore consumer sentiment, and supporting marginal small business owners.”