Nearly 50,000 Reports of Illegal Private Loan Damage Filed Over the Past 7 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Amid growing concerns over the spread of illegal private loan damages due to rising interest rates, it has been revealed that the number of reported cases of illegal private loan damages has nearly reached 50,000 over the past seven years.

According to an analysis of the "Classification of Reports by Type at the Illegal Private Loan Damage Reporting Center" data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to Yang Jeong-suk, an independent member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, on the 4th, the number of illegal private loan damage reports received by the FSS Illegal Private Loan Reporting Center from 2016 to the end of August this year reached 47,371 cases.

Among these, reports of illegal private loan damages from unregistered lenders accounted for the highest number at 21,150 cases, followed by reports of illegal loan advertisements at 10,569 cases. Additionally, there were a significant number of reports related to high-interest damages (8,446 cases) and illegal debt collection (6,284 cases).

Representative Yang stated, "This figure is more than twice the 21,290 complaints filed against 535 registered lending companies with the Financial Supervisory Service during the same period," and emphasized, "Financial authorities must actively implement measures to alleviate the suffering of financially vulnerable groups and prevent damages from illegal private loans."