Card Loan Balance Reaches 42.7 Trillion Won in May... Up for Second Consecutive Month

Refinancing Loan Balance Reaches 1.5 Trillion Won
Slight Increase from Previous Month

The outstanding balance of card loans, which serve as a quick cash source for ordinary people, increased for the second consecutive month.

On the 30th, as the loan threshold of first-tier financial institutions such as banks rises amid the economic recession, the scale of card loans and cash services has reached an all-time high. Advertisement materials related to card loans are posted on Myeongdong Street in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

According to the Credit Finance Association on June 20, the outstanding balance of card loans at the end of last month for nine credit card companies (Lotte, BC, Samsung, Shinhan, Woori, Hana, Hyundai, KB Kookmin, and NH Nonghyup Card) stood at 42.6571 trillion won, showing a slight increase compared to the end of the previous month (42.5005 trillion won).

The outstanding balance of card loans reached an all-time high at the end of February (42.9888 trillion won), then decreased in March due to factors such as the write-off of non-performing loans at the end of the quarter, but increased again in April.

The outstanding balance of refinancing loans, which refers to borrowing again from the same card company after failing to repay an existing card loan, was 1.4762 trillion won, a slight increase from the end of April (1.4535 trillion won).

However, the outstanding balance of cash advances decreased to 6.4410 trillion won from 6.5355 trillion won in the previous month. The revolving payment balance also slightly decreased to 6.8493 trillion won from 6.8688 trillion won in the previous month.