20.2% of applicants have 6 or more multiple debtors… Up to 93 holders
On the 1st, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) urged financial consumers to actively utilize the free support system for debtor representatives and litigation lawyers if they are concerned regarding illegal private finance damage.
Since the end of January 2020, financial authorities have been offering free debtor agent support to victims of illegal collection damage from lenders or loans that exceed the legal maximum interest rate.
If a victim applies through the Financial Supervisory Service, the Illegal Private Financial Reporting Center, or the Korea Legal Aid Corporation, an attorney at the Korea Legal Aid Corporation provides free support for debtor representation and litigation following review.
Last year, the financial authorities received a total of 5,611 applications for free assistance from debtor representatives from 1,200 people, including victims of high interest rates and illegal debt collection, and implemented 4,841 cases.
Among the applicants, there were 242 multiple debtors with 6 or more debts, or 20.2% of the total, and some had up to 93 debts.
The age of the applicants was the highest with 455 in their 30s.
In 4,747 cases out of 4,841 cases finally applied, lawyers at the Korea Legal Aid Corporation responded to illegal and excessive collection activities of creditors as representatives of the debtors.
In addition, through free litigation representation and pre-litigation settlement, unfair collections worth 840 million won were resolved.
The financial authorities said that it is illegal for debt collectors to collect money without revealing their identity, or to ask a third party, such as family or related persons, to pay debts, and collections that promote intimidation or anxiety are all illegal, and recommended that financial consumers take active action.
The financial authorities plan to actively work to support debtors’ agents and to relieve damage from illegal private finance, and to provide debt relief and maturity extension support through the credit recovery committee’s debt adjustment system.
We plan to frequently hand over the information of the illegal lenders who caused a lot of damage to investigative agencies, actively request investigations if the victim wants punishment, and strengthen the publicity of the debtor agent support system jointly with related organizations.
/yunhap news
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