People walk across an intersection in Seoul on March 24, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 2 (Korea Bizwire) — The primary reason for indebtedness among those who filed for individual bankruptcy and indemnity through the Seoul Metropolitan Government was living expenses, a data showed Monday.
The Seoul Welfare Foundation investigated the living conditions of 1,108 debtors who filed for individual bankruptcy and indemnity through the foundation last year.
At 44.5 percent, almost half said that they became indebted to cover living expenses, followed by 22 percent who cited the bankruptcy of their business.
Among the debtors, those in their 60s accounted for the largest share at 38.8 percent, followed by those in their 50s at 26.4 percent and those in their 70s at 15.4 percent. The share of those who were older than 50 stood at 83.3 percent.
By the amount of debts, those with debts ranging from 50-100 million won (US$44,450-88,900) accounted for the largest share at 23.9 percent, while the share of those with a debt of more than 400 million won stood at 9.5 percent.
Close to 75 percent of the debtors were the recipients of basic living security benefits, while 4.1 percent of them were near poverty. Half of the respondents were from single-person households.
“The low-income class is trapped in a cycle of malicious debts as a result of being easily exposed to excessive loans that are often issues without consideration of the borrower’s repayment ability,” the foundation said.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
