The loan delinquency rate for self-employed people in North Chungcheong Province is higher than the national average... widening gap

(Cheongju = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Hyeong-woo = As the loan delinquency rate of self-employed people in North Chungcheong Province continues to be higher than the national average, the gap has also widened since the end of last year.

The Bank of Korea's Chungbuk headquarters announced this on the 28th in the 'Chungbuk region self-employed loan trends and risk inspection during the first half of 2026'.

At the end of June, the loan delinquency rate for self-employed people in North Chungcheong Province was 2.85%, 0.86 percentage points higher than the national average of 1.99%.

The gap at the end of last year was 0.70 percentage points.

North Chungcheong Province's delinquency rate will exceed the national average from the second half of 2024.

Recently, the regional delinquency rate rose for two consecutive half-years from 2.15% at the end of June last year to 2.56% at the end of last year and 2.85% at the end of June this year.

The loan delinquency rate for vulnerable self-employed people was 16.74%, up 1.0 percentage points from the end of last year.

The national average increased from 3.6 percentage points to 4.03 percentage points.

Vulnerable self-employed people are borrowers with multiple debtors who have borrowed money from three or more financial institutions and who have a low credit score or low income.

The loan balance of self-employed people in North Chungcheong Province in the first half of the year was 25.83 trillion won, an increase of 170 billion won from the end of last year.

Given that the loan balance increased in the first half of last year from the end of 2024 to 1.7 trillion won, the growth rate of loans in the first half of this year slowed significantly, but the delinquency rate is actually rising.

The report assessed that the risk of lending to self-employed people in North Chungcheong Province has increased slightly by age group for those in their 60s or older, and by financial institution, non-bank loans have increased and delinquency rates have risen, especially among vulnerable borrowers.

The Bank of Korea's Chungcheongbuk-do headquarters advised, "As the policy interest rate has risen twice and the effect of the high growth rate of the Chungbuk economy is difficult to spread to various classes due to unbalanced growth among industries, we must continue to look at the risks of self-employed loans, focusing on vulnerable borrowers."