1 out of 5 individual rehabs is in their 20s

Last month, one out of five individual rehabilitation applicants in Seoul was in their 20s. It means that one after another, young people are knocking on the court door without being able to make up for their losses after paying debts to stocks and cryptocurrencies.

According to the Court Administration Office of the Supreme Court on the 17th, the number of individual rehabilitation applications received at the Seoul Rehabilitation Court last month was 1,544, of which 21% (322 cases) were in their 20s.

When the proportion of people in their 20s exceeds 20%, the legal community is concerned that the youth bankruptcy problem has reached a very serious situation. Although the number of monthly individual rehabilitation applications has increased, it is only at the pre-COVID-19 level, while the percentage of young people exceeding 20% ​​is because it is difficult to find precedent. According to the annual statistics of the Seoul Rehabilitation Court, only 10.7% of applicants in their 20s in 2020. individual rehabs

As applications in their twenties flocked, the proportion of individuals in their 20s and 30s who applied for personal rehabilitation soared to 54% (836 cases). Considering that the 2030 ratio in the first half of this year was 47.9%, it is highly likely that it will exceed 50% by the end of the year.

Inside and outside the legal circles, it is analyzed that the number of applications for individual rehabilitation among young people has surged as the Seoul Rehabilitation Court decided to exclude losses from stock and cryptocurrency investments in the calculation of reimbursement from the individual rehabilitation procedure. The court changed the method of calculating reimbursement from last month in order to ensure fairness in the calculation of repayment between assets and to prepare for the risk of bankruptcy in 2030 due to a sharp drop in stock and cryptocurrency prices. In particular, concerns are raised that the problem of youth bankruptcy may become more serious as the government’s debt suspension ends next month and interest rates continue to rise.

Hong Seok-pyo, an attorney at Law Firm Gwangjang, said, “If you are in your twenties who have suffered a lot of losses while dealing with stocks and coins because of debt, there must be no reason not to refuse to apply for personal rehabilitation as the court says that the loss will be excluded from the repayment.” Because the situation is bad, these problems will continue.” individual rehabs

As the number of applications for individual rehabilitation in their 20s is rapidly increasing, young people are constantly visiting the Seoul Financial Welfare Counseling Center under the Seoul Welfare Foundation. The Seoul Rehabilitation Court signed an agreement with the center and, starting from October last year, offers a ‘Youth Financial Guidance (a system that shortens the repayment period if you receive one-on-one financial counseling at the center)’ for those who are highly likely to repay among those who are under the age of 29 from October last year. use is recommended. Legally, the personal rehabilitation debt repayment period is 3 years, but if you use the ‘Youth Financial Assistant’, the period is shortened to 2 years (1 year and 6 months if you are a disabled person or the head of a single-parent family). From October last year to last month, 1,315 people used the system. An official from the center explained, “There are cases where they lost money while touching stocks or bitcoins, but there are many cases where they took on the debt while blocking the debt with a loan from a second financial institution or credit card.”