Gov`t to rescue credit delinquents

The government and three ruling coalition members held a joint meeting Friday and adopted a package of measures to protect users of small-loan finance. Among the measures are plans to expand the scope of amnesty given to credit delinquents and limits on the interest rates on loans by private moneylenders.

According to Kang Un-Tae, a chief policymaker of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party, deputy prime minister Jin Nyum and other officials from the ruling coalition parties gathered at the National Assembly and agreed to remove the names of all credit delinquents from the black list as soon as they repaid their debts.

Earlier, the government and ruling coalition decided to remove the names of 987,000 out of the total 990,000 former credit delinquents from the blacklist of financial institutions on May 1. Some 3,000 people, who had been on the list for committing fraud or any other wrongdoings, were barred from the benefit.

However, they decided Friday to extend the benefit to the 3,000 people too, if they clear the delayed payments by the end of next month.

The government and ruling parties also decided to specify the upper limit to interest rates on loans by credit-card companies in a newly enacted law on users of financial institutions. The highest rates will be set at 30 to 40 percent on loans of less than 10 million won for individuals or small businessmen. Those violating the law and imposing heavy interest rates would face stern punishments, officials said.