Vulnerable Self-Employed
취약 자영업자
A Bank of Korea classification used in its Financial Stability Reports, designating self-employed borrowers who are multi-debtors (loans from three or more financial institutions or products) and either low-income (bottom 30%) or low-credit (credit score of 664 or below). This category has become the central axis of Korea's post-COVID self-employed debt crisis: as of Q1 2026 their delinquency rate reached 12.68%, 16.5 times that of non-vulnerable self-employed borrowers (0.77%), concentrated among those pushed into non-bank high-interest lending after pandemic-era loan forbearance ended.
Sources
- bok.or.kr Bank of Korea, 「최근 자영업자의 채무상환능력 평가 및 시사점」(2025.06.25): definition of 취약 자영업자 as 다중채무자 (3+ loans) + 저소득 (하위 30%) or 저신용 (664점 이하), reporting Q1 2025 delinquency at 12.24%
- khan.co.kr 경향신문 (2025.06.25): reporting BOK's 취약 자영업자 delinquency rate at 12.24%, highest since Q2 2013 (13.54%)
- chosun.com Chosun English (2025.09.25): BOK report showing 437,000 vulnerable self-employed borrowers holding 130.2 trillion won, delinquency rate 11.3%, elderly (70+) proportion 28.7%
- newsis.com Newsis (2025.09.24): BOK September 2025 Financial Stability report, 취약차주 자영업자 437,000명, 대출 130.2조 원, delinquency entry rate 4.42%
- asiae.co.kr Asia Economy (2025.03.27): BOK Financial Stability Report, 427,000 vulnerable self-employed, loans 125.4 trillion won, 13.7% of all self-employed