Household loans in Korea finally down after 8 months

Household loans from banks are down in South Korea for the first time in eight months in September as lenders try to curb growing household debt.

Kookmin Bank and three other major banks extended household loans amounting to 276.9 trillion won or US$234.9 billion as of Sept. 29, down 91 billion won from the end of August, according to the data.

The September report marked the first monthly fall since January, when banks' household loans declined by 474 billion won.

The decline in bank home loans came as local banks scurried to curtail household loans, mostly credit loans, in a bid to meet an advised target by the Financial Services Commission of a 0.6 percent monthly loan growth.

The full story is available at Yonhap News.