S. Korea's number of credit delinquents falls sharply in 2010

SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- The number of credit delinquents in South Korea fell to the lowest level since the government started taking count in 2002, a government report said Sunday. The finance ministry report submitted to Rep. Lee Hahn-koo ahead of the parliamentary audit this week showed there were slightly more than 1.51 million consumer defaulters last year, down from 1.93 million in 2009. The numbers compiled by the Credit Counseling and Recovery Service also represent a 45.8 percent drop from more than 2.79 million credit delinquents tallied in 2006. The latest findings showed that defaulter numbers have been falling steadily in recent years, although there has been a rise in people who joined those ranks because they could not pay back small amounts of money. People who were classified as defaulters for not being able to pay back less than 300,000 won more than doubled to 47,319 last year from 22,406 in 2006, the report said.