Shinhan Bank is sharply raising the installment repayment preferential rate on its New Hope Holssi loan to strengthen support for low-income borrowers.
The bank said Friday that it will expand the installment repayment preferential rate on the New Hope Holssi loan from the previous 0.3 percentage point to 1.1 percentage points, effective from the 5th of this month.
The move aims to reduce the interest burden on financially vulnerable groups and support stable long-term repayment. Along with the expanded preferential rate, Shinhan Bank also extended the installment repayment period on the New Hope Holssi loan from a maximum of 60 months to 84 months. For customers, this lowers the monthly repayment burden while allowing them to use loans at rates as low as the 4 percent range annually. However, the actual applied rate varies depending on each customer's creditworthiness and conditions.
Shinhan Bank has also been operating the "New Hope Holssi Virtuous Cycle Inclusive Finance Program" since February of this year, which helps customers using high-interest credit loans switch to the long-term installment repayment structure of the New Hope Holssi loan. Customers who convert their loans through the program are offered a fixed annual rate of 6.9 percent and a loan term of up to 10 years. The approach eases the financial burden by converting high-interest debt into a lower, more predictable repayment structure.
"We are pursuing inclusive finance that genuinely helps customers recover their credit over the long term, rather than simple one-time support," a Shinhan Bank official said. "We will continue to support both easing the interest burden and improving repayment structures to lay the groundwork for customers to get back on their feet."
Meanwhile, Shinhan Bank is preparing to launch a "savings bank refinancing loan" to lower the interest burden of mid- to low-credit borrowers using savings bank credit loans. Since January, the bank has also been carrying out interest burden relief support for low-credit individual business owners, applying the excess interest burden toward repaying the loan principal.
