[Young Journalist Yumin Chung] Requests for lower loan interest rates increased to nearly 2.68 million requests in the first half of 2026, which is a 77% surge in only 6 months. More than 500,000 of those requests actually led to lower loan interest rates. Despite that, the increase in accepted lower loan interest rate requests couldn’t keep up with the surge in total applications and resulted in a 20% lower acceptance rate.

According to the “Banking Sector Interest Rate Reduction Request Performance for the First Half of 2026,” released by the Korea Federation of Banks on the 31st, the number of interest rate cut requests aggregated to 2.679 million in the first 6 months of 2026.
 
Trend in household loan requests especially stood out. Household loan requests rose 82.6%, from 1.406 million to 2.567 million. Furthermore,  corporate loan requests also increased slightly from 108,000 to 112,000.

The surge was primarily driven by heightened awareness of interest rate reduction requests along with the establishment of a MyData-based service in February.
 
Under the service, MyData providers are able to easily request lower rates on behalf of consumers after receiving their initial consent). This has facilitated applications as MyData can regularly request it.

The acceptance rates further increased by 22.5% from the second half of last year to the first half of this year. Accepted requests rose from 418,000 to 512,000. 
 
 The number of accepted household loan requests increased from 382,000 to 480,000. On the other hand, corporate loan approvals dropped from 36,000 to 32,000.

As applications rose in a faster rate than the approvals, the total acceptance rate fell 8.5% from 27.6% to 19.1%.
 
However, it is tenuous to argue that banks have become stricter in terms of interest rates. Ultimately, what allowed for the sharp increase in number of applications was MyData lowering the barriers for application. 
 
Total interest savings rose to 73.43 billion won, up 0.8% from 72.88 billion won in the last 6 months of 2025. 

Household loans and corporate loans showed different trends. Household loan interest savings rose 19.4% to 40.29 billion won, while corporate loan savings dropped 15.3%, ending up in 33.14 billion won. 

The Korea Federation of Banks mentions the decline in corporate loan savings as a result of stronger competition and lower early repayment fees. Better terms have stimulated many borrowers to switch to loans.

▶원문 기사: '금리 낮춰달라' 신청 268만건 '폭증'…실제 수용률은 19%로 '뚝' (이코노미스트, 2026.8.31)

◆이코노미스트가 글로벌 차세대 경제 리더, 청소년 기자단 영 저널리스트와 함께합니다. 영 저널리스트 기자단은 프리미엄 경제지 이코노미스트, 논술 전문 기관 Ni 에듀케이션과 함께 주요 시사 이슈를 팔로우업하고 직접 기획, 취재, 기사 작성 활동을 하며 사회적 문제를 고심하고 해결 방안을 제시하는 과정을 경험하게 됩니다. 이번 기사는 영 저널리스트 기자단이 이코노미스트 기사를 영문으로 번역하며 이슈를 팔로우업한 기사입니다. 차세대 글로벌 경제 리더, <영 저널리스트 with  이코노미스트> 영문 기사는 매주 연재됩니다.

ⓒ이코노미스트(https://economist.co.kr) '내일을 위한 경제뉴스 이코노미스트' 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지