Rate-cut requests hit 2.679 million in H1
Acceptance rate falls from 27.6% to 19.1%
Interest savings total 73.43 billion won
The number of requests filed with banks to lower loan interest rates approached 2.68 million in the first half of this year. Although applications rose by more than 1 million from the previous six months, the share that actually resulted in a rate reduction fell below 20 percent.
The Korea Federation of Banks disclosed Monday on its consumer portal that about 2.679 million rate-cut requests were filed with banks in the first half of 2026 — up about 1.166 million, or 77 percent, from the 1.513 million recorded in the second half of last year.
The rate-cut request system allows borrowers whose creditworthiness has improved — through employment, promotion or a rise in income — to formally ask their lender to lower their loan interest rate.
A major driver of the surge was a MyData-based rate-cut request service launched Feb. 26. Under the service, a financial consumer gives consent once, after which a MyData operator periodically submits rate-cut requests to lenders on the consumer's behalf. The Korea Federation of Banks said broader promotional efforts by banks also contributed to the increase in applications.
Household loans led the growth. Rate-cut requests on household loans rose from about 1.406 million in the second half of last year to about 2.567 million in the first half of this year — an increase of more than 1.16 million. Corporate loan requests, by contrast, edged up only slightly, from 108,000 to 112,000 over the same period.
The number of requests actually granted also rose. Banks accepted about 512,000 requests in the first half, up 22.5 percent from about 418,000 in the second half of last year. However, because applications grew even faster, the acceptance rate dropped 8.5 percentage points, from 27.6 percent to 19.1 percent.
Total interest savings for borrowers whose requests were accepted came to 73.43 billion won ($53.3 million), up 550 million won, or 0.8 percent, from 72.88 billion won in the second half of last year.
Trends diverged between household and corporate borrowers. Interest savings on household loans rose 19.4 percent, from 33.75 billion won to 40.29 billion won, while savings on corporate loans fell 15.3 percent, from 39.13 billion won to 33.14 billion won.
The decline in corporate loan interest savings reflected intensifying competition in the corporate lending market and lower early-repayment fees. Rather than asking their existing bank for a rate cut, more corporate borrowers switched to other lenders offering lower rates, dispersing demand away from the formal request system.
Banks plan to expand the infrastructure supporting rate-cut requests from corporate clients and self-employed borrowers — groups that have made relatively little use of the system — while also making it easier for individual consumers to apply.
Meanwhile, household loan interest rates at major banks have been trending upward. The average new household loan rate at the five largest banks, excluding policy loans for low-income borrowers, rose to 4.454 percent last month from 4.314 percent the month before, a gain of 0.14 percentage points. Mortgage rates climbed to 4.68–7.15 percent for fixed-rate products and 4.21–6.56 percent for variable-rate products.
rim@heraldcorp.com
