Requests for Bank Rate Cuts Jump 77% in First Half on MyData Impact

[Financial News] The number of applications for bank rate-cut request services, introduced through MyData operators, rose 77% from the second half of last year.
The rate-cut request service allows a MyData operator to periodically file a request for a lower interest rate with a financial institution after a consumer gives one-time consent.
The Korea Federation of Banks (KFB) said this in its disclosure of the operating results for bank rate-cut request rights in the first half of 2026 on the 31st.
According to the results, the number of applications reached 2.679 million in the first half of this year, up 77% from 1.513 million in the second half of last year. The increase appears to reflect the rate-cut request service launched in February through MyData operators, as well as banks' active efforts to promote system improvements.
The number of accepted cases rose 22.5% to 512,000 in the first half of this year from 418,000 in the previous half. Total interest reductions also increased by 550 million won, or 0.8%, to 73.43 billion won over the same period.
For household loans, interest reductions totaled 40.29 billion won, up 6.54 billion won, or 19.4%, from 33.75 billion won in the second half of last year. For corporate loans, the figure fell 5.99 billion won, or 15.3%, to 33.14 billion won. The decline in corporate loan interest reductions appears to have been driven by intensifying competition in the corporate lending market and a dispersion effect from loan refinancing due to lower early repayment fees.
As applications increased following the introduction of the MyData operator-based rate-cut request service, the acceptance rate fell to 19.1% from 27.6% in the previous period.

[email protected] Ye Byeong-jeong Reporter