The purpose of this study is to investigate the state of living for over-indebted people and offer suggestions to solve their financial problems. A survey was made at three different periods, 1995, 1996 and 1997. The findings of the survey are as follows :
1) Sixty-five point three percent of bankrupts were either jobless, part-time workers or housewives, whose income was not large enough to support their living. Basically, their problems were linked with poverty in society and ineffective social security system.
2) Initially, their debts were not so large and they thought they would be able to pay back their debt easily. However, high interest rates increased their debt.
3) The way creditors collected their money was merciless as well as illegal; repeated phone calls to debtors' place of work (72.4%), early morning or midnight phone calls (44.8%), or visiting the relatives who were not sureties (37.9%).
4) To cope with the above-mentioned problems, it is suggested, first, that high interest rates and overloans must be strictly regulated, and second, public counseling centers should be established in every prefecture to help over-indebted people.