Former K-Pop Girl Group Member Admits To Living In Debt Until She Quit Being An Idol

A former K-Pop girl group idol confessed to falling into the trap of credit card loans and lived in debt until she left the industry.

On October 11th, a video titled “Avoid Card Loans! Life Advice from a Senior Who Switched Careers from Idol Life” was uploaded to YouTube.

In the video, former fromis_9 member Roh Jisun said, “I was active in the group until I was 28. Until then, I couldn’t rely on help from my parents or older brother. I needed to survive, so I looked into loans. But since I had no job and no income, I couldn’t get approved for loans.”

She continued, “I felt desperate. Then I found out I could get a card loan. It was urgent, so I didn’t even consider the interest rates or think about them seriously. They said they would give me ₩3.00 million KRW (about $2,240 USD), so I thought I could live for three or four months and took the card loan.”

Roh Jisun revealed, “The debt snowballed rapidly. After using the card loan, my credit limit increased. I borrowed more money to repay the initial ₩3.00 million KRW (about $2,240 USD), but it just kept growing.”

She stated that she has now fully paid off all her debts. “I paid it all back a year after leaving the group. It wasn’t in the hundreds of millions. My older brother was also preparing for his wedding, so repaying the money I borrowed from him, paying off the card loans, and rebuilding my credit was the hardest part.”

Roh Jisun appeared on Mnet’s idol survival program Idol School, which ended in 2017. Winning the center position through the show, she debuted with fromis_9 in 2018. However, in 2025, she left the group along with Lee Saerom and Lee Seoyeon.