An increasing number of people have filed for individual debtor rehabilitation procedure since early this year, meaning they are asking courts to have their debts written off.

According to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, 36,846 people filed for individual debtor rehabilitation with courts nationwide from January to May, up 62 percent over the same period last year.

There were a total of 65,171 filings last year, a record since the system was introduced in 2004, and this year's filings are expected to break the record by a huge margin.

Individual debtor rehabilitation is a system whereby people who expect a fixed income but are saddled with debt below a certain level are allowed by the court to pay off a certain amount of debt from their income, with their living expenses subtracted, and have the rest of their debt written off.

The sheer number of such filings is proof that debts have exceeded a manageable level for a growing number of households, financial authorities said. But there is a moral hazard when people file for protection just a few months after they take out loans without really trying to pay them off.