Yong-dae Kim, a lawyer from Hanbyol Law LLC, strongly criticized Evergreen Tree Securitization's collection methods. He pointed out that "waiting for interest to accumulate, inquiring about the property when the interest accumulates, and foreclosing when the property is ripe" harasses vulnerable borrowers who are unable to get legal help, which is not the purpose of the company.

Kim's comments highlighted the legal and ethical issues of predatory finance and unfair collection, coupled with the fact that Evergreen did not participate in the New Leap Forward Fund and continued to hold long-term delinquent debt while pocketing about 42 billion won in dividends over five years. At the time of the controversy, the controversial lenders agreed to sell some of their debt to the New Leap Forward Fund (about 500 billion won) and Korea Asset Management Corporation (about 350 billion won).