Int'l Domestic Workers Day: Hong Kong urged to toughen loan regulations to combat ‘excessive borrowing'
A group of NGOs and a pro-establishment lawmaker have urged the government to impose limits on unsecured personal loans to combat 'excessive borrowing' among migrant domestic workers and teenagers in Hong Kong.
Chrystie Lam, president of the local NGO Coalition of Global Home Service Sustainable Development, said at a press conference on Sunday afternoon that the group had noticed more and more foreign domestic workers were involved in 'excessive borrowing,' Commercial Radio reported.
Lam suggested that the government should strengthen regulations governing unsecured personal loans provided by licensed money lenders, with the maximum repayment capped at 30 per cent of a foreign worker's monthly salary.
Lam also recommended that the repayment period should be similar to the remaining duration of the foreign worker's contract. And lenders should not grant the loan if there are fewer than than six months left on the contract, Lam added.
Edward Leung – a lawmaker and a member of the pro-Beijing party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) – and three local NGOs hosted a press conference on Sunday, the eve of International Domestic Workers Day.
Leung said that, apart from domestic workers, teenagers in Hong Kong also suffered from 'excessive borrowing' as more and more online platforms target adolescents, according to a statement he issued.
Public consultation to start in June
Christopher Hui, the secretary for financial services and the treasury, announced last November that the government was planning to impose limits on loans that can be taken out at licensed money lenders.
Hui said at the time that the government was working on a series of measures to combat 'excessive borrowing,' with a public consultation set to take place in the first half of 2025.
The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said in response to a lawmaker's question in May that the public consultation will commence in June.
However, authorities are yet to announce the start date for the public consultation.
According to the Companies Registry, a total of 214 complaints were received about money lenders in 2024. The figure marks a significant increase compared to that of 2023, which saw 109 complaints throughout the year.
HKFP reported last July that many domestic workers also fall victim to unlicensed online lenders. Workers said that extortionate interest rates and campaigns of harassment from lenders left them terrified.
Some workers told HKFP that they had to borrow money because they had been overcharged with recruitment fees before they arrived to Hong Kong, and they suffered financial pressure usually as the main – or even sole – family breadwinners.
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