School's over. Now pay back the loan

Alex Lo:

If you're late on your mortgage payment, you risk losing your flat. Default on your bank loan and scary collectors pay you a visit. But if you're a university graduate and bail on your student loan, you get letters in the mailbox. If you move, the government administrator may lose track of you and you'll no longer get bothersome mail.

The government has been excessively lenient in collecting student loans given by the Student Financial Assistance Agency. Up to the past academic year, about 13,000 students had failed to repay loans totalling HK$213 million. This sends a bad message to the young: be irresponsible; don't pay back money you owe.

Now officials want to take action by transferring a student defaulter's credit history to a credit reference agency. But the proposal has generated howls of protest from the usual suspects.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 17, 2011 2:04 AM
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