Lawmakers have proposed new limits on foreign domestic workers’ borrowing, ranging from assessing all their debts together to banning unsecured loans. These are proposals, not current rules.
Some workers arrive in Hong Kong with debts from overseas training and agency fees, then borrow further after arrival. The first phase of tighter controls on licensed moneylenders took effect in August 2026. It bars lenders from requiring foreign domestic workers to provide loan referees.
A second phase is scheduled for June 2027, when licensed moneylenders will have to connect fully to a shared credit-information service. The government says sharing personal credit information should help lenders assess borrowers. The deputy head of the bureau responsible for financial services and the treasury also said there was no evidence that tighter regulation had led low-income people, including foreign domestic workers, generally to turn to illegal lenders.
Legislator Elaine Chik Kit-ling proposed requiring finance companies to assess a borrower’s accumulated debt rather than judging each loan application separately. The deputy head said lenders must already calculate a borrower’s total outstanding unsecured personal loans across financial institutions, including banks and moneylenders.
Legislator Kwok Fu-yung proposed banning unsecured loans to foreign domestic workers, arguing that the new rules would not prevent borrowing through illegal channels. The deputy head said the controls do not prohibit legal personal borrowing. They are intended to set a cap on repayments as a proportion of income, and require the repayment period for an unsecured personal loan to be no longer than the time remaining on the worker’s employment contract.
Legislator Lau Ka Keung raised a separate concern: a worker might borrow when only one or two months remained on a contract and then leave Hong Kong. He proposed restricting unsecured loans when the remaining contract term fell below a specified threshold.
The Labour Department includes advice on managing money and avoiding excessive borrowing in orientation talks for newly arrived workers. It plans to distribute leaflets at places where workers gather on holidays and to hold briefings with non-governmental organisations about borrowing traps, repayment responsibilities and where to seek help with financial difficulties.