The privacy commissioner has rejected a government proposal to hand over credit histories of students who fail to repay government loans to a credit reference agency.
Allan Chiang Yam-wang warned this action could prompt other government units and private companies to press for similar rights to check people's credit histories.
'I fear that the implementation of the proposal will open the floodgate ... to requests of a similar nature from other government departments for recovery of overdue taxes, government rents and rates or water charges,' Chiang said in a statement.
'Private sector sources are also keen to recover outstanding debts from their customers. The privacy risks arising from expanding the range of credit data providers could be disproportionate.'
Chiang said it was incumbent on the government to seek 'less privacy-intrusive measures'.The controversial proposal forms part of a review of loan schemes under the Student Financial Assistance Agency. The government hopes the measure could deter students from defaulting.
Official statistics show that up to the last academic year, about 13,000 students failed to repay loans totalling HK$213 million.