The nation’s financial authorities said on Wednesday that expatriates are equally eligible for the application for the “National Happiness Fund” recently set up to rescue individual credit defaulters.

The relief plan is by principle entitled to all borrowers and lenders of this country, officials at the Financial Services Commission said.

“When a foreign worker here loses his job, relies on debt, and his credit falls, he will need a debt relief plan, too,” said a FSC spokesperson.

News reports said about 100,000 foreign residents in Korea have overdue debts. 

The nationwide debt redemption plan offers to reduce up to 70 percent of the successful applicant’s debt. The official application for the relief fund began last week.

“Foreigners are not discriminated against in applying to the National Happiness Fund, but they are required to meet the conditions that are equally asked for all the other applicants,” an FSC official said.

The debt relief program is open to all debtors with less than 100 million won in debt and delinquency on their principal repayment for at least six months.

The FSC strongly contended the widespread misconception that authorities squander tax revenue to cover debt defaults of an excessively wide range of beneficiaries. The banks and lenders handle the readjusted debt, just as in previous credit recovery plans.

The NHF can be considered an extension of the previous credit recovery programs that are offered by the state-controlled Credit Counseling & Recovery Service, the FSC spokesperson said.

The previous credit recovery programs were created to readjust heavy debt defaults to a payable degree.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)