Going abroad with student debt: DUO could lose 170 million euros

Around 21,000 former students with student debt are living at unknown addresses abroad. Student finance agency DUO cannot reach them and is missing out on 170 million euros.

More than a million people have a debt to student finance agency DUO that they must repay. If they do not, they get a bailiff on their doorstep. At least, if DUO knows where these people live.

Former students can move abroad and disappear from view. After a while the debt then lapses. The government is annoyed by this and wants to make it easier for DUO to track down such people.

Last year about 21,000 former students were unreachable, states the explanatory notes to a draft bill on student finance. That is about one in fifty. As a result 170 million euros could not be collected.

Higher amount

This amount is higher than before and the government expects it to rise in the coming years. In 2018 the loss – for about the same number of former students – was only 76 million euros.

It may not always be deliberate. Some former students forget to give their address or think that everything will be fine if they register in their new place of residence. But if it goes wrong, they fall behind on payments and extra costs are added. “These collection costs continue to increase as the outstanding debt grows”, the government writes. “It is therefore in the interest of both the debtor and the government that debtors are reachable at all times.”

The government therefore wants to oblige students and former students to be reachable by email, phone and post. Within the Netherlands this happens almost automatically, thanks to the registration of residents with their municipality. But abroad it is different.

If former students, for example, are travelling the world or move around a lot, they will in future also be allowed to provide a contact person, such as a friend or family member. They will remain personally responsible, however.

Ten-year period

At the same time the government wants to extend the statute of limitations for such claims from five to ten years. The explanatory note: “This prevents a debtor from repaying only a small part of his or her student debt, simply because he or she lives abroad and is therefore not reachable for DUO.”

In addition, according to the bill, DUO must be able to trace these students more effectively abroad. To that end the agency must be able to exchange data with other countries. Suppose a former student lives in Belgium or Germany, then DUO must be given the possibility to request this former student’s contact details from the local authorities. Currently that is not allowed without restrictions.