Legal action is about to begin against hundreds of New
Zealand expats who have not made any effort to repay millions
of dollars in student loans.
From today, authorities will start sending letters to
Australian-based defaulters warning legal action is being
taken as a result of their ongoing refusal to attention their
debt.
The letters will be the first step in what will eventually
end in court proceedings - and a possible bad credit rating -
if action is not taken to start making repayments straight
away.
Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said authorities
would be targeting expats "seen to be deliberately flouting
their opportunities to pay back" their loans.
People who have "significant sums of money" owing will also
be targeted.
"It's about people meeting their responsibilities and that's
what's really important so we will be working on this pretty
hard," he said.
"People who are based overseas are taking, on average, 14
years to pay back their debts and that affects the
sustainability of the whole student loan system." The move is
the latest in a campaign, targeting expats in Australia, that
started last October.
At that time, a total of $325 million was owed to IRD in
overdue student loans - more than half of which was from
people living overseas.
Just over $15 million was owed by 3500 expats in Australia -
1000 of who were targeted directly by letter and phone and
indirectly by online marketing campaigns. Since then, almost
$2 million has been repaid by 643 borrowers. For those who do
not start making repayment the matter will end up in court.
Targeting defaulters
• $15m owed by 3500 Australian-based expats when campaign
started in October.
• 1000 targeted directly by letter and phone.
• $818,392 paid back by 243 as a result.
• $1.09m repaid by 400 borrowers after online campaign.
- The New Zealand Herald
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