Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs (DUO) again offers former students from Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius the possibility in 2015 to use a local account with Maduro and Curiel’s Bank (MCB) for the repayment of their student debt.
Residents of the Caribbean Netherlands who have studied in the European Netherlands and have a student debt normally speaking have to incur extra costs in order to meet their payment obligations because they have to transfer their payments to a foreign bank account. In addition they run a currency risk. Therefore a pilot was started in 2013, making the repayment of student debts easier and cheaper. Debtors are able to transfer money to an account with a local bank without extra transaction costs. The exchange rate is set in January and is valid throughout calendar year.
Success
Judging from the results both in 2013 and 2014, the pilot is a success. Former students save transaction costs and have more clarity regarding the payment of the monthly amount (a fixed amount in dollars). As the payment behaviour of former students has improved, DUO also saves costs on, for instance, sending payment reminders.
DUO is currently investigating the possibilities for local repayment for former students on Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten.
2015
At the moment only residents of the Caribbean Netherlands can use the possibility of repaying locally. Former students who participated in the pilot in 2014 have been notified that it is assumed that they would also like to make repayments locally in 2015. New participants can register January 31st, 2015 at the latest by sending an e-mail stating name, address and correspondence number to: cn-debiteuren@duo.nl. The e-mail should state as subject ‘Local payment 2015’.