New legislation has been tabled in front of Parliament, containing measures aimed at improving the rate of repayment on student loans in New Zealand. On September 7th the Revenue Minister Peter Dunne introduced the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill, which aims to tighten the rules applicable for student loan holders. If approved, the legislation will cut down the repayment holidays available to borrowers who are traveling overseas, and will also require borrowers to nominate a contact person when leaving the country. Commenting on the ... Read More

With the ever increasing level of student loans outstanding in New Zealand, the Inland Revenue Department is setting off on a effort to ensure the payment of debts by borrowers now based overseas, hoping to raise a portion of the funds needed to rebuild Christchurch. As of December last year, the number of New Zealanders with student loans who have are now overseas has reached 88 000. Cumulatively the borrowers face a combined debt of NZD 2.3 billion, totaling over 20 percent of ... Read More

The IRD will soon enjoy an expanded set of rules under which student’s student loans are able to be recalled in cases of repayment non-compliance. On December 15th the Revenue Minister Peter Dunne announced a change to national student loan rules, which will allow the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) to recall student loans in occurrences of serious non-compliance by loan-holders. According to Peter Dunne, there are numerous loan-holders who default on their student loans every year. Such cases are handled by the IRD, who ... Read More

The Inland Revenue Department’s three year long payment holiday for overseas based student-loan holders has come to an end. On September 24th the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) issued a statement reminding overseas student loan holders that their repayment holidays have expired and that their first payment is due this month. The repayment holiday was originally started in 2007, as a means to grant a reprieve from payments to student loan holders who are working overseas. The program was initiated concurrently with an amnesty to ... Read More