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People in The Netherlands have done this. They go to S/E Asian countries to skip out on a €30,000 debt. After a while your passport becomes invalid which makes
by retired 7mo ago
People in The Netherlands have done this. They go to S/E Asian countries to skip out on a €30,000 debt. After a while your passport becomes invalid which makes travel very difficult. And with the outstanding debt you are not able to get a new passport.
Which is dumb, because you only have to pay off the debt if you are able to, interest rate is very low, you can pause it for a few years and after 35 years the loan is automatically forgiven. It's not a big deal. Completely uprooting your life to skip out on a €50/month payment is insanity but people see that €30,000 number in their portal and freak out about it.
Approximately 25,000 emigrated debtors are currently untraceable by the student debt collector.
- standardUser 7mo agoIn the US, student loan interest rates tend to be close to market (which I find despicable) and there is no automatic forgiveness. In fact, student loan debt has extra rules in the US making it difficult to get discharged in bankruptcy, so even that route doesn't work for a lot of people.
- retired 7mo agoHad to look it up, it is 2.3% for 2026 which is a bit below the Euribor 1 year rate. Between 2017 and 2022 it was 0%. Loan forgiveness happens after 35 years so for most academics that is about 10 years before retirement. Forgiveness also happens upon death. Bankruptcy is a bit different here. We have a program where someone manages your finances for about three years, and after that most remaining debt is forgiven. However, student debt is an exception, that one stays
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- musicale 7mo ago> Forgiveness also happens upon death. Comforting I'm sure. But it wasn't always that way: "Six years after the death of Christopher Bryski, a 23-year-old student at Rutgers University, Key Bank has agreed to forgive his student loan. But Bryski's family is not stopping there: It's now fighting to change the laws in the hope of sparing others the trauma it endured as lenders continued to hound it for payment on its dead son's debts." And it might not be mandatory: "But it is guidance, not law, and it does not cover creditors collecting their own debts, as they are not covered by the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act)," she said. https://abcnews.com/Business/bank-forgives-dead-students-loan-family-fights-change/story?id=16227855 https://abcnews.com/Business/bank-forgives-dead-students-loa...
- ceejayoz 7mo agoYeah, I find this deeply frustrating. Interest rates are supposed to reflect the level of risk, and student loans are deeply low-risk to the lender.
- JumpCrisscross 7mo ago> student loans are deeply low-risk to the lender Based on the other comment, they absolutely reflect that.
- ceejayoz 7mo agoI don't think the other comment is accurate. edit: Yeah, that other comment is talking about European rates, not American rates. https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/interest-rates/ https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/interest-r... 6.39% to 8.94%, and that's for Federal. Private ones tend to be even higher. 7/1/21–6/30/22 3.73% 7/1/20–6/30/21 2.75% 7/1/19–6/30/20 4.53% 7/1/18–6/30/19 5.05% 7/1/17–6/30/18 4.45% 7/1/16–6/30/17 3.76%
- JumpCrisscross 7mo agoHmm. I wonder why it doesn’t make sense to launch a private lender that offers lower rates.
- ceejayoz 7mo agoThe Fed rate is too high for the low risk involved. Private student loans are similarly protected from bankrupcty, and don't have things like income-based repayment; they are, if anything, safer for the lender. https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/federal-vs-private https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/federal-vs...
- JumpCrisscross 7mo agoSure. I’m saying why couldn’t you and I start C & J Lenders Inc. and undercut those guys. Say, 5% for a 20-year loan [1]. [1] https://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/TextView?type=daily_treasury_yield_curve&field_tdr_date_value=202604 https://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/...
- throwuttfj 7mo ago> Passport Blocks: Arrears exceeding €5,000 can result in registration in the passport alert system, making it impossible to receive a new passport, I would say that is pretty serious violation of human rights, for relatively small infraction. Soviet countries used similar system to prevent people from leaving their communist paradise. How are you supposed to pay your debt, if you are not allowed to find new job abroad?!
- post-it 7mo agoThe Dutch embassy will be happy to get you home, where you can find a job.
- throwuttfj 7mo agoRight, for tiny fee of 6000 euro return ticket, and 2000 euro monthly rent. Great plan to save money and pay debt!
- post-it 7mo agoThere's only so much handholding a government is going to do. Don't let your passport expire while abroad and ineligible for renewal.
- flowerthoughts 7mo agoSpeaking of plans... If you haven't made bank already when the passport expires, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to move abroad after all.
- mothballed 7mo agoUS does same for very small child support debts (I think around $1000) as well as larger tax bills. Of course when I cross to/from Mexico by land at small crossing I've noticed most have no passport and just beg for forgiveness which usually works.
- harambae 7mo ago
- JohnTHaller 7mo agoIn the US, student loan interest rates and average amount of debt are generally much higher than other countries. And you your student debt is designed to be permanent so that even declaring bankruptcy doesn't discharge it.
- Jensson 7mo agoIts essentially just a tax you pay for using higher education. You pay that in other countries as well via your taxes. Your tax debt is also permanent so you can't get out of paying taxes just by declaring bankruptcy. It is a bit weird that they let universities levy indirect taxes but its not really bad. Imagine if instead of property tax you have government property loans and the interest of those loans was instead of property tax, I think that wouldn't be a bad system.
- lynngr80 7mo agoI mean, my monthly student loan payments in the US for a degree in healthcare is $1300 USD per month. It comes out to about 40% of each paycheck. That’s a significant amount. I’d honestly consider moving abroad to avoid paying it. It’s debilitating and I can barely survive while making payments.
- retired 7mo agoWow. For The Netherlands it is 4% of your income, but only the part of your income above minimum wage. If you earn €40k, minimum wage is €26k then you pay 4% over €13k = €520 per year = €43 per month. The average medical student is around €50,000 to €60,000 in debt.
- mysterydip 7mo ago€50,000 / €43 / 12 is more than 96 years. Is anyone expected to pay their loans off, or in other words how much debt is forgiven each year?
- morgoo 7mo agoI'd assume that medical graduates are earning a lot more than €40k