Arrears abroad

If you do not live in the Netherlands, you may receive the following messages about amounts you owe us:

If you have a debt with DUO, we send a message informing you about it. This states how much you owe and what for.

After the initial notification, you receive a request for payment with a due date. If you pay us by direct debit, you do not receive this message.

If you do not pay by the due date, we send you a reminder with a new deadline for payment.

Before we transfer recovery of your overdue payment to an international collection agency, we send you a final demand with an official expiry date. Up to this date you can still settle your outstanding account directly with DUO, without any additional costs. Once it has passed, we refer the matter to an international collection agency.

Once the international collection agency has taken over responsibility for collecting your debt, you can no longer arrange a repayment plan with DUO. You will have to pay the overdue amount, interest and additional costs to the agency.

Approached by DUO over about arrears

Do you have to repay student debt and is your foreign address not known to DUO? If so, you may be contacted by DUO’s Personalised Collection (PGI) department via social media. This department is tasked with trying to prevent and resolve arrears. You may also get a letter from this department after your debt restructuring plan ends.

Which accounts?

Want to make sure you are contacted by DUO? DUO uses the following accounts to contact debtors:

We value contact with you

It is always in your interest to have open communication with us. If necessary, we can help you regain control of your debt. Furthermore, it is often possible to set up a repayment plan or agree on some other form of tailored arrangement. Use the contact details from the message you received.

Passport alerts register

If you do not repay your student debt and you have not provided your foreign address, DUO will register your details in the passport alerts register in the event you are more than €5,000 in arrears. This means that you will only be issued with a new passport if you repay the arrears or agree a repayment plan with DUO.

If your details have been entered in the passport alerts register and you apply for a new passport, you will be requested to contact DUO regarding the arrears. If you then settle the arrears all at once, in a single transaction, you will be issued with a new standard 10-year passport. If you agree a repayment plan with DUO, you will be issued with a limited-validity passport, which is usually valid for 12 months.

Judicial Search Register

If the arrears are very high, DUO may have your details entered in the judicial search register .

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