Repaying from abroad or the Dutch Caribbean

Webinar about repaying from the Dutch Caribbean

Do you have questions about repaying your student loan? Would you like to know more about reducing your monthly instalments, local payments, or what to do if you can't make repayments for a while? If so, watch the webinar Link opent externe pagina .

If you have a student loan and live outside the Netherlands, you can make repayments in various ways.

If you live in the SEPA zone , you can pay by direct debit.
If you do not live in the SEPA zone , you must pay your monthly instalments by manual bank transfer. To avoid additional costs, you can opt to pay annually.
If you live in the Dutch Caribbean, you can opt for local repayment.

Direct debit

Only if you live in the SEPA zone can you have your monthly instalments debited from a non-Dutch bank account.

The account must be held in a country within the SEPA zone and your bank must support direct debits from the Netherlands. Check this with your bank before changing your payment method.

To arrange a direct debit, log into Mijn DUO.

You can also arrange a direct debit from the account of someone you have authorised to make payments on your behalf (a proxy). To do this, use the authorization form.

Authorizationpdf, 135kb

Manual bank transfer

If you do not live in the SEPA zone, you must pay your monthly instalments by manual bank transfer. We send you a request for payment each month. You must pay in euros.

To avoid excessive bank charges, you can also opt to pay annually. You pay 1 lump sum at the end of year, covering all 12 monthly instalments. In this case you receive a request for payment in October and you have until 31 December to pay.

Request annual payments

If you want to pay annually, you can apply via Mijn DUO or by using the form Changes student loan repayment. Until your application is processed, you must continue to transfer your instalments on a monthly basis.

Changes loan repaymentpdf, 228kb

If you make a manual bank transfer, use the following account details:

IBAN: NL45 INGB 0705 0019 03
BIC: INGB NL2A
Account holder: Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Under 'Description' (or equivalent), enter your Dutch Citizen Service Number (burgerservicenummer, bsn) with the extension 'ILS'. For example: 123466789ILS. This extension ensures the correct processing of your payment.

Your bank may also ask for the name and address of the receiving bank. This is:

ING Bank N.V.
Foreign Operations
PO Box 1800
1000 BV Amsterdam
The Netherlands

A payment from another country may take long to arrive. Please take this into account.

Local repayment in the Dutch Caribbean

If you live in the Dutch Caribbean, you can register to make local repayments. You then pay into a local account in your own currency. This is cheaper than transferring money into an account in the Netherlands. You need to pay in 12 instalments.

How does local repayment work?

To register for local repayment, complete the form below.

If you are already making local repayments, you do not need to take any further action. Your registration will be automatically extended.

If you register before 1 December, you make local payments from January. You will then pay all 12 instalments in your local currency.

If you register later, the local payments start from the month after we processed your request. Until then you need to pay your instalments in euros. After registering we will send you an email. The email states:

the amount of your monthly payments, in both euros and your local currency
into which account number to transfer the money, and which description to use
when your first payment is due.

We calculate your monthly instalment in your local currency, using an estimated exchange rate provided by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB). However, the actual exchange rate may differ from the estimated exchange rate. Therefore each payment is converted into euros at the current exchange rate published by De Nederlandsche Bank.

If the value of your local currency has decreased, you may have paid too little. The deficit is then added to your debt. If the value of your local currency has increased, you have paid extra. The extra amount is treated as an additional payment.

Haven’t your overdue instalments been transferred to a bailiff yet? If so, contact us as soon as possible on debiteurenbeheer@duo.nl. This way you can still pay the arrears in your local currency.

Any amounts that have been transferred to a bailiff you can no longer pay locally. We cannot process these payments.

You can only arrange local repayment if you have an active email address. We send you important notifications by email, so please make sure that we have your current address and that our messages do not end up in your spam box. You also receive letters by post with amounts in euros. They are generated automatically.

Annual statement Dutch Caribbean

If you live in the Dutch Caribbean and are repaying a student debt, we send you an annual statement before 1 March of each year. The statement says how much you have paid. You can use this statement for your tax returns.

You will receive the statement by post. If we have your current email address, you will also receive it by email.

Inform us of your foreign address

Are you moving abroad? Please inform DUO of your new address, so you don’t miss out on any post about your student debt. If you receive your post digitally, also make sure DUO has your current email address. If you don’t inform us about your address, you may fall behind with your payments unknowingly. This may have consequences.

Contact

To contact us from abroad, see the options listed on our contact page.
If you live in the Dutch Caribbean, you can also submit queries via email at antillen@duo.nl.
If you want to receive our post in a different manner, read how to arrange this from abroad (link in Dutch).

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