After your study programme: repayment

Repayment

The bank account into which you have to repay your loan is:

Maduro & Curiel’s Bank, (Bonaire) N.V.
Kaya L.D. Gerharts # 1
Kralendijk
Bonaire
Caribisch Nederland
Account number: 402.821.10
Swift Code: MCBKBQBN
Under payment reference please state your ID number, followed by L and then your loan number.

If you are repaying your student debt via a bank account outside the Caribbean Netherlands, you should bear in mind that bank charges will often be payable. You will be required to pay these costs.

NB: If you instruct the bank to deduct these costs from the payable amount, you will be repaying less of your student debt. This may lead to payment arrears and possibly additional collection costs. You should therefore make sure that we receive the full instalment on time. You can reduce the bank charges by opting to pay back by year, rather than by month. You should then make sure that you pay the entire annual amount for the year in question in advance in January.

When do repayments start?

You do not need to start repaying your student debt or the start-up allowance immediately after graduation. Your redemption phase will start on 1 January of the year following your deregistration from the study programme. This covers a period of 2 years during which you will not have to repay anything, although you can, of course, start repayments if you wish.

The repayment phase begins after the 2 year redemption phase. From that point in time you will have to start repayments in monthly instalments. You have to repay the entire debt within a maximum of 15 years.

How much you will have to repay per month depends on the height of your debt, the expected interest rate and the remaining term of your student debt. However, the minimum amount is $ 45.42 per month.

It may be that you received several student loans from us, for example a student loan for an mbo study programme first and later another for a higher education study programme. We register these as separate student loans and that means you will have to repay several student loans and separately repay several monthly instalments at the same time.

Reducing the monthly amount

You can ask us to reduce your monthly amount. We will then calculate how much you can repay per month based on your income. We will use the details of your income from 2 years ago. If the resulting amount is lower than the fixed monthly amount set by us, we will reduce your monthly amount. This process can even lead to a monthly amount of $ 0. Your income can never cause the monthly amount you have to pay to increase. The calculation of the reduced monthly amount is valid for one calendar year, after which your situation will be reassessed.

If you also have to repay a student debt to DUO, we will take that into account when calculating your earning capacity.

Please note! This is subject to the condition that you have also applied to DUO for a reduction in your monthly amount. The monthly amount that DUO has calculated for you will then be deducted from the monthly amount for your BES student debt(s).

You can apply for a lower monthly amount using the form entitled ‘Earning capacity assessment application form’. You should always submit your application before January 1st because then your request will come into effect on January 1st of that calendar year. If you apply later, any reduced monthly amount will come into effect as of the month following the month in which the reduction to the monthly amount was applied for. If, for example, you submit your application on 14 February, the change will only take effect on March 1st. When applying for a lower monthly amount you must also submit an income statement from Tax and Customs Administration as evidence. 33

After you have submitted your first application for a reduction of the monthly amount, we will try to obtain your income details for the following year directly from the Tax and Customs Administration in the Caribbean Netherlands. If you stay abroad or receive income from abroad, we will usually not be able to obtain your details from the Tax and Customs Administration. You will then have to submit an application for a reduction in the monthly amount for the new calendar year yourself.

Writing off remaining loan
If you have repaid your debt every year according to your earning capacity, you may not have repaid your entire student debt after 15 years. The remainder of debt will then be written off and you will therefore not have to repay it.

Please note! If you have used a repayment-free period (see below), the period of 15 years will be extended by this period. Writing off the debt does not apply to payment arrears. They do have to be repaid.

Temporarily halting repayments

You can also temporarily halt repayment of student debt. You do not have to provide the reason for a repayment-free period. You can halt repayment of your student debt for a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 5 years. Please note! The interest on your debt will, however, continue and the maximum repayment period of 15 years will be extended by the number of repayment-free months you use.

TIP! Always apply for a reduction to the monthly amount first. It may be that you will be able to pay the resulting amount and avoid the maximum repayment period of 15 years being extended. If the reduced monthly amount is still too high, you can always opt for a repayment-free period.

Payment arrears

If you do not pay your monthly amounts on time, you will have payment arrears. You should avoid payment arrears because you will not be able to repay them based on your earning capacity. What is more, payment arrears are never written off. Ultimately we will have to engage a bailiff to collect any outstanding payments. This will incur extra costs which you will have to pay. If you are experiencing payment problems, please get in touch with us! Together we can assess the options and avoid you getting into even more trouble.

Questions?
Contact the Bonaire office of RCN Study financing

If you have any questions after reading this information, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will be only too pleased to help!

You should also contact us if you have any general questions about study financing or a DUO student debt. Having said that, we will not be able to answer any specific questions. For example, we will be able to help you with your application to DUO for study financing, but we will not be able to tell you why your supplementary grant has not yet been calculated. If you have a debt to DUO, we will be able to help you apply for a reduction to your monthly amount. However, we will not be able to give you any explanation about a specific debt you have to DUO. For that you will have to contact DUO yourself, via www.duo.nl/cariben.

Our contact details
Kaya L.D. Gerharts 12 (Belastingkantoor)
Kralendijk,
Bonaire CN
E-mail: studiefinanciering@rijksdienstcn.com
Tel: +599 715 8704
Website: www.rijksdienstcn.com/studiefinanciering
Facebook: Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland Studiefinanciering

Consultation hours

Only by appointment at the times mentioned on our website.

The employees of RCN Study financing regularly visit St. Eustatius and Saba and announce this timely.