Suppose you are a student and take out a student loan from a bank. Ideal, because you have money right away and you don't have to start paying back until after your studies. Unfortunately for a student from The Hague, things turned out very differently. Many thousands of euros down the road, the student has to draw up the final balance after a turbulent period that eventually led to a final verdict in court.
The student obtained a student loan of EUR 2,500 from ING Bank in 2007. She did not have to repay this loan until 2010, after her studies. This is where all the problems arose for the student. Only nine years after the arrears arose, she could only close the whole thing.
Late payments
In 2009, she became pregnant with her first child. This pregnancy was not without controversy and many complications occurred. These circumstances prevented her from working until 2013. Through the UWV, after a proper balance was found in medication and she was deemed able to return to work, the student took a course. However, it proved impossible for the student to secure permanent employment. Although the partner had a steady income, this proved insufficient to meet all the expenses. Consequently, initial arrears in payment obligations to ING Bank arose in 2012 and thereafter there was frequent contact between the student and ING Bank to discuss this situation.
The student was in constant contact with ING Bank to keep her informed of her financial (in)assets. Here agreements were made regarding the payments of the outstanding arrears. In September 2014, when it eventually turned out that it was difficult for the student to make the repayments, ING Bank claimed the entire loan and the student had to pay a lump sum of EUR 1,708.22. The student did not have the money at that time, after which the claim was handed over to a collection agency.
In 2015, the student still managed to get a permanent job. From this point on, the situation changed substantially; the student was able to begin paying off the accumulated debt and made an arrangement with the collection agency to pay off the outstanding amount in installments. After the payment arrangement was established, the student paid consistently, which eventually led to the repayment of the entire debt on in May 2016.
New situation
Almost two years after paying off the debt with ING Bank, the student, now 34 years old, wants to buy a house with her husband. They have been living all their lives in a house in a deprived area of The Hague and would like to make a new start in a better living environment. Both have a good and stable income and in recent years they have been able to save well. The first meetings with mortgage advisors are held and the house hunt is opened. However, the moment a nice house is found, it turns out that the student has a registration in her name in the Central Credit Information System (CKI) of the foundation Bureau Krediet Registratie (the BKR). The BKR registration is a result of student loan arrears with ING Bank. A BKR registration immediately throws a spanner in the works: it proves impossible to get a mortgage with this BKR registration in her name, even though the family currently has no debts and earns a good and stable income. A BKR registration turns out to be an absolute no go for mortgage lenders.
The amicable process
In September 2017, the student herself asked ING Bank to remove the BKR registration. This request was rejected by ING Bank, after which the student contacted Dynamiet Netherlands. After Dynamiet Netherlands had a detailed conversation with the student and mapped out her situation in its entirety, ING Bank was asked to remove the BKR registration, because, given all the circumstances of the case, the registration was not or no longer proportionate. ING Bank responded and reiterated that it sees no reason to remove the BKR registration. Based on that response, the decision was made to go to The Hague District Court and demand the removal of the BKR registration.
The ruling
Although it took a long time for the debt to ING Bank to be repaid, the court found it important that in this case there was (had been) no problematic debt situation. The total amount of the outstanding debt was relatively low and the credit had been taken out while she was still a student. However, due to unforeseen circumstances it was (temporarily) not possible to repay the debt, but as soon as this was possible again, this was done immediately.
Even though ING Bank has argued that it has no intention of undoing legitimate BKR registrations, the court finds that there is a balancing act to be made between the importance of credit registration and the impact that credit registration has on the student.
The District Court of The Hague is of the opinion that the BKR registration is too severe a punishment and orders this BKR registration to be removed, subject to a penalty of EUR 2,000 per day. In addition, ING Bank must reimburse the former student's legal costs.
Conclusion
Once again, a judge rules that a BKR registration must be removed. Even if the BKR registration was rightly placed, the lender must at all times consider the impact a BKR registration has on people.
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