Inland Revenue has gone full bounty hunter mode doubling the size of its team responsible for chasing down overseas-based student loan debt.
Overdue student loan debt has grown to a record $2.37 billion dollars, with $2.2b of that owed by overseas borrowers, most of them being based across the ditch.
This comes after it was revealed that only 29% of all overseas students met their repayment obligations.
IRD’s marketing and communications group manager Andrew Stott said young people heading overseas might not be aware their student loan debt was accruing interest and it could help set them up for “a bad track record of managing debt”.
However, it was revealed that the majority of the debt came from those in their 40s and 50s.
Debt collection agencies in the UK and Australia have also been helping to track people down.
Around 7000 names had been shared with an Australian debt agency in the first quarter of this year and as a result around 1000 people were now repaying some or all of their debt.
Kiwis returning to New Zealand with a debt of more than $1000 could expect to hear from the tax man.
There is also a list of 150 people who IRD would seek arrest warrants for if they returned to the country, Stott said.
This would mean they would be unable to leave the country again if they had not negotiated about their debt.
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