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Have you fallen behind in repaying your student debt or tuition fees? Or been fined for unauthorized use of your student travel product? In many cases you can arrange a repayment plan with us. This avoids additional costs, such as bailiff's fees.

DUO notifications

If you fall into arrears, DUO sends you a series of notifications informing you of the situation. You can find these in Mijn DUO, under ‘Mijn berichten’.

Make sure DUO has your correct email address. If you have opted to receive messages digitally but are not receiving email notifications from us, check in Mijn DUO if we still have your correct email address. If you move abroad, or move house while living abroad, always let us know your foreign address.

Order of messages

You may receive the following messages about amounts you owe us:

Initial notification

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

Request for payment ('betalingsverzoek')

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.

Reminder ('herinnering')

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

Final demand ('aanmaning')

Before we transfer recovery of your overdue payment to the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB), we send you a final demand with an official expiry date. Up until that date you can still settle your outstanding account directly with DUO. Once it has passed, we refer the matter to the CJIB or an international collection agency. The costs involved will be at your expense.

CJIB letter

Once the CJIB has taken over responsibility for collecting your debt, it sends you a letter of notification. From this moment onwards, you can no longer arrange a repayment plan with DUO.

The CJIB gives you 1 more chance to settle the full amount, without any involvement from a bailiff. If you fail to do so in time, CJIB calls in a bailiff. From this point you incur more additional costs.

Repayment plan

Do you need repay a debt to DUO? As long as you overdue payment has not yet been transferred to the CJIB, a bailiff, or an international collection agency, there are a number of options for a repayment plan.

Travel product fine

If you have been fined for unauthorized use of a student travel product and cannot settle the full amount in 1 payment, you can apply to arrange a repayment plan. Contact us if this is no longer possible.

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Tuition fees

If you want to pay your tuition fees in instalments, you can also apply for a repayment plan. Contact us if this is no longer possible or if your repayment plan has been cancelled.

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Student debt

If you have fallen into arrears paying off your student loan, contact us to see if we can arrange a repayment plan by mutual consent.

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Multiple bailiffs

DUO takes part in Rijksincasso. Rijksincasso aims to engage only 1 bailiff if you have debts with several government agencies, so no extra costs are incurred. Therefore the collection of any overdue debts is transferred to the CJIB.

Do you have a DUO debt that was transferred to a bailiff before December 2017? This debt you will need to pay to the current bailiff. The debt cannot be combined with your debt with the CJIB.

Extra costs

Once we have transferred your overdue payment to the CJIB, it can be increased with interest, bailiff's fees, and additional recovery costs.

As the creditor, DUO may request interest on the outstanding amount. This is a fixed percentage of the sum owed. If we ask for interest, the amount is stated in the letter you receive from the CJIB.

If the CJIB engages a bailiff, you must pay their fees and any additional recovery costs incurred.

I live outside the Netherlands

If you live abroad, we transfer the recovery of your overdue payment to an international collection agency. You will need to pay the overdue amount, plus interest and other costs, to the collection agency.

Passport alerts register

Do you fail to repay your student debt and haven’t you informed us about your foreign address? If the overdue amount exceeds €5,000, DUO may register you with the passport alerts register. This means you won’t get a new Dutch passport until you pay the overdue amount or arrange a repayment plan with DUO.

Are you are registered with the passport alerts register, and do you request a new passport? You will then be asked to contact DUO about the arrears. If you arrange to pay the overdue amount in full, you will get a passport with the standard 10 year validity. If you arrange a repayment plan with DUO, you will be issued a passport with a limited period of validity, usually 12 months.

Search register

If your overdue debt is very high, you may be registered in the .

Social media

DUO also tries to trace debtors abroad through social media. To do so, DUO only uses the following accounts:

We use social media to establish contact. After this, we will continue communication through e-mail and Mijn DUO. You will need a DigiD to use Mijn DUO. You can request one, also from outside the Netherlands, on I live abroad | DigiD Link opent externe pagina .

DUO and CJIB roles

If you want to know how your debt came about, you can see this in your notifications. You can find them in Mijn DUO, under ‘Mijn berichten’. If you need further information, please contact us.

If you have a question about settlement with the CJIB or its appointed bailiff after your debt has been transferred to them, you must contact the CJIB directly. You will find the contact details in the letter it sent you. If DUO has engaged another collection agency, you must contact that agency.