For those with a student loan and living overseas - the start of the month came with a hit to their bank account.
From April 1, an additional 1 percent is being applied to student loan interest rates, which is paid by those living offshore.
That takes the base rate to 4.9 percent and the late payment rate -- which is charged on overdue amounts from student loan borrowers in both New Zealand and overseas -- to a steep 8.9 percent.
$2.2 billion dollars is owed by former students living overseas.
The latest student loan scheme report, published last December says overseas-based borrowers make up an increasingly large amount of overdue repayments.
A tax barrister with the law firm Stace Hammond and a former prosecutor with the IRD, Dave Ananth, who has been successful in helping former students get on top of their loan repayments says the increase in interest rates has come at exactly the wrong time and that we should be encouraging talented New Zealanders to return home.
