MPs want to establish fund for buying up, cancelling people's bad debts
The PvdA and ChristenUnie want a fund to be established for buying the debts of people with major financial problems. Currently people with problematic debts sometimes have dozens of collection agencies hounding them, according to the two parties. With such a fund, they will only have one creditor to deal with NOS reports.
Around half a million Dutch households are dealing with risky or problematic debts. A "forest of creditors" creates "enormous chaos and stress and that makes it difficult to find a solution", PvdA parliamentarian Gijs van Dijk said to the broadcaster. Buying up their debts can create peace for people in financial difficulties, he and ChristenUnie colleague Eppo Bruins believe. "Then people can work on a solution and a future."
The two parties argue for a public-private fund maintained by the government, but also banks, wealth funds, social organizations and churches. If struggling people face only one creditor - this fund - their debts no longer accrue and debt restructuring can begin, the parties argue. The fund must be filled with the repaid debts.
In addition to helping people in financial difficulties, the fund can also break the earning model of collection agencies that make a profit from people's debts, Bruins said to the broadcaster. "Because of that industry, debts often maintain themselves and cause problems to accumulate."
