The largest Dutch banks are pausing the collection of payment arrears from customers who apply for debt assistance. This should make it easier to resolve problematic debts.
ING, ABN AMRO, Rabobank and ASN Bank have made a written agreement with the industry association for debt assistance NVVK (Dutch Association for Public Credit).
People with a lot of debt experience less collection stress if banks temporarily do not send reminders, says the NVVK. Normally they receive a reminder in case of payment arrears.
The agreement further states that payment arrears are not automatically offset against the balance on payment or savings accounts of customers in debt assistance.
Other participants in the agreement are Nationale-Nederlanden, credit card company ICS and Alfam. The latter two are part of ABN AMRO.