Britons living in some European Union countries, including Belgium, are facing a huge increase in their student loan repayments this year, the Guardian revealed last week.
Belgium was among the countries mentioned as being one of the targeted countries in a move set to further inflame the UK student debt burden row.
According to the British daily, some UK nationals living in the EU have already been informed that their monthly repayments will increase, starting from April.
People studying in the UK, where university is not free, can apply for student loans which have to be repaid once they earn over a certain threshold. Yet in recent years the UK has continued to increase interest on these loans, leading to calls for the government to ease the student debt burden.
However, the UK Government is now reportedly doing the opposite, targeting those living in the EU after Brexit, by raising the monthly repayment rates.
The Labour government is set to cut the salary threshold for repaying loans from the current £28,470 (€32.592) a year – the same as in the UK now – to £23,510 (€26.910), with effect from 6 April.
Graduates in Germany and Belgium have reportedly already been informed by the UK authorities about this change, according to posts on online forums such as Reddit.
"Just got the same here (based in Belgium)," one user wrote. "They've dropped the threshold by 5.000£/year, no warning, no info, just a message to say I'll now be paying double what I was per month with little to no info as to why."
The Reddit user explains the had to get an answer directly from an agent who answered his questions promptly. "So why not just include that information in the first place?"
This hike has been put down, by the Student Loans Company – the private entity which manages the repayment system in the UK – says the overseas earnings thresholds are based on living costs such as food, housing and transport, and are set using information published by the World Bank.
However, most users have argued that the new threshold is actually lower than the minimum wage in countries like Belgium (€25,848 a year, full time) or Germany (€28,116, full time).
Critics have accused the UK Government of applying a "messed-up logic", according to the Guardian.
