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Speaker 1: The old overdue bill problem is back. The IID boosting

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Speaker 1: resources to chase down unpaid student debt, particularly from those overseas.

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Speaker 1: We've got a record two point three seven billion, oh

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Speaker 1: to two point two of that is with expats fan capsing.

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Speaker 1: Your policy advisor, Jake Lily with us Jake Moarning morning.

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Speaker 1: Can you remember Stephen Joyce. I thought we had all

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Speaker 1: this sorted out. He was chasing people and if it

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Speaker 1: was really bad, you got arrested at the border. What

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Speaker 1: happened to all of that?

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Speaker 2: I'm not too sure about that. I was actually in

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Speaker 2: Australia repaying a student loans and I repaid it.

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Speaker 1: So did he chase you? Did you have to? Did

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Speaker 1: they have to come calling to get you to repay it?

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Speaker 2: No? I you know, I knew it was coming up.

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Speaker 2: I was a bit it was a struggle at times.

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Speaker 2: I was struggling to work over there initially, but I

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Speaker 2: was very grateful for the loan towards my studies, so

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Speaker 2: got it paid back. It would have been good if

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Speaker 2: they let us know a bit more proactively about you know,

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Speaker 2: if you are actually deciding whether or not to put

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Speaker 2: fuit in your mouth.

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Speaker 1: Or there is the conundrum where's the personal responsibility, Jake.

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Speaker 1: If you take on your debt, you've somehow got to

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Speaker 1: pay it back, and you're ignorant if you don't think

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Speaker 1: you are, aren't you? Or is that unfair?

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Speaker 2: I think you know you take on a debt, you've

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Speaker 2: got to pay it back. Things also happen, and places

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Speaker 2: like ID they've got a lot of things to make

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Speaker 2: sure you know if you're in touch, which is really

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Speaker 2: the tip there, get in touch if you can't pay,

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Speaker 2: ask what relief is available, because there often is some

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Speaker 2: relief available, very daunting to do to if there's a

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Speaker 2: pay I expected to pay this back, but not going

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Speaker 2: to plan. And that's really the tip there. And I

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Speaker 2: would say my colleagues at money Talks, which is a

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Speaker 2: free helpline, are there if you're not sure about your

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Speaker 2: options around that or just need to have a chat

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Speaker 2: about that. It's free and independent support to know what

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Speaker 2: your options are with that.

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Speaker 1: I think their argument, I add these arguments. These are people,

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Speaker 1: the ones they're cracking down on. These are the people

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Speaker 1: they have tried to contact, and they're doing through everything

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Speaker 1: like LinkedIn, Facebook, the whole thing, and you're not replying

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Speaker 1: and they're going hang on here. This is unfair. I mean,

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Speaker 1: if you're not cooperating, it's on you, isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it is good to reach out. I

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Speaker 2: can see situations too, people coming through the door here

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Speaker 2: and then said where it got away on them? You know,

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Speaker 2: So that first step, I guess. The other thing that

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Speaker 2: comes to mind for me is they're engaging debt collectors

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Speaker 2: to do this in Australia and those debt collectors are

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Speaker 2: held to a high standard. Then our law holds them

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Speaker 2: to here in terms of how they treat people, so

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Speaker 2: they will get a bit more respect than if it

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Speaker 2: was the other way around, which is a bit weird

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Speaker 2: in a way, but we are. We're doing a bit

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Speaker 2: of work with Minister Bailey on that and looking at

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Speaker 2: next year whether or not we can get some coherent

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Speaker 2: law and around what that collectors can and cannot do.

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Speaker 1: What would be coherent law? I mean, first of all,

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Speaker 1: it depends on what sort of angle you want to take.

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Speaker 1: Don't we want the money paid back? I mean, being

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Speaker 1: two point three seven billion in a country with no

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Speaker 1: money anyway is quite useful to have it paid back.

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Speaker 1: So do you want that problem solved or do you

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Speaker 1: want the problem that, you know, we all treat the

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Speaker 1: people who owe the money a little bit better than

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Speaker 1: we currently do.

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Speaker 2: I think. I guess with that two point three billion,

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Speaker 2: if people don't have the money, it's never going to

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Speaker 2: get paid back. And a debt collector charging fees to

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Speaker 2: the ID to harass people, well maybe you know, calling

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Speaker 2: them seven times a day despite already having talked to them,

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Speaker 2: and that person's been very clear, look, I have no money.

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Speaker 2: What can I do otherwise? Those are sort of the situations.

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Speaker 2: You know, is it reasonable to call someone seven times

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Speaker 2: a day, eight times a day, email them as much,

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Speaker 2: blow up their phone with text messages when they've already

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Speaker 2: been in touch with you. They've said they can't pay,

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Speaker 2: They've asked what relief is available, and they've said no,

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Speaker 2: you need to pay the full amount. Now, I wouldn't

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Speaker 2: have been able to pay forty grand on the spot

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Speaker 2: when I was twenty two trying to find a job

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Speaker 2: in Australia. So getting those things clearer is much more efficient.

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Speaker 1: And then we've got to go over all debate. Then

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Speaker 1: we've got the overall debate as to taking on debt.

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Speaker 1: When you go to university, you think, oh, whatever, it's

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Speaker 1: in the never and never and whether or not that

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Speaker 1: debt and the subsequent qualification is actually worth it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I can say for myself, I'm very very grateful

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Speaker 2: for that opportunity and it has lots of things and

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Speaker 2: I'm hoping I'm giving back to the country now back

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Speaker 2: on shore.

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Speaker 1: So look at your year on this program, Jake, You go.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I know. For many though, they come out,

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Speaker 2: you know, thinking that it'll be easy to get into

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Speaker 2: a job after university, and sometimes it's not, or not

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Speaker 2: just university or the other tertiary things too. Things don't

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Speaker 2: always go to plan. And if you've got this daunting

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Speaker 2: debt hanging over you, the best thing you can do

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Speaker 2: is reach out to your creditors. If you don't know

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Speaker 2: how to reach out to your creditors, or you're feeling

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Speaker 2: not that confident about it because you know it is

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Speaker 2: hard to repay debt and you don't know where the

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Speaker 2: money's coming from for the next meal. Money talks as

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Speaker 2: your place to start.

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Speaker 1: All right, Good on, Jake, go, well, appreciate it very much.

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Speaker 1: Shake Lily FinCap Senior policy advisor. I quite like him

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Speaker 1: or is that just me my feeling? But sort of

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Speaker 1: soften my Old Age on a Friday. For more from

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Speaker 1: the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks it'd

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Speaker 1: be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.