Most recent estimates show the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debt owing is nearly A$52 billion in 2017-18. Its forecast to increase to A$75 billion by 2020-21 and up to 25% of those loans are unlikely to be paid.
Legislation to lower the initial HELP repayment threshold from A$55,000 to A$45,000 (with a rate of 1%) is likely to pass the senate after passing the lower house on March 27th. This legislation includes linking indexing to inflation instead of average weekly earnings, which will slightly increase the rate of debt accumulated (20 year average for inflation is around 2.6%, compared to 1.8% for average weekly earnings).
Increasing repayments on HELP debt by lowering the initial threshold is an easy target. Why?…
Read the full article at: http://theconversation.com/lowering-the-help-repayment-threshold-is-an-easy-target-but-not-the-one-we-should-aim-for-94910