Near real-time transfer of loan advances

Clauses 9 to 15, 160 and 164

Submission

(Matter raised by officials)

When the bill was introduced, officials were still working through how the real-time transfer of loan advances from StudyLink to Inland Revenue would be administered. Now this transfer process has been finalised, officials propose a number of amendments to the bill to give effect to the details of this transfer process.

Comment

Loan advances will be transferred to Inland Revenue in a near real-time basis. This will enable the borrower to have a consolidated view of their loan balance. The changes to the process are as follows:

• Inland Revenue, rather than StudyLink, will provide a statement to borrowers advising loan advances made for the period covered by the statement.
• The statement will be provided to borrowers at least twice a year.

The period for objecting to a loan advance will still be 31 days from the date of the statement, even though Inland Revenue has issued the statement. All objections to any loan advance made will still be dealt with by StudyLink.

Officials propose that changes be made to clauses 9 to 15, 160 and 164 to provide near real-time transfer of loan advances, for Inland Revenue to issue statements, and for the objection period to be 31 days from the date the statement was issued.

Recommendation

That the submission be accepted.