SLB urges borrowers to regularise loan accounts

The Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) is appealing to its customers who have not yet taken advantage of its debt rest initiative to go to its website and make the application.

The call came at a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) Think Tank on August 24. The debt rest enables the targeted loan product borrowers to regularise their loan accounts through structured repayment arrangements and targeted financial relief, including waivers on late fees, insurance charges and interest arrears. Manager of the Debt Recovery Unit in the Client Relationship Management Services Department at the SLB, Owin Watson, told the Think Tank that the programme has been extended to December 31.

“We believe it is a very good opportunity to rehabilitate your loans, to ensure that you can repair your credit rating and to ensure that you are repaying your loan in a satisfactory way,” he said. Watson disclosed that to date, more than 8,000 customers who qualify for the ‘good standing’ component of the initiative have applied. Good standing applies to those customers whose accounts have been current up to October 31, 2025.

“The good standing customers have received a credit of up to $100,000 directly applied to their loans. To date, these credits would have already been applied to the tune of $834 million. [So] 8,552 customers would have benefited directly,” he said.

Meanwhile, Debt Recovery Unit Supervisor at the SLB, Corneilus Hylton, added that close to 4,000 delinquent customers have received waivers under the programme.

“Benefits for delinquent customers include waivers of 100 per cent of insurance charges, 100 per cent of late fees and 50 per cent of accumulated interest arrears once they apply,” he said, noting that there was approximately $300 million in waivers.